Bullying (Harassment) in the workplace

[Eggbound]

Hi, thoughts welcomed...

In order for me to formulate my grievance at work, could selection for a disciplinary hearing for non-performance constitute 'bullying', if the selection is not applied fairly & consistently across the workforce?

Eg. 60 employees failed to hit their target of 100% but I am singled out for a disciplinary twice in 3 months.

I work in retail but also suffer from a well documented mental impairment. I "feel" bullied, even more depressed and anxious, sleepless nights, uncharacteristicirritability and angry outbursts, lack of motivation, tearfulness, dread going to work etc

Subjective or objective? I feel I'm being bullied, my employer will obviously argue that I'm not...who decides.

Can I argue that I am being bullied, with reference to a Breach of Duty ofCare - Equality Act 2010 - Disability Discrimination & Breach of Duty of Care EA 2010 Harassment?
Cheers
Eggbound

[bluebottle]

Re: Bullying (Harassment) in the workplace

An employer is required to make reasonable adjustments for any disability/impairment coming under the protections and provisions of the Equality Act 2010. This is a legal requirement. The onus is on the employer to prove they have made reasonable adjustments.

With regard to harassment, you need to be aware that, in an employment situation, it can either come under the ambit of the Equality Act 2010, or the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 or the Public Order Act 1986. Which legislation applies will depend on the circumstances.

Could you please explain how your mental impairment affects you? I have worked with disabled persons over a 35-year period, apart from a nine-year period when I was a serving police officer.

[Eggbound]

Re: Bullying (Harassment) in the workplace

Thanks for your quick reply! I've was diagnosed with a significant depressive illness back in 1997, which included suicidal episodes. Over the years it's come & gone, but I've been on meds for 2.5 years now whilst in this employment.

Since 2009 I've lost a business, been abandoned by my partner, nearly lost my house, suffered other age related health problems. I also have to care for my disabled mother who's in her 80's as well as cope with my depression. I have no friends and have not "had a night out" for 3 years! This has all exacerbated my problems I think.

OK the work I do can be stressful & target-driven, but I coped fine in the first year and half. Now I'm not coping so well and still have suicidal thoughts. I sense myself becoming short tempered with customers (but not had any complaints), demotivated, fatigued, unkempt, feelings of worthlessness...I could go on.

[labman]

Re: Bullying (Harassment) in the workplace

Forgive me clarifying a very basic question, but when you say it is 'well documented' , I assume you mean well document in work as well as medically?

[bluebottle]

Re: Bullying (Harassment) in the workplace

Just a thought, is your condition caused by one or more neurological conditions? I have in mind Fibromyalgia (FMS) and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), also known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). Depression is a well-known condition related to these two illnesses. I have had FMS for just over two years now.

If you are aged between 30 and 60 years, FMS might be a possible contender.

What you have said in one sentence in your initial post does clearly show you are suffering from stress. If it is work-related, your employer can be hauled up by Health & Safety.

[labman]

Re: Bullying (Harassment) in the workplace

I have to ask also, have you been to see your GP recently to see if s/he considers you fit to be working at the moment. It may be that you should not actually be in the workplace at present.

[Eggbound]

Re: Bullying (Harassment) in the workplace

Hi Labman - yes in work it's been acknowledged by my Area Manager, Sales Manager and obviously HR are aware of my probs because I mentioned them in my disciplinary in August and the one in December. After my December hearing with my Area Manager he said to me (not on record) "Between you & me, this is grievance material". I'm wondering what they'll throw at me next!

Just to cause myself more aggro I've just given them 1 months notice of opting out of Sunday working, so they'll probably get their big guns out.
(Note: 1 months opt-out notice because they didn't give me the option in prescribed form within 2 months of me starting employment). The reason I've done this is to extricate myself from the situation/stress for one day.

Also I suffer from Bells Palsy and when I get stressed I can feel my "residuals" coming back; pain, aches & numbness. To make matters even worse I fell in November outside my house and injured my dominant hand resulting in Stenosing Tenosynovitis in my thumb and finger, but that's another story.

I see my GP regularly & had a battery of blood tests early last year; I'm not suffering from ME. This depression manifested itself back in 1997. I can't afford to "go sick" ..

[bluebottle]

Re: Bullying (Harassment) in the workplace

Hi Labman - yes in work it's been acknowledged by my Area Manager, Sales Manager and obviously HR are aware of my probs because I mentioned them in my disciplinary in August and the one in December. After my December hearing with my Area Manager he said to me (not on record) "Between you & me, this is grievance material". I'm wondering what they'll throw at me next!

Just to cause myself more aggro I've just given them 1 months notice of opting out of Sunday working, so they'll probably get their big guns out.
(Note: 1 months opt-out notice because they didn't give me the option in prescribed form within 2 months of me starting employment). The reason I've done this is to extricate myself from the situation/stress for one day.

