Investigatory hearing - ** RESOLVED **

[moll 61]

Enclosed is email I sent to CEO and Ops manageron 30/8/12 and still have no response , I am thinking may be time for ET any advise please

 

Dear Sir

 

 

 

As you may be aware, I was sent a letter on 30th April 2012 to attend an Investigatory meeting at xxx to answer a Grievance submitted by xxxx re;

 

A)My conduct toward Mr xxx

 

B)Alleged neglect of residents at xxx

 

I attended the meeting on 4th May despite being off with a prolapsed disc as these were such serious allegations.

 

 

 

The meeting was conducted by yyyyy. I answered all questions put to me and backed it up with documentary evidence and was consequently seen by fffff to inform me that he was satisfied there was no case for me to answer.

 

 

 

As I believed that these allegations were unfounded and of malicious intent I put in a counter Grievance re False and Malicious allegations on the 6thJune 2012. This was investigated by ttttt. Since then I have heard nothing. This has caused me so much stress, pain and anguish both at work and more importantly at home, due to my wifes fear of me complaining, thinking I will be losing my job. Also she has a very good working and personal relationship with xxxx and the fact that he tried to get me into serious trouble has caused immense pressure at home resulting in arguments.

 

 

 

At all times I have tried to go down the mediation route, firstly with Mr xxx at the outset, but he said “I will see you across a table”. During all the grievance procedures I have always been open to mediation but this has not been taken up by anyone. Thus causing awkwardness when Mr xxxx has cause to come to head office, twice resulting in me having to leave the building due to anxiety attacks, one was really severe and was witnessed by 1111, 2222 and 3333 much to my embarrassment. Though they were very supportive.

 

 

 

Since this situation, I feel I have been treated unfairly. As my condition has or was likely to or has lasted 12 months I fall under the Disability and Equality act of 2010. I do not feel that reasonable adjustments were made with my physical health or due to my medication.

 

 

I was told by TTTTT that the reasonable adjustment they were making was that they were taking me out of the houses and putting me in resettlement. I would HAVE to work 9-5, this was not conducive with my medication. As I was unable to drive at times, finishing at 5pm meant I had to get the 10 past 5 bus to 5555 which frequently left me standing for up to 45 mins due to rush hour capacity. This was despite information on my fit note from my GP.

 

 

I had no induction into what was happening as a resettlement worker, please see day log for 1st June 12

 

 

 

 

I was called into a meeting with TTTT and YYYY on 14/6/12. I was given the following instructions ( you may remember me coming to see you after it)

 

a, If I have to take medication I was to inform TTTT (not who to inform, if any one should he not be around).

 

b, If I have to leave early due to pain it will be treated as a sick day (unlike any one else)

 

c, If I am sent home if a manager deems me unfit to work, as above (legally I believe this to be medical suspension and therefore not treated as sick)

 

d, I was told that Croner had said that in their view that I was fit to work in the hostels, but the society wanted what was best for me. I was always under the impression that this would be the decision of a medically qualified person i.e. my GP or Occupational health, this one comment dashed my trust in the whole meeting,

 

 

 

 

On 15/6/12 TTTT asked for a volunteer to stay on til 5pm to man the phone, so that every one else could leave early at 1630, I volunteered.

 

The following Friday 22/6/12 TTTT had finished around lunch time. SSSS, 2222 and myself gave the resettlement office a thorough clean through and sorted through various donations that had mounted up in the week. After I was in some discomfort, 1111 suggested I leave early as I had stayed on the previous Friday that I go early. I had to phone my wife to come pick me up, she arrived approx 1620 and we left 1625.

 

The following Monday I was called up to the tea room by TTTT who claimed he came back at 1610 and I had gone. "You do not leave early without my permission" I pointed out he was not there at 1610 as I did not leave until 1625 as witnessed by 1111, 2222 and my wife. I believe he embellished the time for his own reasons , and was trying to assert some sort of authority. I did not bother to argue over something so trivial, I thought it was an inferred practice on a Friday afternoon, obviously not!

 

 

 

 

On the 2/8/12 TTTT had me sign a scrap of Foolscap paper with the few hours (three I believe) and a day I had had off sick, no reason as to why!

 

I found out this month I had £100 stopped out of my salary, no written reason why or anything on my payslip, in fact I hadnt noticed it until my wife pointed it out.

 

Advised by ACAS that this may be an unlawful deduction of wages under Section 13 of the employment rights act 1996. Though I have not looked into this as yet. As my time off was to do with my ongoing condition covered by the Disability act 2010 I believe on this alone no deduction should have been made.

