Advice on grievance please

[Fairywonder]

Hi.
I work for a known company, and really am struggling.
I have a disability and have had 2 operations, one in June 2011 where I had a month off, and one in November 2011 where I had 2 months off. Both were a direct result of my disability.

When I returned the first time, things became different, and I was told I had been sneaky with making sure I took over 3 weeks off as I must know that it wouldn't go down as an absence, I knew this but in no way did it on purpose, I needed time to heal and actually went back to work before I should have.


My second operation made my pain worse for the long run. I came back to work on a phased basis under instructions from my doctor.
I had a meeting when I returned and was told that for proof of my operation they needed my medical report.
As I have nothing to hide I gave them access after seeking advice from the union, and they were told I shouldn't work past 6pm as due to my painkillers I was very drowsy by this point, and that I was to be allowed to get up and move around if I was in pain due to my leg problem.

They still put me on the rota to work until 8pm for a while and rarely let me get up to move around as it is "too busy".

My line manager and boss have been utterly vile to me since my last operation.
Asking other colleagues what they thought of me, talking about me nastily behind my back, and telling me I would be put on a disciplinary due to my absences if they continued. These have been confirmed as a disability and all absences linked to it including the seizure I had due to my medication.

They started to tell me I was underperforming when I wasn't.
Constantly getting at me and telling me they would move me down a level and reduce my wage if I didn't improve. They never helped me to improve though.

One morning my boss told my line manager that she should use my not hitting targets as an incentive to get rid. I had hit my target, but as the team as a whole hadn't got a good enough average, managers bonus' would be reduced. I heard her say this as did other members of staff, and she knew we were listening.

This upset me as I heard it loud and clear. My colleague who also witnessed it has written a statement in case I need it.

I have now been marked as under performing in a review, I agree with a fraction of it as I have not met one of 5 targets.
However a reason they have used to justify their view of me as under performing is that I need to realise how it looks to other colleagues when I am off sick and not able to work all shifts.

My line manager asked me today if there was anything bothering me, and that what I said would be confidential and that she would rather me say it to her than "run to HR"

I told her I wasn't happy with the "use it as an incentive to get rid" phrase that the manger had said to her, which she said she didn't remember.

I have now been told that when I left, in front of everyone, my line manager approached the manager and told her that I wasn't happy about it, to which she replied "I knew she would f***ing kick off about that!"
I have now raised a grievance and HR have put it down as dignity at work as they believe my manager has breached this policy. Or that's what I think they think!

I sit between my team leader and the bully of a manager which is making this all the more stressful.
On Tuesday my colleague told me she saw our team leader e-mail the manager about how my droning voice was annoying her and that she was sick of seeing my face.
I obviously have no evidence of this but I was so wound up I was either quitting or demanding to be moved within my department. It took an hour for my union rep to calm me down and build my courage up to return to my desk. I battled through, but had another sleepless night.

On Wednesday, all day, there was an atmosphere along with certain whispering conversations talking place beside me, I couldn't tell what was being said but I was so paranoid it was about me.

I had requested HR to look in to moving me where ever they could, so thought I would hold out,

The sneaky whispering and meetings between my team leader and manager went on all day along with dirty looks and I had had enough.

I knew that my only Options were quitting or signing myself off.

I have been signed off for a week with stress but I just don't know what to do,

Do I even have a case? Should they have let me continue to sit right inbetween the bullies?!



Thanks! X

[bluebottle]

Re: Advice on grievance please

Hi Fairywonder and welcome to Legal Beagles.

What your team leader and line manager are doing amounts to harassment. There are a number of ways this can be addressed.

SECTION 4A, PUBLIC ORDER ACT 1986

This makes it a criminal offence to intentionally cause another person alarm, distress or harassment. Offenders can be fined up to £20,000, or sent to prison for up to six months, or both.

SECTIONS 2, 3 & 7, PROTECTION FROM HARASSMENT ACT 1997

Section 2 makes it a criminal offence to follow a course amounting to harassment against another person. Section 3 provides those being subjected to harassment with a remedy through the civil courts, as opposed to the criminal courts. This involves applying to your local county court on Court Form pf39ch for an injunction which restrains those harassing you from harassing you any further. Failure to comply with an injunction under Section 3 carries a maximum penalty of an unlimited fine, or up to five years' in prison or both. Section 7 makes it an offence to aid, abet, counsel or procure another in a course of conduct amounting to harassment. A person committing an offence under Section 7, will be proceeded against under Section 2 or 3, as appropriate.

A Court of Appeal ruling - Majrowski -v- Guys and St Thomas's NHS Trust 2005 - means that an employer is vicariously-liable for any employee who engages in a course of conduct amounting to harassment against another employee. This means that your employer would be liable for civil damages for what your team leader and line manager have subjected you to.

EQUALITY ACT 2010

Under the Act, you must not be discriminated against due to any of the protected elements, which, in your case, is disability. This can result in criminal and/or civil proceedings being brought against those engaging in the discrimination.

I would strongly advise you to mention what I have posted here to your union rep as the conduct your team leader and line manager are engaged amounts to offences under the criminal law and is, in my considered judgement, sufficient to warrant their dismissal on the grounds of serious misconduct.

Please come back onto this thread should you require any further help or guidance.

BB

[Fairywonder]

Re: Advice on grievance please

Thank you so much for that! That's is exactly what I wanted and more! I will show this to my union rep, I have had a letter through from the director dealing with this with a meeting date of 2nd August. Should I mention these details to him? I am willing to go above and beyond to make sure they never subject anyone else to this torture, and I honestly wouldn't feel bad if they both dismissed. If y grievance isn't upheld or if it is but they make me continue to work for them, can I then take it to a tribunal? I am starting to feel that the whole company doesn't give a damn about people with disabilities! I read in the paper that a blind customer was protesting outside one of our..... This may give away generally where I work but, outside one of our branches as we ignored his disability and we failed to communicate with him in a way that was easy for him. I would love to approach the press about this if they don't deal with it satisfactorily!

