Bullied with severe threats of violence from work colleague.

getmore4less

Report this to the police the chief executive and everyone on the board go right to the top.

The company could be liable if this harasment and bullying results in injury.


Not sure but I think you should also report every assult in the accident book for H&S record the place is unafe to work.

Might also be worth contacting te H&S executive.

Have you enough holiday left to take leave upto the 12 months.

SarEl

Jarndyce wrote: »

Firstly, yes you should join a union. Unite (formerly T & G) would seem to be the right one for you.

Keep a detailed record of all events both past and future. Keep details of witnesses and dates, times, places etc so that if this is called upon in any proceedings it will carry maximum credibility.

In future, do NOT respond in kind to any provocation - I kinow that is difficult, but try and extricate yourself, walk away, without putting yourself or anyone else at risk.

I would write again to HR, saying that you are still being threatened by this man and detailing any further incidents since your last complaint. Say that if it does not stop you believe that the threats of criminal violence against you will lead you to have no choice but to involve the police.

If the threats continue, involve your union. They may say that as the problem began before you joined then they cannot represent you, but if it continues after you join then that should qualify you for representation and at least advice. Ring their Regional Office or Head Office if you are getting no joy from any local rep they give you.

If these actions don't stop things, I would contact the police. I would also say that you have sufficient grounds to resign and claim constructive dismissal (once you have been there 12 months) if the firm take no positive action, but of couse that should be a last resort.

Hope this helps.

I agree with this (and the other posters here wholeheartedly - with one exception. Do not resign even when you have 12 months employment. Constructive unfair dismissal claims are extremely hard to win, and anyway, even if you do win your compensation is unlikely to in any way refelcet your real loss, and why should you give up your job for the employers inaction? If you are going to have to go "legal" - go big time, not piffling constructive dismisal.

Go "back in time" - write down absoluitely everything that you can remeber that has happened - a diary in effect. Names dates, places, witnesses. Get copies if you haven't already kept them, of every piece of paperwork - complaints, hearings etc. Then keep this up to date. Every time you are threatened you (a) report it to the police and (b) report it to the employer - keeping records of everything again.

And immediately join a union and tell them what has been happening and why you have joined. The others are correct - you may not get legal representation now because, frankly, unions introduced rules to prevent it because of people joining, getting representation, then leaving! But the unions officials should listen to you and ought to be able to advise on the diary and on strategies. Given the nature of the events - they may be willing to consider waiving their normal rules, especially if doing a job on this gets them more members!

Professionally I cannot advise you to go to work "wired for sound" - I am sure if you wait around long enough someone will! I have to say that covert recordings are unlawful and may not be accepted by a court - this is something of a murky grey area. The chances of anyone taking legal action against you if you chose to ignore my advice are slim, but not non-existant. And it is possible that the employer could take disciplinary action too - so if you ignore my advice on this make sure that you don't get caught until you have a lot of very good recorded evidence!

At some point, when you have logged enough evidence - you need legal advice. You do this either through the union if they will let you - or get a lawyer. And I mean a lawyer. Not CAB and not ACAS. By failing to protect their employees from violence the employer has taken on vicarious liability for that violence - in law it is as if the employer is doing it themselves, or instructing it to be done. This is the mother load of cases if you can collect enough evidence - because it allows the lawyer to claim both employment and personal injury breaches - and for a breach of this nature I would expect the personal injury element to be somewhat substantial. Although I do not like quoting figures on slim details, vicarious liability claims can net upwards of £50 - £100k - and I cannot recall any of those that actually involved death threats! But if you obtained half of the £50k - it compares very favourably to an average tribunal payout of around £8k!

Personally, and if you can afford it, I would seriously consdier getting a lawyer involved now to assess your existing evidence, and advise you on going forward in collecting evidence. If you cannot afford it, I think it would be worth consdiering no-win no-fee - you do not have to sign up and you do not pay for initial sessions - just to get some advice. If even half of what you say is true, then I cannot see you having any difficulty getting someone to represent you, even on this basis (but check the small print about what it will cost if and when you sign up) - it has the potential to be a money spinner and such lawyers are nothing if not looking at the bottom line.

---

PS - I forgot to add - pictures. Get photographs of injuries - use the datback to record time and date of the pictures and get someone to witness them if you can (the latter isn't cricial but it helps). Oh, and consult your doctor about the stress this is causing you. But do not let them sign you off sick, at least until you are over the 12 months.