Also I suffer from Bells Palsy and when I get stressed I can feel my "residuals" coming back; pain, aches & numbness. To make matters even worse I fell in November outside my house and injured my dominant hand resulting in Stenosing Tenosynovitis in my thumb and finger, but that's another story.

I see my GP regularly & had a battery of blood tests early last year; I'm not suffering from ME. This depression manifested itself back in 1997. I can't afford to "go sick" ..

Thank you, Eggbound. That has clarified matters. If your Area Manager has acknowledged you have a legitimate grievance against your employer, why didn't he do something about it at the time? That could be seen as a serious dereliction or breach of duty on his part under Health and Safety at Work legislation, particularly Sections 2 and 7, Health & Safety At Work Act 1974. Do you know if they have obtained an Occupational Health report or conducted a risk assessment, given your health issues? This is a legal requirement. Failure to comply could render them liable to enforcement action and, even, invalidate their Employer's Liability Insurance, which would render them liable to prosecution for not having a valid Certificate of Employer's Liability Insurance in force.

[Eggbound]

Re: Bullying (Harassment) in the workplace

If your Area Manager has acknowledged you have a legitimate grievance against your employer, why didn't he do something about it at the time? That could be seen as a serious dereliction or breach of duty on his part under Health and Safety at Work legislation, particularly Sections 2 and 7, Health & Safety At Work Act 1974.

Thanks- when he said "Between you & me..." it was with regard to comments I made in my hearing about the company not disciplining everyone who failed to achieve 100% target consistently, which is the basis of their complaint against me.

Do you know if they have obtained an Occupational Health report or conducted a risk assessment, given your health issues? This is a legal requirement. Failure to comply could render them liable to enforcement action and, even, invalidate their Employer's Liability Insurance, which would render them liable to prosecution for not having a valid Certificate of Employer's Liability Insurance in force.

OH report, risk assessment given my health ?...don't be daft !!lol they shirk responsibilities all the time. Eg I asked my Area Manager for a HSE poster to display in the office...that was last Summer, no poster yet. I cut my hand on metal shop signage and asked for a First Aid kit and was told by HO that they don't provide them. Nor accident books. Last winter the temp was about 11 degrees in store which I raised with them and they deliver a tiny little heater.

This is funny ! They outsource the HR function to another company who, when I started back in 2010, pretended not to know that statutory holiday was 5.6 weeks from 1 April 2009 not 4.8 weeks. So I asked for my contract to be re-written. It wasn't. I think they're after me actually because I keep raising all these queries.

What do you suggest I should do?

[bluebottle]

Re: Bullying (Harassment) in the workplace

The first lot of issues you raise in your last post would indicate your Area Manager effectively admitted the company was involved in discriminatory conduct against you which is illegal under the Equality Act 2010.

The second lot of issues you have raised involve breaches of the HSAWA 1974. Retail premises are covered by Health & Safety Inspectors who can be contacted through the Environmental Health Department at the local council in the area that covers where the premises where you work are located. Some of these breaches are serious enough to warrant enforcement action.

In the third lot of issues, it appears you have a bunch of so-called HR consultants running the HR side of things. These outfits can be and often are a menace to employees and employers, alike, and have been found, in some cases, to have engineered industrial relations problems and industrial disputes in order to make work for themselves. The problem is that these outfits are not regulated. I understand that the bodies that represent legal professionals are pressing the government to bring HR professionals, especially those offering their services as freelancers or "consultants", under the scope of statutory regulation.

You might wish to contact ACAS, a government body, who can provide you with impartial advice about your rights and possible remedies to the problems you are currently facing. ACAS's website is at www.acas.org.uk.

[labman]

Re: Bullying (Harassment) in the workplace

Are you in a union - if not, can you join one?

[Eggbound]

Re: Bullying (Harassment) in the workplace

I joined USDAW about a yr ago. In August I asked for help...and the advice of the Rep was (verbatim) "do you think you're in the right job? Sales can be stressful". I cancelled my subs thereafter.

[Eloise01]

Re: Bullying (Harassment) in the workplace

I joined USDAW about a yr ago. In August I asked for help...and the advice of the Rep was (verbatim) "do you think you're in the right job? Sales can be stressful". I cancelled my subs thereafter.

Well, you could have joined a stronger union, but even so - that was a rather short-sighted response. Hindsight is always better than prediction, but a better way to handle it might have been to find another official if you felt the one you had wasn't a help. Now you are stuck on your own.

