Suspended for sexual harassment

[Cj34]

My husband was suspended from work on Friday for inappropriate behaviour. He had no clue what the complaint was against him. Yesterday he was called for a fact finding interview and we are extremely worried about what has been said and wonder what we should do from here. He is a manager a female employee in another department has made allegations of 2 sexual harassment incidents one where he allegedly approached her and asked to do something inappropriate she didn't report this at the time apparently but has now accused him of calling her on Friday at work while he was on the way to a business meeting elsewhere and says he said he was doing something inappropriate in his car while speaking with her. He denies this completely but before they told him what the accusation was they asked if he made any calls from his company phone on Friday morning. He said he had called this person to try and gain a piece of information Ready for the accounts review he was on the way to. This is when they said what she has accused him of. Just to give background she has applied internally to transfer to my husbands department she was rejected and another female got transferred in ( female seems relevant as it is a very male dominated industry ) this wasn't my husbands final decision but he did have a phone conversation with her to explain why and helped her with her cv for the future. She was transferred to her current admin role and has made no secret of the fact she hates it and wants to be transferred out and she has previously accused another manager of racism. My husband also made an informal complaint regarding the admin team not doing there role in a timely manor which was impacting on him being able to complete reports. So a few reasons why she may have decided to falsely accuse him. We know this is her word against his how likely is it to go to disciplinary ? Should we be getting legal advice now before the chance of a disciplinary. Can he put in a counter grievance for her targeting him for the above reasons ? I wholeheartedly support my husband but also the terminology she has used for the things he has supposedly said are just not words that my husband has EVER used if it wasn't so serious it would be laughable. We are so stressed In 15 years I've seen my husband cry once on a family members death yesterday he kept getting so upset it's heartbreaking . Just looking for some advice on where to go from here sitting and waiting is killing us and we feel we should be doing something pro active to help

[enquirer]

Re: Suspended for sexual harassment

... they asked if he made any calls from his company phone on Friday morning. He said he had called this person to try and gain a piece of information Ready for the accounts review he was on the way to.

A call at the time is confirmed. The content of the call is disputed.

... she has previously accused another manager of racism.

This is important. See if you can get documentary evidence of this.

... how likely is it to go to disciplinary?

Complaints of this nature are normally taken seriously. That said, if it can be shown the she has form for false allegations, they may drop it if there is no corroboration.

Should we be getting legal advice now before the chance of a disciplinary.

For the moment, this may be unnecessary. Beware of a 'fact finding' interview though, as these often morph into disciplinary hearings, particularly if someone in HR is keen to make a name for themselves.

Is your husband a member of any Union? If so, this should be your first stop.

Without wishing to sound melodramatic, you may care to consider the purchase of a small covert recording device. These are widely available and quite cheap.

Can he put in a counter grievance for her targeting him for the above reasons?

Yes.

[Cj34]

Re: Suspended for sexual harassment

A call at the time is confirmed. The content of the call is disputed.


This is important. See if you can get documentary evidence of this.


Complaints of this nature are normally taken seriously. That said, if it can be shown the she has form for false allegations, they may drop it if there is no corroboration.


For the moment, this may be unnecessary. Beware of a 'fact finding' interview though, as these often morph into disciplinary hearings, particularly if someone in HR is keen to make a name for themselves.

Is your husband a member of any Union? If so, this should be your first stop.

Without wishing to sound melodramatic, you may care to consider the purchase of a small covert recording device. These are widely available and quite cheap.


Yes.

Thanks for the reply. No he isn't part of a union. With regards to the previous racial complaint against another manager the HR rep seemed taken aback that my husband knew that information and answered with ' yes but that has been dealt with' she didn't deny it say or even say she couldn't comment on it. It is common knowledge she accused him because she told other people .. Which also shows the type of character she is.

[Tools]

Re: Suspended for sexual harassment

Due to the nature of the allegations I suggest he insists that he is able to take a colleague into any meetings, including the fact finding meeting, companies are not obliged to allow this but if I were him I would insist on it.

What was the timescale between the call made and the complaint being made, i.e if it was instantly after the call or a week later, this could also be important.

As for a counter grievance, wait until the outcome of this first.