Me VS The Company

amartin1908

I lodged a complaint with HR against my manager. His treatment of me and other's.

I was signed off work for 3 weeks with work related stress and after some prodding, HR decide to investigate my claim.

After 3 weeks I wanted to return to work but I was advised by HR that seeing as the investigation was still ongoing, they felt it only fair to me to not to have to return to that atmosphere until such time as it was concluded. They didnt want me feeling uncomfortable. This was all said in a phone conversation btw.

1 week later, still sitting at home, I get a letter inviting me to a disciplinary hearing.
Apparently my claim is now being used against me. They have obtained witness statements saying that I have been shouting and swearing and been very emotional.

i made it clear in my complaint that i had been getting very angry and emotional at the strain of knowing and seeing the bullying that had been going on. That others around me did not know the things that i knew and therefore had no explanation for my outbursts. It made me so ill fgs i had to take time off work.

They are also stating that i have used confidential information to further my own purposes. Their explanation being that I was only able to cite certain allegations in my complaint, due the confidential nature of my position and i have therefore breached their confidentiality agreement.
I am livid. Nowhere in their code of conduct policy does it state you can only blow the whistle as long as the information is not confidential. Does this not give management an iron clad curtain to hide behind? If this is the case and they are correct in what they are saying, then why is the confidential information I have provided to them, that they only have knowledge of due to their position, being used against me. Surely this rule should run both ways?

I only received copies of their evidence today and I dont feel less than 24 hours is enough time to prepare my case

On top of all this - the company announced it is going to make 45 redundancies today.

My hearing is tomorrow and I am convinced they are going to try and dismiss me. My rep who is a union member has had to pull out today due to these announcements about redundancies. He now has to attend meetings tomorrow.

Do I have a leg to stand on? Can I postpone this hearing?

hcb42

I think the fact you havent had any notification and have no representation would be reasonable grounds to postpone...but that is just my opinion , certainly at the very least it sounds like you need support there with you, and that would be unfair to proceed without it, can the union not provide advice on how to proceed tomorrow?

CFC

yes, ring up or email and ask for a postponement on the grounds that you have less than 24 hrs notice of the disciplinary meeting.

As to your other point without more info it is impossible to help in detail.

Be aware though, as a general point, shouting and swearing is often treated as a disciplinary offence in the workplace.
I can't comment on the breach of confidentiality matter as it depends on exactly what the matter was that they claim you had privileged access to.

ceridwen

Isn't there some rule/law somewhere that states employees must be given at least a week's notice of disciplinary hearings? I've got an idea there might be somewheres....

Watch your back O.P. - as the redundancies happening at the same time as this may not be coincidence - ie they could be trying to get one redundancy "for free" (ie yours) - that is by calling it a (fair) dismissal instead and hoping to get away with not paying you redundancy money that way.

amartin1908

ceridwen wrote: »

Isn't there some rule/law somewhere that states employees must be given at least a week's notice of disciplinary hearings? I've got an idea there might be somewheres....

Watch your back O.P. - as the redundancies happening at the same time as this may not be coincidence - ie they could be trying to get one redundancy "for free" (ie yours) - that is by calling it a (fair) dismissal instead and hoping to get away with not paying you redundancy money that way.

I was made aware of the disciplinary a week ago today, but they only provided me with copies of the evidence they are using against me yesterday. I had requested it last Weds.

According to ACAS this is not really a reasonable amount of time to prepare my defence. My employers have had weeks to prepare theirs so it is only fair that they should allow me to postpone until a rep can attend and that we both have time to review the evidence and propose a defence

heretolearn_2

It isn't clear when the op was notified of the disciplinary meeting - just that the 'copies of the evidence' arrived yesterday. It could be that you had plenty of notice of the meeting OP, and should have been preparing anyway, as the letter informing you of the disciplinary should have told you exactly what they were considering disciplining you over. This isn't a law court, I'm not aware of any need to provide you with copies of 'evidence' beforehand anyway.

If you were only informed of the disciplinary with a days' notice then you should contact them and ask for a later date.

You need to be careful here. Your post mixes up an awful lot of issues, grievances and bad behaviour by your manager but also you. Just going in with guns blazing about all this won't help you at all.

A lot of this may not be relevant to your disciplinary - if you were swearing and shouting at other members of staff, for example, saying you did this because you were stressed won't get you off the hook. What you could try for is to say that you had requested help with your stress but nothing had been done, and see if you can agree with the company for them to give you a bit more support and you'll agree an 'Improvement' schedule, where you won't do it again.

If you believe that you were brought to a disciplinary as 'revenge' for raising a grievance (did you actually raise a proper grievance at any time or just moan to HR?) then if I were you I'd raise another grievance about that!

This is all just my personal opinion, I'm not an disciplinary expert.

heretolearn_2

It isn't clear when the op was notified of the disciplinary meeting - just that the 'copies of the evidence' arrived yesterday. It could be that you had plenty of notice of the meeting OP, and should have been preparing anyway, as the letter informing you of the disciplinary should have told you exactly what they were considering disciplining you over. This isn't a law court, I'm not aware of any need to provide you with copies of 'evidence' beforehand anyway.

