Manager admitted she "****ed in my water bottle"

[motherclucker]

Yes seriously !!!!!!!!!

I am posting on behalf of my friend who is from Canada, she has been working in this country for social services for a year and a half as a deputy manager, during this time she has been subject to the most horrendous bullying and intimidation you can imagine (I have been witness to this on at least 2 occasions). She has reported the perpitrators to the relevant departments and at last they are investigating, ANYHOW just yesterday it came to light that her fellow deputy manager was bragging to other staff members that she and another female employee had "****ed in the ****'s water bottle" ( I cant bring myself to type such a word), a relief worker was present at the time and was so disgusted she told my friend who called for a meeting with this woman and their manager, at the meeting the deputy manager admitted she said it but was "only joking", my friend left the meeting saying she is going to take this further. I have tried to break this down as much as it still makes sense there is a long history of this deputy manager ( a woman who has worked there for 20 years and is in her fifties) intimidating staff, even the manager covers up for her, staff have been too frightened to speak out they have seen what has happened to my friend when she did.

I would be grateful for advice on what to do next, even though they might not have urinated in her drinking water bottle, the thoughts still there, she does not want ot eat or drink anything at work, the manager wants her to keep quiet about this (she has never offered any support and has always sided with the other deputy manager). I personally (knowing all the history) think that she has, one example ( believe me there are plenty) currently being investigated - dropping food on the floor and then watching an unaware staff member eat it, bragging about it to her cronies after, this is a woman who is partly responsible for managing the care and rehabilitation of vunerable youth.

Am I right in thinking that this woman should have been sacked immediatly for gross misconduct and also, I feel that my friend has been poisened intentially - she has been ill on and off with stomach problems over the last year, although I know it would be hard to prove this was the cause but surely there must be something she can do.

[*Twinkle*]

Hi Mother Clucker,

 

I felt sick reading your post and I am so sorry that your friend is going through this. I don't know much about laws and things but I just wanted to give my opinion.

 

I think your friend is being abused by her manager and needs to do something about it. If it was my friend I would tell them to look at making an offical complaint against the manager, also start documenting incidents and collecting any evidence, witnesses etc.

 

Hopefully someone will come along who can be more helpful and give you a more concrete course of action.

 

Good luck x

[Sidewinder]

This is absolutely appalling.

 

I don't know the nature of your friend's work within Social Services, but it is essential that she raises this matter immediately. If this woman is holding a position of responsibility within SS and behaves in this manner she needs to be stopped now. If you feel that the manager would not be strong enough to deal with this, or will try to hush it up then I strongly suggest the following.

 

Your friend needs to raise a written grievance citing bullying and harassment at work, listing those instances where she has been victimised, and naturally detailing the most recent at the top of the list. You must not shy away from using the actual words which were spoken, however unpleasant, and should give details of other staff who were present. This grievance needs to be addressed to the manager's immediate superior, and copied to the manager, and should request a meeting as a matter of urgency in order to discuss the situation.

 

Of course if the letter is not actioned appropriately or the organisation drags their heels over this, then action through a Tribunal will be the next natural progression, and on the basis of what you have said here, heads will roll. It doesn't matter whether your friend's water bottle was 'topped up' or not, the mere suggestion even if intended to be a joke is a serious matter, which when corroborated with other instances of intimidation in the workplace has to be treated with the contempt which it deserves, and your friend would not have been overreacting to take this to the Police. If this were to happen to somebody of a different colour for example, it would (and may still be here) a matter for the newspapers, let alone an employment dispute.

 

Your friend will undoubtedly have the support of everybody here with whatever action she takes.

[Sidewinder]

Sorry - forgot to add that the alternative route would be a Constructive Dismissal one, whereby your friend would perhaps take some sick leave, then decide that she is being forced out of her job through the actions of the deputy manager. This may still be the end result, but far better to have evidence of trying to resolve the issue through grievance in the first instance.

[Guest wino]

I agree with the above she has got to follow this through. As it goes further other collegues may well come forward and speak up. Nobody has the right to make another person unhappy. I'm appauled at antics of this suposably grown up woman with a responsible job.

 

(sorry about the spelling mistakes-my brain is having a day off:o )

[Jemms00]

I agree with Sidewinder, a grievance needs to be submitted ASAP. She needs to enclose a chronology of events of all the incidents, and at this point ask her to try get witness statements. Reason being that people will most likely not do so if it escalates (obviously you will provide a statement but employers tend to warn people off so it would be wise to get those statements now). If your friend has home/car insurance with legal expenses it would be useful to utilize their legal helpline, not only does that get you good advice but it also shows that you followed their advice - which is good if/when you make a claim.

 

As far as taking it to Tribunal, I have been disheartened by this service offered to people. A friend recently went through a lot of bullying at work, and she took her employers to the Tribunal who stated that unlesss she could determine what factor caused the treatment no real action can be taken (this is my experience, I'm sure other people have their own stories). Remember there are tight time limits with the Tribunal so she really needs to move fast. It's either 3 months from the incident, or 6 months if a greivance submitted after the incident. I hope your friend gets some justice after this, her colleagues seem like a bunch of animals.