Now you are going to have to bear with me until the end, so don't hang up when you hear the next bit because it isn't going to be to your liking. OK? "Do you think you are in the right job because sales can be stressful"? And I mean that very sincerely as a medium term consideration for you to think about. The mental conditions you have described here are all seriously exacerbated by stress, and you appear to have a stressful lifestyle on top of this, including aging (and aren't we all - I can sympathise there! But it's real, it's gets us all, and it isn't always our finest moment!), caring for an elderly dependant, and, if you will forgive me for being so blunt - absolutely no life to speak of! These are all things that you also have to address. You can't stop the aging, That goes with the territory of being alive still, and jolly good it is too. But you are taking on too much in terms of maintaining a job and an elderly dependant without any real life of your own. Nobody can support this level of stress for long - and you have less tolerance to it than some other people have. You are going to have to look at your lifestyle and make some changes - or you are going to end up very sick indeed and unable to do any of these things, or anything else. I would suggest that whilst there are short-term consdierations to look at in terms of your work, you need to be considering and planning for these medium term objectives. Perhaps if there are other job options, looking for something that is more flexible and less stressful for you? Some assistance with your mother? Find ways of meeting people and getting some social interaction? You need all of these things - a life is only as good as its quality, and you aren't describing one that is giving you any satisfaction. That needs to change.

So the immediate stuff. Is over zealous use of the disciplinary procedure bullying. Well yes, it can be. But it's exceedingly difficult to prove, and if you have evidence then you need to start salting it away. At a very basic level, if you fail to meet tragets in a sales environment then yes, you can be disciplined. Although it is possible to ask for reasonable adjustments (have you actually done so?) in relation to your disability, this is a really difficult one to call in terms of whether such a request in reasonable within this working environment. I wouldn't like to even guess what a tribunal would decide. Basically the problem is that your role, in sales, is to generate profit. Nothing more and nothing less. If the company amend sales tragets for you then they lose profit. Yes, it might be a drop in the ocean, but nevertheless, loss of profit is a business justification for refusal. And as I said, I wouldn't like to try to call what a tribunal might decide in these circumstances. But obviously, the first step ought to be to ask for such an adjustment and see what happens next. Sometimes, with these sorts of things, that's all you can do - a step at a time. Don't forget to make the request in writing and keep copies of everything.

I do agree with a previous poster that there is also a question about whether you are fit for work at all at present. But I assume your company has no company sick pay and this may be a financial pressure too far for you to contemplate. However, despite that, if you are sick, you should see your GP, and you should certainly consider the consequences for yourself and others (like your mother) if you continue to attend work when you are unfit to do so.

Next - you say that others have also failed to meet targets. How do you know this and what evidence can you produce to show it is true? And have the failed to meet targets to the same degree as you? If they have not failed "as much" then this would conceivably be an argument for different treatment - can you actually evidence that people in the same position of you in terms of sales have been treated differently? You'll need to be really ruthless with yourself on this one - does the argument you are making hold up to objective scrutiny and how do you prove it does? Remember that if this comes to a legal test, that is what a tribunal does - it looks at the evdience and it looks at it impartially. It doesn't believe what you tell it, and it only interprets facts in front of it. You'll need the same level of objectivity in forming a grievance - the more facts and the more evidence, the stronger your argument is.

Finally, keep focussed. Your employer may be the worst since Atilla. Your HR may be outsourced to Mars and keep antiquated law books published in 1892. You may not have a H&S poster on the wall. These are all distractions. If it isn't about keeping you in a job - ignore it. You cannot fight on every front, so pick your battles and stop picking nits!

Oh, and don't depend on the Area Manager to ever admit to what they said - they won't. If he had the courage of his convictions he would have said or done something already. The fact he didn't tells you which side he will be on when the chips are down. And be cautious if you talk to ACAS. Their website is excellent and the material authoratative. Their professional staff (who do not answer phones!) are amongst the best. Their call centre - the public face - is indifferent at best; they are not trained in employment law, they work from scripts, and I have seen and heard too many tales of the appalling level of advice they have given people. The problem is, if you don't know what the answer to your query is, you don't know whether it is right or wrong when they give you advice. Always try to check out what they have said (as you should with any advice!) with other people who you think may know the answer. I have seen people do some awfully stupid things on the basis of acting on ACAS advice, because they didn't know that they were doing something stupid until it was too late. Not even lawyers can get it right every time and all the time. And employment law is tricky. There often aren't little neat boxes and lines to follow between the boxes, so even lawyers will openly tell you that employment law is often expressed in terms of probabilities, not guarantees. So if lawyers can't always get it right, never depend on anyone else who is certain either, without trying to check your information carefully! Theer are some things that lawyers can be certain about - nothing in your situation falls into that kind of category, I'm sorry to say.

[Gurraaaagh!]

Re: Bullying (Harassment) in the workplace

Hi Eggbound

A very helpful site regards bullying is:
http://www.bullyonline.org/
Or just google 'Tim Fields, Bullying'

Hope you find this of some help.

All the best
Gur

[bluebottle]

Re: Bullying (Harassment) in the workplace

Strangely, Eloise, I know a solicitor in my hometown who specialises in Employment Law and she has said to me, in the past, exactly what you have said in your last post about legal professionals working in the area of Employment Law.

What is funny is having a solicitor or barrister come up to a uniformed police officer in the public area of a magistrates court or a Crown Court and start asking them about the Criminal Law. I had that happen to me a number of times when I was in the police force. Priceless.