Hi, Hope someone can provide any advice.

On the 11th May 2012 I requested a grievance hearing meeting concerning my Area Director on how he was managing my long term sickness plus when I requested my staff file I found two outcome letters, both written by the same person, dated the same, with outcome upheld but different actions. The one I received was lodged in my staff file and the other one in my line managers filing but HR had been advised it was partially upheld and told the actions on the line managers copy.

Due to the fact I had been off work with work related stress, occupational health (AXA PPP) then requested that I attended an independent medical assessment on the 28 May 2012 to gain a better understanding of the clinical reasons for the ongoing sickness absence.

As a result of this, a medical report was sent to OH and they forwarded this on to Human Resources on the 31st May. HR then emailed a copy of this to my Area Director on the 7 June 2012 and at the same time sent a copy of the report to me.

My grievance was heard on the 11 June 2012. Due to circumstances I had to request my staff file again and have since found evidence that when my report was emailed from HR to my Area Director on the 7 June he then forwarded this email to his assistance and my grievance hearing manager on the same day. The email clearly states that the attachment was only intended for the recipient of the email and under no circumstances should any of this info be disclosed to any other third party not entitled to receive it under the DPA 1998. It was also password protected sent via a separate email.

I understand that under DPA this is classed as sensitive data and permission should be sought from the data subject first before disclosing to someone else. As my grievance was in no way connected to the independent medical assessment as this was carried out after I had lodged my grievance I believe that my AD should not have forwarded the contents of the report.

I have spoken to my ex-employers Data Protection Team who advised me that if the grievance was about the assessment then he could forward it on, as soon as I mentioned that there was no connection they clammed up.

Please can anyone advise me as to whether my understanding is correct and if so should I complain to the ICO. I have already reported them for not releasing my file after 5 separate requests, they were given a warning and given a chance to correct it.

I wait in anticipation..... Many thanks

Have a look at http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/29/schedule/3. Sensitive data may be processed where "The processing is necessary for the purposes of exercising or performing any right or obligation which is conferred or imposed by law on the data controller in connection with employment".

It sounds like you are cross because the area manager passed your email to the grievance hearing manager, who is presumably his boss. Others may have a different view but personally I do not see a problem with this. I think it would be difficult for the grievance hearing manager to properly hear a greivance about your long term illness if he does not have the medical report.

I agree with steampowered. I am not sure what you are trying to achieve. But any employee who had requested their staff file twice in a short period - that would flag lack of trust and paranoia to me, and I am not sure we could continue working together.

What outcome are you looking for?

I don't think there's a DPA breach here either - was any information passed outside the company?

Hi... thanks for your feedback. No info was passed outside the company as far as I know and the grievance was to get my employer to give me an answer to why there was 2 outcome letters for the 21 Oct. This is a bit of a long story so I will bullet point to keep it short and precise.

1 All 1-2-1 monthly meeetings for January to October all green and 1/2 yearly performance plan was B+

2 Extra daily tasks were put onto the branch in August and I asked for an extra pair of hands to cope with the extra pressures for the bank holiday queues.

2 September 5th line manager wanted to put me on a PIP for unacceptable behaviors. No evidence for them had been noted or no discussion between himself or me.

3 Area Director arranged meeting and reported to HR that it was for a PIP. Had grievance and received outcome - upheld - support to be put into branch to help with the extra workload, TOIL/overtime.

4 1 week later I was told by Area Director I was moving branches to see if the support was needed. 2 weeks notice was given but policy states 28 days should be given.

5 Went grievance stage 2 stating bullying as this had not been addressed in my original letter. This was questioned by my union rep during the stage 1 but was told that he had not received any paperwork from the Area Director and was only told that it was in relation to the PIP.

6 Went off on work related stress in Nov. Stage 2 grievance was held and found not upheld (letter was late) although 2 pages of examples (ACAS) were given which he did not look at,

7 December AD was moved out suddenly and his Area Performance Manager stepped in

8 January requested staff file. Found 2 outcome stage 1 letters. One with my line manager stating upheld and that I was moving to another branch because of working relationship with hi.

and another which I received and was lodged in my file. Area Director had reported back to HR partially upheld and I was moving branches and to be put of a PIP

9 Found out that my end of year appraisal had the unacceptable behaviors individually noted and was signed off on 21/12/2011, Area Directors last day.

10 Wrote to HR asking why there were differences. Was told the 2nd letter was probably a draft. (it has the same spelling mistakes as my version)

12 In May went grievance again about the letters and why the differences in reporting to HR. My new AD was not phoning me as per sick policy. Ignored OH. Told HR he had sent my long term sick letter in March when in fact it was April. Told HR that he had offered me the location HR had recommended (no car) when he had in fact told me another 1 1/2 - 2 hrs away each end of the day on public transport. I wont go into all of them.

