Bullying, Harrasement and Data Protection Breach at Work

[Tigi]

Hi I wonder if there is anyone out there that can help, my partners work during the period of bad adverse weather couldnt get into work and phoned in to let them know, his HR dept took it apon themselves to take his mobile number off his HR file which was down for emergency contact only and passed it to 4 members of staff in order to contact him for work related purposes, is this allowed. He challenged this and said that he wasnt happy with it and put in a official grievance against his boss and put it into the HR department, he didnt receive a reply until recently when he had to put in another complaint against his boss for trying to force him to do overtime at 5pm one evening when he said that he couldnt as he had commitments to get back home too, she then threatened him by saying you either lose your plans this evening or you cant go to your partners maternity appointment in the morning even though this had been approved over a week ago. He therefore then made another greivance chasing up the one that he already placed and included the new one, to get a reply saying he had to take this up with his boss but she is the one he has the greivance with, also in responce to the phone number being given out he was told it was necesssary as he had failed to phone in and speak to his boss on the day of question this is untrue as I have the bt phone bill here confirming he had phoned in and was here when he did. What can he do, I feel like he is being bullied in the work place. He is consantly made to feel that he can not take holiday as its alwasy too incovieant for the business.

[papasmurf1cx]

Surely the snow conditions was an emergency? Is there any other reason why the people in question should not have his mobile number? Seems reasonable to me.

 

Bullying and harassment is very difficult to prove and, without knowing the specifics, what you have described seem over zealous management. We see this a lot managers making a name for themselves and wanting to get on will do most things to prove their worth. However getting enough to prove that it is bullying and harasment is an uphill struggle.

 

It is not right that official grievances are ignored though, is this a public authority or private company? There should be policies governing this has your husband got them?

 

Is there some sort of power struggle going on here, eg management v union?

[Tigi]

Hi, I dont believe phoning him all morning was a emergency no, not when they already knew where he was he phoned 6 different numbers to let them know he was stuck and couldnt get into the office due to over a foot of snow and to pass it to other members of the office I think is disgusting and a breach of his privacy especially as they are still trying to use this number now to contact him when he is in the office just because he is busy and not at his desk, its his own personal mobile, his boss even asked for my mobile number in order to get hold of him should she need too, I think this is wrong.

 

He has managed to get a copy of the bully and harrasement policy, the real reason it was inconvient for work was because his boss was off on holiday in the afternoon and didnt have anyone to cover not really his fault if public transport wasnt running due to snow and the car stuck.

 

Yes there is big up rore at the company at the moment due to redudancies and unfair treatment with a lot of people going through acas

[papasmurf1cx]

I don't want to sound as if I am putting down your husband's problem because I am sure that what has happened in the workplace is aggravating to him and you. However I doubt that much can be done on the breach of privacy. You could complain to the Information Commissioner but it is a lot of work for the employer to be told to not do it again!!

 

Has it continued to cause problems to you? If so the simple answer is change the phone number and don't tell HR.

 

Is he in line for redundancy?

[jimmylesaint]

Hi

Data protection act, privacy over giving out your husbands phone number. Tough one, lots of effort for little reward, as papa says, they may be told not to do it again.

Personally no one knows my mobile, if they did find out and call me on it, then i hope they won't be offended when i tell them where to go.

Bullying needs to be detailed each time the manager victimises and harrasses your husband. Overzealous managers? Perhaps after only a few things having happened but when you build up a diary of continuing little niggles then it is simply serial bullying.

Keep a diary of every incident.

[jimmylesaint]

ooh forgot to mention i have a Data Protection issue, everyone in our department can see your mobile number(not mine:)home number, full address, DOB. It is on the intranet so all of IT and Managers can access it as well. Crazy old world

[Atlas01]

I used to suffer the same problem so i got a phone that can be set to only allow numbers that are stored in it (contacts) to ring through. If i'd pursued it through the employer/telling people don't ring me i'd be blue in the face now as it's amazing what other people class as an emergency.

 

It doesn't appear that he will get what he wants so be creative, learn the numbers of the other people and simply ignore them when not working. they can't complain as it's a personal phone, that way he's not taking on the employer when your in a redundancy situation and who he speaks to goes back to his choice.(just make sure he does not tell them this)

[jimmylesaint]

True, maybe you can list the numbers calling with your service provider so they can be banned:)

[helencb]

re the opening post, the bad weather, I dont think it is particularly unreasonable to hand phone no out to someone who has called in because of the weather, perhaps they needed his advice. It happens all the time, hard to say that is bullying. If I had phoned in because of weather I would make sure my colleagues knew how to find me....if they are ringing at 3am in the morning when you are off duty it is a different matter, of course..