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Suspended on full pay after possible assault
Hello all 
This is my first time posting on this forum and I am desperate for some advice for my oldest and dearest friend please.
She's worked as a retail assistant for a well known major clothes shop (usually large stores based on retail parks/industrial estates :tinysmile_twink_t2
for 7 years with a faultless employee record.
She'd been singled out by one of the department managers and given walls to clean the previous week but didn't realise the company were in breach of health and safety regulations (until she spoke to my hubby a HSA!) Last week she arrived into work to all her colleagues giggling about her being made to wash walls again that day, she was unaware of what they were talking about until she left the shop floor and in the stock room her Department manager approached her. She told her to get a bowl of hot water with fairy liquid in, get up the ladder and clean the internal and external walls.
My friend is so calm but but she refused stating that in 7 years no retail staff had ever done that job, that it was the cleaning contractors duty. She also pointed out that it was unsafe for her to be up a ladder, unassisted, with a bowl of hot water on the shop floor with customers around or a risk assessment carried out (thanks hubby!)
The manager told my friend to "get on with it now you've had your tears and tantrums" at which point she got really upset. She is a grown woman, a mother and she felt really offended. She told her to forget it, that she was aware she was being singled out as none of the other 20 members of the team had been told to do it, and at that, took her rail of stock to go back onto the shop floor and work.
The manager came up behind her and grabbed her by the shoulder, forcefully enough to turn her around. My friend is calm ordinarily but past experiences mean she doesn't like to be touched, she reacted instantly by pushing her arm telling her that she had no right to touch her and (wrongly I know) told her to **** off away from her. She then left the store room and the manager followed me trying to continue the conflict in front of customers so my friend asked the senior manager who was on the tills if she could please leave. That was on Thursday last week and my friend wasn't due in until Tuesday.
By the time she arrived back at work I had advised her to prepare a statement of her account of the incident & request that a formal complaint is issued against the department manager on the grounds of assault and breach of health and safety. I
t was too late. She was ordered into the office by the senior manager and told to give yes/no answers to a set of questions (like "do you think its acceptable to swear at your manager?"). My friend gave her account of what happened and handed in her statement but felt that they were ignoring her concerns about the health and safety being the basis of the dispute.
She was then suspended on full pay pending an investigation. She was REFUSED a copy of the statement taken by the manager, told she is to have NO contact with any of her colleagues in or out of work (one is her sister in law!!) until the investigation is over, and escorted out of the building.
She is absolutely devastated! She's a single mum who works 2 jobs and relies heavily upon this as her main income but aside from that I'm certain she has rights?
They know she is not in a position to afford a solicitor so can anyone please advise?
Many thanks and apologies for the essay!
This is my first time posting on this forum and I am desperate for some advice for my oldest and dearest friend please.
She's worked as a retail assistant for a well known major clothes shop (usually large stores based on retail parks/industrial estates :tinysmile_twink_t2
for 7 years with a faultless employee record.She'd been singled out by one of the department managers and given walls to clean the previous week but didn't realise the company were in breach of health and safety regulations (until she spoke to my hubby a HSA!) Last week she arrived into work to all her colleagues giggling about her being made to wash walls again that day, she was unaware of what they were talking about until she left the shop floor and in the stock room her Department manager approached her. She told her to get a bowl of hot water with fairy liquid in, get up the ladder and clean the internal and external walls.
My friend is so calm but but she refused stating that in 7 years no retail staff had ever done that job, that it was the cleaning contractors duty. She also pointed out that it was unsafe for her to be up a ladder, unassisted, with a bowl of hot water on the shop floor with customers around or a risk assessment carried out (thanks hubby!)
The manager told my friend to "get on with it now you've had your tears and tantrums" at which point she got really upset. She is a grown woman, a mother and she felt really offended. She told her to forget it, that she was aware she was being singled out as none of the other 20 members of the team had been told to do it, and at that, took her rail of stock to go back onto the shop floor and work.
The manager came up behind her and grabbed her by the shoulder, forcefully enough to turn her around. My friend is calm ordinarily but past experiences mean she doesn't like to be touched, she reacted instantly by pushing her arm telling her that she had no right to touch her and (wrongly I know) told her to **** off away from her. She then left the store room and the manager followed me trying to continue the conflict in front of customers so my friend asked the senior manager who was on the tills if she could please leave. That was on Thursday last week and my friend wasn't due in until Tuesday.
By the time she arrived back at work I had advised her to prepare a statement of her account of the incident & request that a formal complaint is issued against the department manager on the grounds of assault and breach of health and safety. I
t was too late. She was ordered into the office by the senior manager and told to give yes/no answers to a set of questions (like "do you think its acceptable to swear at your manager?"). My friend gave her account of what happened and handed in her statement but felt that they were ignoring her concerns about the health and safety being the basis of the dispute.
She was then suspended on full pay pending an investigation. She was REFUSED a copy of the statement taken by the manager, told she is to have NO contact with any of her colleagues in or out of work (one is her sister in law!!) until the investigation is over, and escorted out of the building.
She is absolutely devastated! She's a single mum who works 2 jobs and relies heavily upon this as her main income but aside from that I'm certain she has rights?
They know she is not in a position to afford a solicitor so can anyone please advise?
Many thanks and apologies for the essay!
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