Interview with HR

[Dlister67]

Hey all

Wondering if I can get some help here

I've been told to expect to receive a communication from my HR department shortly asking me to attend a meeting to discuss potential bullying

To give abit of context I work a senior analyst for a company and part of my role is to ask other members of the team to do certain tasks but we have a team member that doesn't like to do this and activtley refuses to do this

On one occasion I had asked this person to perform an action they did not do this so I enquired how he was getting on and got a one word answer to which I then raised the issue to my manager and senior manager because it was a time sensitive task and needed to be completed

This wasnt recieved well and a informal chat then happened with HR to which the person in question laid out how they felt and was told by his immediate manager and senior manager that I have the right to do this and ask what is being done

This then settled for around 6 months but now the employee has decided to raise a formal complaint which leads us to present day

Onto my questions

I've never attended one of these meetings and although I know I haven't bullyed this person I do not know the evidence that they think they have or the allegations they are making only that I will be contacted soon for an interview

So question 1 if these allegations are found to have no basis does the record of the compliant stay on my record?

Question 2 what is the best way to handle this should I go in and be understanding of the situation and the person's feeling or just state the facts and how it is

Question 3 if the complaint is unfounded can I at the same time raise a complaint of upwards bullying by this person as I'm sure there using the internal policy's to punish me

Question 4 is there no time limit on raising these concerns surely if they raised it before and was told I did nothing wrong surely they can't just raise it again

Any help here would be good I'm stressing about this and stressing about the outcomes that could happen

[ULA]

Sorry to hear you are feeling stressed about the current situation at work. In answer to your questions:

1. If a formal complaint is raised then this would have be be dealt with as a grievance so yes records will need to be kept by HR, even if the grievance is not upheld. Records would typically include the formal complaint letter, notes from any investigation meetings with relevant parties, notes from the grievance meeting held with the complainant and then the written outcome of the grievance. If this is appealed then the documents surrounding the appeal and outcome should also be held. I am not sure what processes your company's HR department have but generally these would be placed on the complainant's personnel record.

They may decide to place a file note on the complained of person's record to the effect of a grievance was raised against that person with some brief details but that the grievance was not upheld. However if it was decided that disciplinary action needed to be taken against the person complained of then all of the documentation relating to this process would be held on that person's file.

2. My view is that the best way to deal with these things is to answer the questions you are asked as factually as possible, to the best of any recollection you have, regarding the complained of facts.

3. The decision for you to respond with a formal grievance of your own is down to you, however I would just caution whether this this would be the best course of action. A better approach to consider may be an informal discussion with HR regarding whether, if there are instances of tasks being assigned to this individual and then having to be followed up, his is done by someone else, thereby avoiding this as a potential ongoing issue.
It may be that HR, as part of any investigation if a grievance/complaint is raised, may suggest this as a resolution.

4. If the person is now raising a complaint / grievance about something that happened 6 months ago, as a one off instance, then this potentially becomes difficult for HR to investigate after this period of time, given the reliability of the memories of people involved. However, if the complaint is a detailed as a series of allegations of bullying over a period of time, with more recent events, then this makes investigation something that HR should undertake.

I hope that this helps answer your questions but if there is anything further just come back to this thread.

[Dlister67]

ULA thank you so much for your feedback

that answers all my questions and it was as i had thought

[Dlister67]

Hi ULA

Just one more thing I was wondering do they have to give me the statement from the person who made the complaint and also do I get to see all evidence before the meeting takes place and if so how much time should I request to review everything?

Regards
Dlister

[Dlister67]

Hi ULA

Just one more thing I was wondering do they have to give me the statement from the person who made the complaint and also do I get to see all evidence before the meeting takes place and if so how much time should I request to review everything?

Regards
Dlister

further to this i have been informed that according to our policy they do not provide me with anything they invite me to a "fact finding meeting" where they will ask me questions about the allegations about me i will not be allowed anyone else to attend the meeting with me to take any note and i will not know anything about the complaint until the meeting

can they do this without providing me anything before the meeting?

[ULA]

From what you have set in your latest post the company seems to have decided to conduct an investigation of the complaint of potential bullying, from which they will decide whether to take any disciplinary action. The whole purpose of the investigation is to “fact find” and this is likely to include meetings with the complainant, any witnesses and the person against whom the complaint has been made.

In terms of inviting an individual to an investigation meeting then the person should be written to with confirmation of the date, time and location, ensuring that reasonable notice has been given. In addition, good practice as set out by ACAS, the letter would include:

* the name of the investigator and what their role is
* the reason for the meeting
* an explanation that the meeting is only to establish the facts of the matter and is not a disciplinary meeting
*a request to keep the reason for the meeting, and any discussions that take place, confidential
*whether there is a right to be accompanied to the meeting albeit that in a investigation meeting there is not legal right to be accompanied
*that it may be a disciplinary issue if they unreasonably refuse or fail to attend the investigation meeting.

The level of detail provided in advance, is therefore much less than would be required if you were being asked to attend a disciplinary hearing.