13 Grievance upheld on the outcome letters. Mine was the correct one, not upheld as regards the AD

14 I also found out that the 2nd grievance for bullying was investigation in less that 1 day with just me and the other person being interviewed. He was off on annual leave for 5 of the ten days that can be allotted for a grievance investigation plus his letter was 2 days late.

The reason I ask my question is there was no reason to forward the email from the medical assessment on as it was not part of the grievance and by the way HR asked him to phone regarding the recommendations and the way forward in getting me back to work. My file shows he never did. One of the behaviors was not being flexible on working Saturdays. My contract is only for Mon-Fri 9-5 and states if I was to work it was voluntary and I would be paid double pay. I was told that I had to work with no extra pay but a day off in lieu and would have to work 8.15 to when they leave.

Sorry this is long winded I could go on more but wont.

Hope this is clearer for you to understand. I look forward to any input positive or negative. By the way I am now going ET.

Many thanks

Hello there.

I've removed your name from your two posts, to keep this confidential for you. The guys don't need to know your name, they will advise you regardless I'm sure.

My best, HB

still no idea what outcome you are looking for....

I got part of the outcome from the last grievance upheld in that the letter relating to the stage 1 outcome letter I received was recognised by my employer as the correct one and not the second version but they have not given me any explanation as to why this was not acted upon, instead the so called draft which my line manager received and is the only copy floating around was acted upon although he had no involvement in the recording back to HR or its implementation. That is one of the reasons I resigned and now filed proceedings with the ET. I think that the grievance procedure was manipulated in the first and second grievance as their policy states that when bullying is mentioned in a grievance letter there is a zero tolerance and it will be investigated thoroughly.

A. It was not reported to HR at the first instance, basically ignored by the AD

B. When I bought it to the attention of HR who confirmed that it should have gone to stage 2 not stage 1 and had to over-ride the AD who wanted it to go back to stage 1 again. When I did have that meeting I found out that only 1 day was spent investigating it although I have scribed notes stating that the grievance manager would spend the 10 days and probably the outcome letter would be late which is was.

C. It has come to my attention that it was the AD assistant typed out the stage 1 outcome as the 1st grievance manager apparently did not have the right level to access the outcome template letter on the intranet plus he cant remember when he did his accredited training. He has been scribed saying it was either with his old employer or his now employer.

For the final time: what outcome are you looking for?

For the final time: what outcome are you looking for?

If you mean the employment tribunal, then to get closure to this and acknowledgment that procedures and policies were not followed. They have made a small offer with a gagging order which I have refused. I have said I don't want a gagging order and ACAS to look at the case independently.

So it is about who saw the medical report? Is that the actual bones of it? What did.the form you signed for occ health say?

Have I missed it barclay, or has occupation or profession or line of work been mentioned?

If you mean the employment tribunal, then to get closure to this and acknowledgment that procedures and policies were not followed. They have made a small offer with a gagging order which I have refused. I have said I don't want a gagging order and ACAS to look at the case independently.

ACAS will not evaluate your case independently. Only an Employment Tribunal (or court) will do this. Going to an Employment Tribunal is certainly an option but it is time consuming, stressful and requires committment so you need to think carefully about whether this is the route you want to go down.

I would say it is worth writing to your employer make it clear exactly what you want them to do to bring this matter to a close. It sounds like your employer thinks you just want money, if you want something else you should tell them. It sounds like there is more to this than someone forwarding a medical report and I think it would be a mistake to focus too much on that (especially as, in my opinion, this does not sound like something they did wrong or a breach of the DPA as it was relevant to the grievance).

Confidentiality clauses are pretty standard. It might be difficult to get them to agree to anything without one. Thinking practically, if you are not intending to stay with the company you can ask them to agree to a standard form reference to stop them telling future employers you were dismissed or whatever.

You are complaining that a confidential medical report, to be read by a named person only, has been passed on to others? You are right, this is a breach of the DPA and probably legislation on medical disclosures but your company lawyers will argue that this is only true for doctors TREATING you, not for OH assessments and evn the lawyers wont know which is correct because it has never been tested in court. It looks like the manager has acted upon that information in a manner that is detrimental to you.

Now, as asked, what do you want doing about it? you can complain to the ICO who will probably tell the company off and ask them not to do it again or you can ask the company to make good its errors by destroying the files so there is no repetition. With regard to the grievance procedures not being followed, what do you want the company to do that is different? Do you think you have a future at this company and if you dont then a confidentiality clause binding both sides is no bad thing if it meand you get a good reference