[motherclucker]

Thank-you all so much for your replies, sorry haven’t been on line for a few days so here's what’s been happening.

My friend submitted a grievance on Monday 3rd citing 'gross misconduct' ,mal-practice, harassment and bullying, it was hand delivered to her manager plus a copy went her managers superior, she wrote every incident in detail and also went to see the union who she said were quite irritated that she had already handed the grievance in and she should have come to them first and let them write it for her, they (the union) have told her to let them deal with this grievance in future, she is seeing them this Friday. Her doctor has signed her off for 2 weeks. Reading through the grievance procedure it states that if there is an allegation of gross misconduct by a member of staff the manager should suspend them immediately whilst there is an investigation, I do not know why this has not happened. Her main witness is (to my knowledge at this present time) still backing her up verbally but she is still waiting for their statement, 2 other witnesses have come forward in the last couple of days and said they will write a statement.

I will keep updating the thread as I get more news, its a bit difficult as she's based up North and doesn't have the internet, we call most days and - hubby permitting (always since we got the sports channels) I'll go up and stay like last weekend, I told her about this site and passed on the advice given as this was really encouraging, she is definitely following this through.

Thanks again to everyone - MC

[Jemms00]

Hi MC - If she works for SS she is working for the Local Authority right? It would be good to find out if the people she has reported are also represented by the Union. Also request a copy of the grievance procedure, and send an additional letter to follow with the grievance asking for reasons as to why the policy was not followed in regards to suspending the perpetrators. This is something she may wish to do following the investigation. I'd also like to pre-warn her that the investigation outcome may suggest that no bullying took place; this is a tactic HR usually use to scare the aggrieved in not taking things further. I'm sure there are lots of people who have had great experiences of the Union; however I’m not one of them. I can understand why they were irritated by her submitting the grievance, as she has taken REAL action. If you talk to any good legal advisor/solicitor they would tell you to put your complaint in writing. This way the employers have no choice but to investigate. Again I would push for those statements, people are very keen and willing to help at first but once they know their jobs/careers are on the line this support disappears fast, I've experienced this myself, with people I'd worked for and called my ‘friends’ for many years.

 

I know she must be going through hell right now, but ask her to make notes of each and every incident/contact made with her employers (with date/time/name of individual). When I was going through something similar I couldn't sleep at night as I'd be thinking about the delays taking place, all the crap I had to deal with etc.. so I would write things down to get it out of my system. This will also help if the matter escalates. She will need to create a chronology of events, sometimes its hard to prove if things took place or not, however if she keeps a note of each call/contact she has had with her employers that will be her evidence of how they dealt with her grievance. Like I said it’s hard to be organised in a situation like this, I found it useful to keep things documented and in order.

 

Wish her luck and if she wants to talk to someone about bullying etc.. there are many anti-bullying services/foundations online who offer support via forums or over the telephone, I can send you links if you wish.

[REDDRAGON]

Good God.

This is terrible. My two pennoth worth. Wether this woman did it or not it is irrelavent the mere fact that she hinted that she did is enough. Urine is a bodily fluid and as such is a bio hazard. I know that there are some people that allegadly drink their own urine but that is their choice. Your friend was put in a position that she did not know what she was drinking or that it might potentially harm her.

 

I think that not only should she inform the police (as this is a bio hazard it may well come under the prevention of terrorism act) your friend should also have a word with her local health and safety executive I'm sure that they would be mightily impressed at the employers actions. Maybe she should hint to her senior management that she is seeking advice from outside sources about this. Any way what ever she does I hope she has no lasting effects of this.

 

As an aside, many years ago when I was working in the building trade one of the lads noticed that his milk that he used to bring in for his coffee was continually being drunk. One day he urinated in his half bottle of milk stuck a bio hazard label on the front sealed the top and placed the bottle back in the fridge. End of shift his milk had been drunk when he shouted out loud what he had done que one of the younger lads vommiting in the corner. They tried everything to sack this guy even bringing h&S on sight but they could do nothing to him as he had covered his back by placing warnings on the bottle and sealing it. Needless to say no one ever drank his milk after that.

[Gogivit]

Motherclucker,

 

During the last ten years of being employed, I have been responsible for the following:

 

1 area manager being sacked

 

1 team leader resigning

 

1 (very senior) manager resigning

 

What all three had in common, was disrespect for their staff and being bullies!

 

So if I can inspire you, I would say that you should advise your friend to make a formal complaint to his/hers HR department. In addition I think that someone claiming to have pi---d in someone elses drink- whether she did or not, should reflect that the person may be unstable therefore this should also be addressed.

 

Good luck

[Gogivit]

I forgot to mention that although I am responsible for all 3 staff members terminated employment- I am in fact a very nice person

[bed32]

If you don't think that the employer is taking it seriously then you can always consider using the Protection from Harassment Act. It is likely that what has happened amounts to a criminal offence under the act although it is unlikely that you will be able to get them prosecuted. However if you have witnesses to two or more examples of such behaviour then ring up your local police station and report it as a crime.

 

You can also take civil action under the same law. Again if you can provide reliable witnesses to two or more instances then you can bring a case in the court, firstly to get compensation and you can also get an order preventing a repetition. Should they breach such an order it would be straight to gaol.