Hi,

I've had my grievance with my very large employer upheld in full (shocked!)

The grievance related to a number of issues which they bullet pointed as

Refusal to implement Reasonable adjustments in relation to my disability ,

attendance and welfare procedures not followed at all

Treated unfairly and differently to other employees by my senior manger.

Incorrect information given to me which caused me to fear for my job.

And confidentiality issues by my team manager.

I'm delighted that the investigation was done properly and they took my evidence seriously.

The company has said they will be issuing retraining to people involved and making company wide learning points.

During the investigation meeting i was asked what outcome I wanted if it was upheld,

I requested an exit package as I no longer felt comfortable working with my manager and senior manager.

However the grievance letter says they feel mediation is more appropriate.

Where do I stand in refusing mediation?

I've told my employer that I feel the relationship has irretrievably broken down and even if I moved teams the senior manager would be the same.

I feel mediation is not appropriate as they are such a senior manager they hold all the power in the situation and that it could not be a balanced mediation.

To be honest I've lost all trust in her and my team.

I just want to start again,

I'll never forget the horrible things she has done and said.

If they insist on mediation and I quit my job do I have ground for constructive dismissal.

Ive been off since this started with stress, early conciliation has ended,

I have 3 weeks left to make a claim if needed but i dont know if I can or should.

i just want to hide under a rock and cry:(

can anyone help

Hiya

Length of service plz

10 yrs

Why would you leave now that the fun has just began?

They've admitted that you have been discriminated against and they will retrain people involved.

This means that from now on the perpetrators will need to be extremely careful with you.

I would stay and carry on with my job, all the while laughing at them in a nice way: be very polite to them, greet them with a big smile and entertain personal conversation about how the kids are doing etc.

In other words pretend this never happened.

If you do this it will make them extremely uncomfortable and disoriented, they will fear a secret payback plan.

After a couple of weeks you'll love the wind up and the positive attention you'll get.

I'm sorry, but if you make a claim now, you will not win. The employer has offered a reasonable outcome, and the fact that it isn't the outcome that you want is not something the law cares about. If you no longer like the employer, you have the same options as anyone else - get past that feeling, or find another job. The purpose of the law, and of the grievance procedure, is to prevent people from losing their jobs unreasonably and to fix "what is wrong". To all intents and purpose, this has happened. For you to refuse mediation says that the problem now lies with you - that you aren't willing to believe that the people involved can change. That may be what you believe. And you may be correct. But you have to prove that, not simply say it is true. If it were the other way around, you would expect to be able to get a second chance. Most people do. And you can't "hang" someone for what you believe they might do in the future.

If you genuinely cannot live with this outcome, then you can tell the employer that. They MIGHT provide an offer. But it isn't likely to be very generous because you wouldn't win a tribunal.

It's worth considering, before you do anything precipitously, that grievances are not often upheld, or upheld so completely. That suggests that the company are very serious about this matter (or, to be balanced, very devious, but I suspect this isn't the case as they'd have gone for a partially upheld case). Maybe you need to give them a chance? That was, after all, the purpose of the grievance - to get this fixed.

At Mediation they may well be looking at offering a financial settlement for injury to feelings but they wont want to be offering your severance if the job role is still required as all of this is not about you as an individual but you as a holder of a post.

Try to disassociate the behaviour of the individuals from what you can now gain, namley the reasonable adjustments, the recognition of your needs and so forth. They are likely to think that you want a cash settlement that can be quantified by using the Vento scale. Basically all compensation is an apology so decide the appropriate level.

By wanting to go to Mediation the employer is trying to remove the personal aspects of settling this so it isnt a you and them argument but an arms length deal that allows both sides to feel they have got hat they need to get from the experience. Now for the employer they dotn want to be accused by office gossip of favouritism or whatever so they will say that whatever is decided is because this it the feeling of an outside party as being the right thing even though there is no compulsion to accept on either side.

The people who were in the wrong will have their personnel records marked so even though you wont get to see a public hanging the chances of them climbing the greasy pole is now very much zero for a good while and new policies will hopefully prevent what has happened to you form repeating itsefl or happening to anyone else and that is what is suppoed to be.

So, accept mediation, choose a point on say the middle of the middle vento scale and ask for that with your reasons for choosing that position and see what they come back with. Bottom of scale is £1000 and middle band is £8k to £25k and that is a damned sight more than they would want to pay you as severance knowing that you could still claim against them. If they were thinking on the lines of a nice box of chocolates then they should think again!

They also have a financial commitment in you so they dont want to lose you just like that. Put bluntly, you are an example for them to use for the future and if you left that would represent a failure for both sides

I'm not seeing anything here that suggests the employer is offering mediation between them and the individual to achieve a financial settlement. It appears to be between the individual and the managers to achieve the ability to work together. I can't see any reason whatsoever to assume that the OP would be able to achieve the kind of financial settlement here that you are suggesting. The employer knows that the OP can't make a claim now - well they can, but the chances of winning are exceedingly low. The purpose of a grievance is to fix the employment problem. The employer has done so.

You also can't assume that this is "arms length mediation" - many employers note have their own mediators for situations like this.

fair enough, I thought they were looking at all permutations.

I think you should take the advice given by the previous commentators

The Judge would see it as a mistake made and the company rectified it

In any event, refusal to participate in ADR (eg mediation) is seen as unreasonable conduct and has Cost consequences

I honestly think the company has done well

I'm sorry, but if you make a claim now, you will not win. .

Why do you say this? The outcome has upheld discrimination. This means injury to feelings awards can be made. The Claim can also be lodged whilst employed.

However OP in your shoes I would attend the mediation and see what they have to say.

The OP made mention of Constructive Dismissal and I believe that is what Sangie595 is talking about

A Claim for Constructive Dismissal most likely wouldn't succeed

The employer has admitted its mistakes

A Claim for Discrimination might succeed but there is a high risk that Cost would be made against the OP for unreasonable conduct

The employer has offered to rectify the situation so why is the O taking the issue to court?

Ah quite so a discrim claim may have some merit.

Though I do agree that at this stage it would be premature to do so.