Unfair disciplinary dropped - options against employer

[Guest]

Hi all,

I've recently been subject to an unfair investigation which went to a hearing but was dropped halfway through on the following grounds that I raised before I even got a chance to present my evidence which would rebut the allegations anyway:

Length of time of investigation (1 year)
Refusal of investigating officer to interview witnesses
Refusal to accept a witness and a witness testimonies.
Sharing of my statement with a witness

They're the main ones but there were also other complaints which I won't go into.

Needless to say this has caused me some mental health problems (depression and stress resulting in a couple of months absent from work). I now believe, looking back and after reviewing my witnesses testimonies, that I have been bullied by a senior manager for the past couple of years who has tried to make me a scapegoat for his and other managers failings (I won't go into the details, but I have agreement and support of my colleagues on this including line managers not involved).

I'm still working there while looking for a new job, but I'm looking at my options in terms of taking action against my employer. Can I sue them whilst still employed or do I have to leave first? Also do I have to leave straight away if I were to sue or bring a claim against them? I don't want to be without a job and despite everything, I do enjoy my job but will leave eventually.

Any advice great fully appreciated.

[Skaypgote]

Just seen that I posted this by mistake in the welcome forum and not employment. My apologies.

[ULA]

No worries and I have moved the thread.

Your first option would be to raise a grievance against your employer, either informally first and if this did not deal with the matter then you would need to raise it formally.

There are potentially two other options for making a legal claim for stress against your employer. These are not easy claims to bring, but they do happen. The claim would be either for personal injury or constructive dismissal.

A personal injury claim arises from the duty of care that employers have to their staff and to ensure that they provide a safe system of work. You would have to have suffered a recognised psychiatric illness, such as clinical depression and you would have to prove this was caused by stress at work and no outside factors. In addition, you would need to show that it was reasonably foreseeable by your employer that you would develop a mental illness and in turn this means that your employer will need to have been aware of your worsening condition.

A constructive dismissal claim has to be based on your resignation from the company. You would have to show that your employer is in breach of the term implied into every contract of employment to provide a safe system of work, and which has also led to a breach of the further implied term of mutual trust and confidence between employer and employee. The breach must be sufficiently serious for you to resign and you would normally be expected to lodge a grievance first.

[Skaypgote]

Many thanks, and apologies for the delay in replying - a pesky virus has kept me somewhat busy.

I have been advised that I should raise a formal grievance which I will be doing shortly.* It has also been suggested to me that I submit a GDPR request for emails and other data in relation to the investigation, which I am sure would be most illuminating.* Could any kind soul advise on how I should go about this?*

I have a main concern that if my section manager finds out, relevant emails would be "accidentally deleted", so I think it would be best to request the information before submitting the grievance, but then I'd be less likely to have the request granted, or am I overthinking this?* Also, do I need to mention specifics or just generalise the request (such as emails between X dates to and from persons X Y and Z in relation to the investigation)?* This is a local authority I work for btw if that helps.*

Thanks again for any responses.

[ULA]

What you will need to do to get hold of the information held about you is submit a subject access request (SAR) requesting any personal data that is held about you including any information from which you can be identified, directly or indirectly.

The employer must respond to a subject access request without "undue delay" and at the latest within one month of receipt of the subject access request. If the request is complex, the employer can extend the time limit for responding to three months.

Here is a link to the ICO website which will be helpful for you in how to set out your request.

https://ico.org.uk/your-data-matters...ccess-request/
*