Bullying at Work

tenacioust123

mazza111 wrote: »

Trust me if your in the room with someone whilst getting shouted at down the phone you can hear it...

Had the same with someone yelling at my daughter but won't go into that


I think as above your daughter should contact the HR Dept and make a formal complaint. Has she had any verbal warnings about the amount of time that she's had off sick?

No she has never had any verbal warning, we've worked out she has had 5 throat infections in the last year and had a week off each time.
May I just say it's not just a sore throat, she has a temperature, headache very achy all over and large puss filled abcesses in her throat.

tenacioust123

ceridwen wrote: »

Just seen this - hmmm....dont suppose you have a tape recorder you could use for such telephone conversations?? Evidence....

I wish we had recorded it but we were not sure how to on her mobile, I have told her if he calls again make sure someone is with her so they can hear the call as well. Also working out how to record the call.

The_Economist

Have a look here might be of some use. http://www.andreaadamstrust.org/

Oldernotwiser

tenacioust123 wrote: »

No she has never had any verbal warning, we've worked out she has had 5 throat infections in the last year and had a week off each time.

That's an enormous amount of time to have off sick for a sore throat; has she been able to keep her college place?

floss2

I think you may need to state that the call may recorded for it to stand up.

Also, I assume your GP has referred your daughter to an ENT specialist, sounds like she may end up having her tonsils out. A young girl in our office was the same last year, lots of infections & sicknotes & she had hers out - result = no more sickness absence.

cazziebo

Firstly - the manager's behaviour as you have described it is totally unacceptable and a complaint to HR at head office would be justified. As Some bozo says, she should also raise a grievance as this behaviour will contravene the company's policy. ( I know it will as I've read a lot of their documents - pity they don't appear to be sticking to their policies in this case!)

Secondly, 5 occasions of 5 days absence is not good, particularly when this absence is likely to be unpredictable. Managers cannot and should not judge on how "genuinely" sick a person is - it's not within their remit- they can only assess level of absence. (Having a sick note is no proof of "genuine sickness", some doctors give them out freely). It might seem very unfair, but that level of absence could be judged to be unsustainable and the company could go down the disciplinary route. With five weeks absence in a year, I'm surprised they haven't started the process yet. (Standard is counselling interview at third absence or 11 days, warning at fourth or next episode).

Thirdly, unless the law has changed recently, you can't use taped telephone conversations as evidence unless the other party agrees to the recording.

ceridwen

Well - I reckon the knowledge that you were tape-recording a conversation would possibly help the conversation to go smoothly - as the manager might be a bit more careful about what he says...now wondering how one could phrase "I'm recording this conversation" in a matter-of-fact and non-provocative way...??

I think too that your daughter needs to be prepared for this manager to "set up" some "gossips" to have a go. Its a frequent one in my experience - a manager makes a "private" (hmm??) comment to a well-known "gossip" or two and they then start visibly gossiping/casting "filthy" looks at the person the manager would love to have a go at but feels restrained from doing directly.

SomeBozo

tenacioust123 wrote: »

No she has never had any verbal warning, we've worked out she has had 5 throat infections in the last year and had a week off each time.

This is an enormous amount of time off. I don't condone the language used as its unprofessional and also breaks rules, but 5 weeks off is a considerble amount of time off.

~Bozo

tenacioust123

I agree the amount of time off she has had is a lot, thats why the doctor has decided to refer her to hospital as he thinks her immune system is not working properly. What I don't agree with is the way her manager has spoken to her!

As for college she was only doing a years course this has been extended to 2 years because of illness.

I would completely agree with the Manager going down the disaplinary route and doing it the correct way

MrsTinks

I agree that 5 weeks off is a lot - when I ran a large team 2 absences in 1 month or 3 in 3 months would result in a "return to work meeting" regardles of length of absences. This was partially to cover the employer but in large to ensure the employee was actually fit to return to work, determine if there was anything I as a boss could do to help them both recover and prevent future illness (especially if stress related) and so that everyone knew what was going on and if need be refer the employee to a specialist (only had to do this once and the company paid for this as they took the view it was in their interest to claim it of their insurance and get the employee the best treatment so they could return to work).
I've called people at home when they have been off sick - to check how they were, what they had (because of the environment bugs spread quickly and we had an outbreak of a stomach bug once and after that we always checked what people had so if need be we could increase precautions and warn pregnant ladies to stay home if possible etc) and when they anticipated they might be fit to return to work due to shift cover etc so we had to try and plan for enough cover.
Never in my life have I shouted at an employee even when I eventually had to go down the route of disciplining someone for repeated absenses etc due to illness.

I would definitely tell her to log an official complaint - tell her to call the HO again and leave a message advising that her call is regarding a VERY serious allegation and unless she is contacted before lunch she will have no option but to take legal advice.