If you were only informed of the disciplinary with a days' notice then you should contact them and ask for a later date.

You need to be careful here. Your post mixes up an awful lot of issues, grievances and bad behaviour by your manager but also you. Just going in with guns blazing about all this won't help you at all.

A lot of this may not be relevant to your disciplinary - if you were swearing and shouting at other members of staff, for example, saying you did this because you were stressed won't get you off the hook. What you could try for is to say that you had requested help with your stress but nothing had been done, and see if you can agree with the company for them to give you a bit more support and you'll agree an 'Improvement' schedule, where you won't do it again.

If you believe that you were brought to a disciplinary as 'revenge' for raising a grievance (did you actually raise a proper grievance at any time or just moan to HR?) then if I were you I'd raise another grievance about that!

This is all just my personal opinion, I'm not an disciplinary expert.

amartin1908

heretolearn wrote: »

It isn't clear when the op was notified of the disciplinary meeting - just that the 'copies of the evidence' arrived yesterday. It could be that you had plenty of notice of the meeting OP, and should have been preparing anyway, as the letter informing you of the disciplinary should have told you exactly what they were considering disciplining you over. This isn't a law court, I'm not aware of any need to provide you with copies of 'evidence' beforehand anyway.

If you were only informed of the disciplinary with a days' notice then you should contact them and ask for a later date.

You need to be careful here. Your post mixes up an awful lot of issues, grievances and bad behaviour by your manager but also you. Just going in with guns blazing about all this won't help you at all.

A lot of this may not be relevant to your disciplinary - if you were swearing and shouting at other members of staff, for example, saying you did this because you were stressed won't get you off the hook. What you could try for is to say that you had requested help with your stress but nothing had been done, and see if you can agree with the company for them to give you a bit more support and you'll agree an 'Improvement' schedule, where you won't do it again.

If you believe that you were brought to a disciplinary as 'revenge' for raising a grievance (did you actually raise a proper grievance at any time or just moan to HR?) then if I were you I'd raise another grievance about that!

This is all just my personal opinion, I'm not an disciplinary expert.

I have NEVER sworn in my job. I have been stressed and stomped around and been crying etc. I had asked my manager for help a number of times and I was told it was all in my head.
I put in an official grievance and apparently the investigation has been concluded. I have been given no explanation of the outcome of this grievance or the chance to appeal their decision - all I have been told is that their investigation threw up some issues with myself and hence the disciplinary. This is definitely a revenge attack as I also put in my complaint that anyone that stands up to him ends up on disciplinaries themselves and are made targets and he is desperate to get rid of them. Lo and behold, I have put in a complaint and here I am

UPDATE

They have just informed that I can defer but I wont get paid unless I go back into work. Very unfair as they are the ones that have been telling me for weeks it would be unfair for me to return while all this is ongoing

Jarndyce

Is this an actual disciplinary hearing at which charges will be put, or just an investigation meeting? - The latter does not attract the statutory right to be accompanied nor seek postponement to arrange representation.

If it is a disciplinary, if I were you, regardless of whether you are within the statutory timescale, I would be making sure my union rep either got a postponement to a time they are available, or provided another rep for you - especially as it is an employer initiative that has caused the problem.

Otherwise, as has been said, you need to be very careful to separate out the issues, try to step away from the confrontation and not just let your anger take over your responses. Deal with each point calmly and professionally and let the process take its course. Once it is over you can discuss with your rep whether you wish to take out any counter complaints etc.

amartin1908

Jarndyce wrote: »

Is this an actual disciplinary hearing at which charges will be put, or just an investigation meeting? - The latter does not attract the statutory right to be accompanied nor seek postponement to arrange representation.

If it is a disciplinary, if I were you, regardless of whether you are within the statutory timescale, I would be making sure my union rep either got a postponement to a time they are available, or provided another rep for you - especially as it is an employer initiative that has caused the problem.

Otherwise, as has been said, you need to be very careful to separate out the issues, try to step away from the confrontation and not just let your anger take over your responses. Deal with each point calmly and professionally and let the process take its course. Once it is over you can discuss with your rep whether you wish to take out any counter complaints etc.

This is an actual disciplinary. Me rep is going to be unable to attend so I have asked someone else to help.
However one point I have just found out is that I had named people in my complaint that I had witnessed being bullied. Not one of these people have been interviewed and they could have corroborated my complaint. HOwever every one else in my office has been interviewed - they didnt know what I was dealing with. All they say was my handling of the situation at the time albeit badly

Jarndyce

amartin1908 wrote: »

i made it clear in my complaint that i had been getting very angry and emotional

amartin1908 wrote: »

I have NEVER sworn in my job. I have been stressed and stomped around and been crying etc.

Do you think that that is acceptable behaviour in a professional situation? I don't. However stressed you were, you should have remained calm and dealt with the issue in a professional way. I cannot think of a single scenario where 'getting very angry' and 'stomping around' would be an acceptable way to behave. I am not surprised you are being disciplined.