Uncertain

SarEl wrote: »

Professionally I cannot advise you to go to work "wired for sound" - I am sure if you wait around long enough someone will! I have to say that covert recordings are unlawful and may not be accepted by a court - this is something of a murky grey area. The chances of anyone taking legal action against you if you chose to ignore my advice are slim, but not non-existant. And it is possible that the employer could take disciplinary action too - so if you ignore my advice on this make sure that you don't get caught until you have a lot of very good recorded evidence!

Just to clarify this as many people do not understand the difference between "unlawful" and "illegal"!

It is not illegal to secretly record a conversation you are party to. By that I mean a policeman cannot cart you off to jail for doing so!

By "unlawful" SarEl means there is a possibility (and a remote one in this case I would think) of somebody taking a civil action against you.

Secret recordings have been allowed as evidence in Employment Tribunal cases but it does depend on the judges interpretation of the circumstances. It is not clear cut.

Providing you don't get caught (and there a are plenty of voice recorders around as small as a computer memory stick) then you may well think it is better to have one than not. It keeps your options open.

ohreally

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1997/40/section/4

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=12107557&postcount=10

http://www.hse.gov.uk/violence/index.htm

maletrucker

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

ceridwen

whitewing wrote: »

Go and report the whole matter to the police.

Agreed.

...and join your Union...you will need someone to pay the legal costs if you need to sue your company for having not dealt with your "health and safety issues" (ie protected you from this madman).

Start keeping a Diary of Events NOW. Write down everything you can recall as near as you can recall it - with times/dates/witnesses - and make sure your company know you are doing this. From here on in - any further incidents - then you make a record asap after the incident.

****************

At another level - I would imagine you must have a good case for "constructive dismissal" should you decide to resign - as in its not reasonable for anyone to expect someone to continue working for a firm that causes them to be in fear for their safety. Another reason for keeping that Diary - ie in order that you can prove to a Tribunal or the Department of Work and Pensions (ie for benefit money) that you had no option.

EDIT: just read on through rest of thread now - you've had some good advice - particularly from SarEl.

Good luck.

getmore4less

maletrucker wrote: »

Thank you for the responses.
As far as I know he has nothing on the pepole that were dealing with it.
I wouldn't be able to use my holiday to cover the next month.
My boss, his boss and the area manager all were aware of the situation and wanted him gone, but HR had the final say.
The result of the disaplinary was he is to have no more incidents in the next two years.
I don't know of any incident book for reporting any of this in, as I work nights there are no bosses to contact only the control office which isn't really set up to deal with incidents like this, its more job related. EG: canceled loads, truck problems etc.
I have no doubts that something will happen, but I don't see why I should hide.
I will not be able to respond anymore tonight as I'm off to work now.

The accident recording process should do, that's how you record injuries sustained at work which is what is happening.

kingfisherblue

Uncertain wrote: »

Just to clarify this as many people do not understand the difference between "unlawful" and "illegal"!

It is not illegal to secretly record a conversation you are party to. By that I mean a policeman cannot cart you off to jail for doing so!

By "unlawful" SarEl means there is a possibility (and a remote one in this case I would think) of somebody taking a civil action against you.

Secret recordings have been allowed as evidence in Employment Tribunal cases but it does depend on the judges interpretation of the circumstances. It is not clear cut.

Providing you don't get caught (and there a are plenty of voice recorders around as small as a computer memory stick) then you may well think it is better to have one than not. It keeps your options open.

Thank you for this clear explanation - I didn't know the difference and I'm sure I am not the only poster in this position.

SarEl

maletrucker wrote: »

I wouldn't be able to use my holiday to cover the next month.
My boss, his boss and the area manager all were aware of the situation and wanted him gone, but HR had the final say..

Just a thought - but if he is as violent as you suggest, and taken to threats against families etc (which sort of suggests that he knows how to find them) - there is no guarantee that it is not a case of him being well connceted at work, but of them being as frightened of him as you are. I have to say that I do not know of any company where HR have the final say - HR are nothing but advisors to managers and cannot determine outcomes. Detrmining outcomes is the job of managers. None of which changes what I have said - if the compnay fail to stop this them they are as responsible as if they had done it themselves.

SarEl

Uncertain wrote: »

Just to clarify this as many people do not understand the difference between "unlawful" and "illegal"!

It is not illegal to secretly record a conversation you are party to. By that I mean a policeman cannot cart you off to jail for doing so!

By "unlawful" SarEl means there is a possibility (and a remote one in this case I would think) of somebody taking a civil action against you.

Secret recordings have been allowed as evidence in Employment Tribunal cases but it does depend on the judges interpretation of the circumstances. It is not clear cut.

Providing you don't get caught (and there a are plenty of voice recorders around as small as a computer memory stick) then you may well think it is better to have one than not. It keeps your options open.

See - someone always comes along to translate what I didn't advise anyone to do.