Suspension from work

[ULA]

The wording of the letter confirming the suspension will be based on the facts known at the time. Sometimes during the course of an investigation further information becomes available which may then need to be considered alongside the original allegation.

Are you aware when the meetings were set up with the witnesses to take their statements? Even if there had not been a breach of confidentiality then these same witnesses would have still been asked to provide a statement and would have been made aware of the reason for this. However this is something you can raise at the meeting (sorry you may not read this before the meeting).

[Mike2385]

Good Morning.

I received information that colleagues were talking about my situation on the 27th October. 2 colleagues were interviewed on the 29th October. At least 2 days after the breach.

I raised the concern with my HR department on the 4th November and at the time of my fact find meeting it had not even been looked in to, as they asked me at my fact find if they could approach the people I had mentioned regarding the breach.

Also after.my fact find the manager stated that there was alot of information and along with the fact that I dont recall any of what has being alleged happening, she said I 'think' the only thing to do is to take it to disciplinary.

I'm also aware that the complaint was made by a 3rd party and I believe I was suspended in the back of that complaint before the company had even bothered to contact the person in question.

I would also like to point out that the colleague that was named in the complaint, that I was meant to have made unwanted conduct toward, I have worked with, seen at work and also conversed with many times prior to the complaint being raised. The alleged incident took place back in May. A manager raised an issue with her boss a couple months ago and he contacted her to ask about it and she said nothing happened but now theres a grievance against me. I feel that this is some sort of witch hunt.

[Mike2385]

I would also like to ask, all company policies state that I would be notified in writing for the reason for my suspension, any invited to meeting would be made in writing etc. I'm under the impression that e-mail does not constitute 'in writing'. I have had 1 hard copy out of 3 letters, sent to my is post. All others have been sent via email. Any information would be appreciated.

[ULA]

Given my understanding of what you have said would the person that you are meant to have made the unwanted conduct to provide a witness statement in your defence?

My view is that email is "in writing" and whether the correspondence is sent hardcopy or electronically it is still in written format.

[Mike2385]

No they wouldnt as they have alleged it in their witness statement. But surely I should not have been suspended on receipt of the complaint and only once they had spoken to the person who is making the claims against me should I have then been suspended.

[ULA]

If the company believes the complaint to be such that there is potentially a case of gross misconduct, even though it came from a third party, then yes they can take the course of action to suspend.

It may have been an option to tray and have had a meeting with the actual person that was involved and then make a decision to suspend or temporarily redeploy you if appropriate whilst an investigation was carried out. However that said I do not know the circumstances of the allegation or how easy/quickly it would have been to have had that meeting with the individual. In which case the company may have had no alternative but to suspend you and then as part of the investigation meet with the person concerned

[Mike2385]

Good Evening. After receiving the statements and the 'complaint' I have reviewed the company grievance policy. Apparently, the initial communication was between the colleague and her manager to which he then requested the 'events'. However, her manager has not documented the discussion they had, breaching the company grievance policy and the information stated on the ACAS website. There is no information about where the 'complaint' went after her manager received it. Plus in the company grievance policy there are 5 points outlined that must be followed when making a grievance. The colleague has only followed 1 and the company have taken the grievance forward knowing the policy has not been followed. Her manager, who went in to the meeting with her as her companion, was talking about the situation the day before they were due to give statements with another colleague who also gave a statement. I hope this makes sense.

[Mike2385]

Does anyone have any thoughts on this??

[ULA]

Are you certain of your concerns over the grievance procedure since this would be a matter between the colleague, the manger and if you have one the HR department and not general knowledge as to the way in which is was handled.*

Also do you know whether the matter was followed through on an informal or formal basis, although even on the former there should be a record of any discussions.*

[Mike2385]

There is definitely no record of the discussion. I have asked to see it and there does not seem to be any record of where the email was sent after her manager received it. As far as we are aware her manager did not seek HR advise on receipt of this email.
I asked to see the complaint and all it was was an email requested from her manager that has 'a brief summary of events'. She has not followed the company grievance policy and the company have allowed this to go forward knowing her and her manager have not followed it. The company grievance policy states that it should be on the standard grievance letter, it should state the reasons, it should state what she wants the resolution to be and it should state that she is actually raising a formal grievance. It is definitely a formal grievance as I have asked.*

[ULA]

I am not sure where you are in terms of the rescheduling of the meeting that was due to take place on 4th Nov given your rep would be available after the 19th, has it taken place?

If not then one of the questions you can raise is the issue of how the company managed the grievance process which led to your suspension. **

[Mike2385]

I had my fact find on the 19th November. The so called manager who done that decided to take it to disciplinary despite a total lack of evidence. I've since had a disciplinary on the 2nd December. I've brought more information to the table to which they could not decided on what to do on the day and the investigation continues as the whole 'complaint' seems like a witch hunt.

[ULA]

Thank for the update. I presume that the information you took to the meeting was as part of your defence to the evidence that had been provided by the company when they wrote to you asking you to attend the disciplinary.

Have they give you any timescale as to when they will have reviewed the information you have provided in order that they can determine an outcome to the disciplinary meeting?

[Mike2385]

No I have not been given a timescale. All they said is that it will take some time to deal with. The companion of the person who made the claim, was discussing the situation with another colleague on the 28th October. This was the day before this colleague was due to make a statement.

I feel that once there had been a breach of confidentiality the whole case should have been dropped because clearly someone cant be trusted.

I'm so fed up now. I've been off since the 17th October.

[ULA]

I do understand that this is a very distressing situation for you. It does seems that this process of investigation (albeit not helped by the availability of your union rep) has been slow and there are issues of confidentiality with people not party to the investigation becoming aware of what is going on.

My thought at the moment is whether you have considered raising a grievance around the conduct of the investigation, may be worth a discussion with your union rep and see what they think.