 

 

 

As staff do unfortunately have to leave work when becoming unwell with no penalty at all,I can site numerous incidents of this so why am I being singled out?. Many times during my stint in resettlement I have gone without lunch breaks as usually it is only LLLL and myself on and she finishes at 1300. I do not claim toil for this as I see it as an unavoidable part of the job due to staff shortages.

 

 

 

 

I often look at the day logs and see the houses in need of staff assistance, when I broached to TTTT that I could easily help out in the houses as long as i have support in doing any manual lifting, I was told there is a Health and Safety risk that I may be injured by being pushed by a service user!! But regularly have to go out and deal with some of our more chaotic clients who are intoxicated on his instruction which I find quite ironic.

 

 

 

 

During my 7 years with the Society I have never refused to do anything I am asked, I may voice my objections to certain things I feel are wrong, but always do as I am asked. Maybe some people feel intimidated with the experience I have, this experience I try and use to the betterment of the Society. Twice I personally have asked for Supported Accommodation staff to get together to deal with certain problems (alcohol policy, How to work consistently with fewer staff) sessions I have led with flipchart and pen, and we have always come to a positive conclusion. This in part I believe leads to xxxx feeling undermined as it is something I believe he should be taking the lead on. This culminating in the position we are in now. I have no wish to hold a middle management role and enjoy the face to face work with our clients, but am always ready to give advice on areas where I have years of experience. As per my email to you last month, I have recently completed a presentation for drug awareness to deliver to our staff. Much of this was done in my time at home. Imagine my deflation when I receive an email inviting me to a drug awareness course run by a different agency (with a penalty of £100 to staff who do not attend) My presentation style is relaxed and humorous to make the subject more interesting, and is aimed at our staff and the work we do. I am also in the midst of completing a life skills course aimed at our clientele including such things as communication skills, problem solving, budgeting, tenancy rights and other things which would cover a lot of our support plans and would be a great help to our SA staff in completing support plans if this was used as some form of induction.

 

 

 

 

I am hoping that you will (informally) look into this,especially as I have done nothing wrong, as I do not wish to make a formal complaint at this time, but I think the time limit for dealing with a grievance from the 6th of June to be totally unacceptable especially as it is causing stress to my family and myself. These are consequences that I do not feel have been thought about.

 

My GP did suggest I may need to take "timeout" as the stress of this combined with my medical condition (which I am happy to say is improving) and the current withdrawal symptoms I am suffering at present, due to the lessening of Tramadol intake which may take approximately 10 weeks, then a slow withdrawal from Gabapentin due to the risk of seizures. My saving grace has been working in resettlement, the support of staff (including TTTT) to which I am grateful, especially as it is one area I would not like to have worked in but have thoroughly enjoyed.

 

 

 

I certainly hope you take this in a gracious way as it is not my intent to cause any ill feeling , I just want free of this stressful situation for myself, my family and the society to which I remain totally loyal despite the ludicrous allegation made against me in the first place.

Sincerely

 

Me

 

I as of yet not received a reply or acknowledgement, any ideas? ET all answers gratefully received

 

I have recently been sent to another town on the odd day to man a ressetlement/drop in centre on my own, so why can I not work in the hostels?

Edited September 11, 2012 by moll 61

[moll 61]

Have just had a horrible thought, I put my original grievance in on 6/6/12 so am i out of the 3 month time limit for ET?

[moll 61]

or is it 3 months from the decision which has not yet been made?

[lbruk]

You should lodge your ET1 within 3 months from the event that is causing your complaint. The tribunal will not accept that the grievance process is not complete as an excuse for lateness of the submission of the ET1

[moll 61]

This whole episode has now drawn to a close, after investigations by the Board and the CEO and a case conference discussion with a Tribunal, all have agreed that I was poorly treated, it took all this just to get heard. The reason I am posting is that at times for us non-legally trained peeps it is very difficult to articulate our story, but if you believe you are right then you have to go it alone and understand and accept that people do not understand what you are trying to put across, as frustrating as it is. I will be contatcting ACAS to call off tribunal as soon as I can this year as I have received an apology for my treatment and the employee handbook will be re written. I am not naive to think that my employee did not explore every avenue open to them, but as long as you stick to the facts you will get through, I was advised that this process would be long and unpleasant, which it was, One bully has suffered the consequences of his actions, not that I am pleased, I would rather he didnt bully in the first place. But to all, do not give up if you do not get the answer you were after on here, as your problem can get lost in articulation, and some times you have to know the characters involved and the local work place politics, something the caggers are not privvy to. Thanks to all who took the time to respond in what at times seemed to be a maze of threads.

[honeybee13]

Hello again.

 

I'm very pleased you have finally achieved justice - what you have said sounds quite far-reaching. Well done and thank you for telling us. I'll change your thread title.

 

All the best for the future, HB