Sexual Harrassement Allegation

yvonne13_2

betrayed wrote: »

Thanks for all the posts guys
Please dont get off the track with name change

I only hope you can understand how difficult it is to keep your head down and continue while you are being marginlaised and looked as suspect.

Finding a job is not big issue but why should I leave and suffer this situation when I have done nothing wrong.

HR has said complainant approached them informally but asked complaint to be put formally. This is bit weired as I have gone through all company procedures and no where it says informal approach but formal complaint.

I have kind of figured out who the complainant is but without being told I cannot take any legal action.

I cannout emphasise the frustration and depression I am going through that I am completely innocent and such behaviour is not possible from me but still due to one anonymous complaint my life has been made so miserable. Why I should change jobs (though its not difficult to find new one) when I have done nothing wrong.

Stop right now, just let it go. There is no way on this earth you can figure out whom the complainant is, it could be a man.
Yes I can understand you wanting to clear this matter up but getting ill over it is not the way to go. You cannot clear what you haven't been charged with and why did HR say you are not allowed to see what is written about you on your personal file? I think I read somewhere if you write a letter requesting to see all documents in your personal file about you it should be granted, but get that checked is I might be thinking of something else.

betrayed_2

I am responsible for training new staff. Few months ago a new girl who I was training was leaving the office that I noticed she was stealing office stationary, I asked her to stop while she was about to leave office, took the staionary back in my hand and politely said to her Have a good evening.

I thought she is young immature girl and everyone makes mistakes so I did not try to bring it again either to her or to senior management but what I am hearing now is that particular girl has made complaint (as pre-emptive strike to hide her mistake).

I am at loss that I acted with total dignity and did not make her embarrass or even reported it to senior management assuming its young girls first job but she became frightened and has made these pre-emtive false allegations.

Now until I am formally told her name I cannot take legal action. I want to know who accused me and want to clear my name. Right now I am like guilty until proven innocent

Sambucus_Nigra

Oh dear. You really really should have reported that at the time. Even if it was a note on her records.

ohreally

Do you have a trade union rep you can discuss the situation with? I would be fairly sure, given your explanation, that discussion with the employer could find a means to put this to bed without further distress.

Jarndyce

I don't buy this. If this girl really wanted to hide her mistake she would keep her head down and say nothing, not make very serious allegations that would result in a detailed investigation of her activities.

Anyway, what legal action do you think you are going to be able to take to clear your name?

It will boil down to your word against hers surely? Would you be prepared for the cross-examination you might have to face in court? "You saw the opportunity didn't you - young girl, vulnerable, you took advantage of her didn't you?" etc etc

You need to put this all in perspective, accept that sometimes false allegations are made and that nothing comes of them and there is nothing you can do about it, and move on.

yvonne13_2

Crumbs!!! I hope you get this matter resolved quickly, hopefully your proven track record will keep you in good stead.

SueC_2

betrayed wrote: »

but why should I leave and suffer this situation when I have done nothing wrong.

Because you are no longer happy in your existing job, feel marginalised (possibly victimised), overly stressed by it, and can't see any way of improving the situation.

I'd say the more pertinent question is "Why should I stay and suffer this situation", particularly in light of the fact that you feel it will be easy for you to find a new job.

There are no prizes for martyrdom in this life. Move on.

DVardysShadow

Jarndyce wrote: »

I don't buy this. If this girl really wanted to hide her mistake she would keep her head down and say nothing, not make very serious allegations that would result in a detailed investigation of her activities.

Anyway, what legal action do you think you are going to be able to take to clear your name?

It will boil down to your word against hers surely? Would you be prepared for the cross-examination you might have to face in court? "You saw the opportunity didn't you - young girl, vulnerable, you took advantage of her didn't you?" etc etc

You need to put this all in perspective, accept that sometimes false allegations are made and that nothing comes of them and there is nothing you can do about it, and move on.

I buy it. Attack is the best form of defence.

SarEl

yvonne13 wrote: »

I think I read somewhere if you write a letter requesting to see all documents in your personal file about you it should be granted, but get that checked is I might be thinking of something else.

And you read right here that even with a SAR there are excepted documents that the employer has grounds to refuse access to - and the grounds that the complaint is made by someone else and is therefore their "property" and can refuse disclosure is one of them.

But I agree with Jarndyce - legal action isn't even vaguely possible, even if you can identify her; and the fact that the person you think made the complaint has left it for some months before making a complaint is hardly a "pre-emptive strike" - it is simply making it far more likely that you are going to say something.

But I want to go back again and repeat what you were told in the original thread. You do not know for an absolute fact that you have not done or said something that could have been taken the wrong way. For example, there is little that sets my teeth on edge more than calling a working woman a girl. She may be younger than you, but that does not make her a child. I know that this is a turn of phrase, and that people often refer to young women as girls - but it does not make me feel any better about it. It is not beyond the realms of belief that you may have said or done something in all innocence that you did not feel was wrong, but someone else did. I do recall, for example, some years ago having to explain to a young man in my employ that "gently swatting" a secretary on the backside was not horseplay - it was unacceptable behaviour. He didn't think it was wrong at the time, but he certainly did afterwards.

If you have geneuinely done nothing then in a month or so the monitoring will be over (I believe the employer said three months did they not) and the matter will be over. If you did do something that was taken wrongly, then you have at least had sufficient warning to make sure it doesn't happen again - so same result, and it will soon be a matter in the past. Jarndyce is absolutely correct - your best option is to forget it and move on. By continuing to "hunt for the guilty party" you are only causing yourself more distress, and you are risking settling on the wrong person. It will not help your cause if you start flinging around accusatiuons and threats of legal cases.

eamon

The OP doesn't get the point of the employer "monitoring" things. SarEl has explained all this perfectly well. We don't know you, your place of work, your colleagues, how you do your work, your mannerisms, how you think, the image that you portray etc. What we do know about is our own place of work (or places that we used to work). So I can understand how you feel unconsciously undermined by the prevailing atmosphere at your place of work. You have a number of options to consider, resign, do nothing and wait for the monitoring period to end or go and see your GP and go off sick with stress (this saga is having a personal toll on your wellbeing otherwise you wouldn't be on here).
I personally don't like the "monitoring" idea. What does it prove or disprove? Anybody with behaviour that is being challenged/questioned should be bright enough to avoid trapping themselves. If there was substance to the harassment allegation then the employer should have had to courage to investigate at the beginning not do some fudge that is designed to pretend that something is being done.