Thank you so much for responding!

Fairy wonder

[bluebottle]

Re: Advice on grievance please

Thank you so much for that! That's is exactly what I wanted and more! I will show this to my union rep, I have had a letter through from the director dealing with this with a meeting date of 2nd August. Should I mention these details to him? I am willing to go above and beyond to make sure they never subject anyone else to this torture, and I honestly wouldn't feel bad if they both dismissed. If y grievance isn't upheld or if it is but they make me continue to work for them, can I then take it to a tribunal? I am starting to feel that the whole company doesn't give a damn about people with disabilities! I read in the paper that a blind customer was protesting outside one of our..... This may give away generally where I work but, outside one of our branches as we ignored his disability and we failed to communicate with him in a way that was easy for him. I would love to approach the press about this if they don't deal with it satisfactorily!

Thank you so much for responding!

Fairy wonder

I hate to say this, but if your employers don't smarten up their act pretty sharpish where disabled persons are concerned, they are going to end up facing -

• Criminal Prosecution
• Civil Litigation
• Loss of Reputation, both as a business and an employer
• Loss of Customers

I would make sure your trade union rep accompanies you at this meeting on 2 August 2012 and spells out to this director the consequences of not taking action against the team leader and line manager who are harassing you.

I am attaching PDF copies of the Public Order Act 1986 and Protection from Harassment Act 1997 and an MS Word copy of Court Form pf39ch. Print off as many copies as necessary. Make sure you and your union rep have copies and a copy for this director. Perhaps, when he is faced with the law, itself, this director might take matters seriously. If they attempt to dismiss you, then you would have, in my considered judgement, a strong case to take your employers to an Employment Tribunal for unfair dismissal. I have not attached the Equality Act 2010 as your union rep has probably had training in this legislation.

[Fairywonder]

Re: Advice on grievance please

Thank you I will update here as things happen and will print all information from you and take with me and give to the relevant people along the way.

Thanks

[Fairywonder]

Re: Advice on grievance please

UPDATE
i was signed off with stress on Thursday, and returned today.
I came back to see that my friend who sits next to me is off on holiday, And my friend who sits opposite me has been moved leaving me with just the part time girl, who has been moved opposite me rather than next to me so I can't see her. I felt so excluded that I asked the guy who used to sit opposite why he moved, he said he was told to by the manager. So I emailed her asking if I could move to one of the spare seats that was empty but in the middle of the team so I wasnt on my own. She said no. I asked her again later as as soon as the part time girl finishes for the week tomorrow I will be completely on my own. She consulted the main manager who my grievance is against and came back and said no again.

I feel like they are trying to intimidate me!

I asked my union rep if I could move within the team, and HR have said they aren't moving me until the grievance has been dealt with. Im not sure how to take this and I don't know if it is acceptable to knowingly make me sit there feeling harassed and secluded! The nearest people to me are the bullies!

Help!

[bluebottle]

Re: Advice on grievance please

UPDATE
i was signed off with stress on Thursday, and returned today.
I came back to see that my friend who sits next to me is off on holiday, And my friend who sits opposite me has been moved leaving me with just the part time girl, who has been moved opposite me rather than next to me so I can't see her. I felt so excluded that I asked the guy who used to sit opposite why he moved, he said he was told to by the manager. So I emailed her asking if I could move to one of the spare seats that was empty but in the middle of the team so I wasnt on my own. She said no. I asked her again later as as soon as the part time girl finishes for the week tomorrow I will be completely on my own. She consulted the main manager who my grievance is against and came back and said no again.

I feel like they are trying to intimidate me!

I asked my union rep if I could move within the team, and HR have said they aren't moving me until the grievance has been dealt with. Im not sure how to take this and I don't know if it is acceptable to knowingly make me sit there feeling harassed and secluded! The nearest people to me are the bullies!

Help!

This situation is getting out of hand. Your union needs to apply to the courts for an injunction under Section 3, Protection from Harassment Act 1997. You don't have to tell your employer, the Manager or Team Leader that the injunction is being applied for. If granted an injunction, either the same day or next working day, you must submit a claim to the court for any anxiety and financial loss you have suffered as a result of the treatment you have been exposed to by the Manager and Team Leader. The claim will be dealt with at a later date by a Circuit Judge who will assess damages and make the injunction permanent.

Any injunction should apply to the company, its directors, officers, managers, employees, servants and agents and restrain them from engaging in any course of conduct towards yourself that amounts to harassment. If you look at the Court Form PF39CH I have posted up in an earlier post, you will see it mentions a fine or prison if any person named or specified in the injunction breaches the injunction. Suspending or dismissing you could be construed as harassment.

Get the union to apply for the injunction before 2 August 2012. It will probably take the company unawares, but they have been given the opportunity to abate the behaviour of the Manager and Team Leader and have done nothing to abate it. The company also needs to be reminded of the Court of Appeal ruling in the case of Majrowski -v- Guys and St Thomas's NHS Trust 2005.

[miliitant]

Re: Advice on grievance please

this is getting very close to constructive dismissal with all the total disregard for statute legislation

the only thing that is stopping me at the moment from recomendations is the current grievance in place

when did you do the grievance as the employer has strict guideline to adhere to as to your companies own IR procedure with trade union representation

how big is this known company and does it have an occupational health provider

pm me this company (branch) if you wish and i will go along and test their policy of disability as i am now registered under the Equalities Act 2010 as disabled