Hostile work environment - bereavement

[LegalBugle]

Hello,

My father died in October. My mother has a receptionist job at a healthcare centre and has returned to work relatively recently, after a few months of bereavement leave.

My mother feels like some people in her reporting line are picking on her. For example, last week she had been away from her desk (upset) for 10 mins and was then berated in front of her colleagues by a manager. She has "adjustments" from the centre's Occupational Health team that specifically allows for her to step away from her desk if she needs to.

She is going to speak to a manager to try and ensure it doesn't happen again. There is a formal grievance process but the idea of it stresses her out a lot. If she is forced to quit her job/reduce her hours because of how she is being treated, it would be good to know if there are any legal remedies available to her. Can anyone help me?

Thanks

[ULA]

Sorry to hear about the situation your mother is in at the moment. She is most definitely doing the right thing by speaking to a manager and seeing if the issue can be resolved informally, particularly given the fact that there is this recommendation from OH.

Unfortunately of this does not resolve the situation then your mother would need to raise a grievance formally in accordance with the healthcare centre's policy.

If she did leave her job as a consequence a possible course of action would be to claim constructive dismissal, however the onus would be on her to prove that the employer had committed such a serious breach of her employment contract she had no option but to leave in response. Constructive dismissals are not always easy to prove and it would need to be a claim with the Employment Tribunal.

So I really do suggest that your mother tries informally to secure some reassurances that she will be given the space she needs for the time being. It may even be just a lack of communication with the managers not being informed that your mother has been given this "adjustment".

If things do not get better then please just come back onto the forum but I hope that helps.