Displaced from job, advice please

justontime

I don't think the union will be much use. Is there any other organisation that could offer him help and advice re the disability discrimination aspects of the case. Would ACAS be able to give him any guidance re possibly raising a formal grievance etc. The bullying and harassment has been going on since January (when the line manager joined the company) my husband tries to put a brave face on everything but I am very worried about what all this is doing to him.

DVardysShadow

justontime wrote: »

I don't think the union will be much use. Is there any other organisation that could offer him help and advice re the disability discrimination aspects of the case.

He has a right to be accompanied by his union rep if he takes this forward. That is a double right - he can expect the employer to allow the rep and he can expect the rep to accompany.

Don't give up on the union - you might have to work to engage the attention of the fulltime rep - but no disability organisation is empowered to accompany.By all means use the disability organisations for information - but to an extent I would say that the claim should not be legislation based [aimed at the company] rather it should be custom and practice based [aimed at showing the company that the manager is upsetting an established arrangement with the company]

justontime

Thank you for your advice. He has been told by the union that he can't have a union rep to attend meetings with him because there is no local rep. The full time rep is based in a different part of the country. He has taken two grievances on his own (both re the harassment and bullying) on his own and was accompanied by a colleague. The findings were in his favour in both cases and he received an apology from the HR director. The company are now well aware of what is happening and they have let it happen (failed to protect him from yet more discriminatory behaviour) so I wonder if now it is a case of aiming the grievance at the company for allowing this to happen rather than focussing on the line manager?

If the manager could have 'got' my husband on a competence issue I am sure he would have pursued that route. He tried to 'create evidence' but we made that part of the grievance, and the disputed reports were removed from his record because they were not fair or objective and not evidence based, in fact the evidence showed that his work record and feedback was excellent. It seems as if this is a way of pushing my husband out without having to use the competence/disciplinary route.

DVardysShadow

justontime wrote: »

Thank you for your advice. He has been told by the union that he can't have a union rep to attend meetings with him because there is no local rep. The full time rep is based in a different part of the country. He has taken two grievances on his own (both re the harassment and bullying) on his own and was accompanied by a colleague. The findings were in his favour in both cases and he received an apology from the HR director. The company are now well aware of what is happening and they have let it happen (failed to protect him from yet more discriminatory behaviour) so I wonder if now it is a case of aiming the grievance at the company for allowing this to happen rather than focussing on the line manager?

OK, take your point about the union. However, you need to request assistance in writing and he needs to find and attend a branch meeting to press his case.

I would still stick with leaving the company a way out by letting it fall on the manager's shoulders.

colino

There is nothing to stop a business reorganising the way it does business, in fact there is a very healthy living to be made persuading people to pay for change management.
If the weasel words though have already diluted that change and the, rather foolish, HR person (who is there and employed by the company to look after the company) has let slip an agenda is underway, phone and write to your lazy, good for nothing union rep and discuss constructive dismissal.
There may well be good reasons for these recent changes, but from what you have said here, it doesn't sound like the fair actions of an honest employer.

justontime

I didn't intend to imply that the union reps were lazy or good for nothing. The local branch officer is a very decent man, but he doesn't work for the same company so he can't accompany my husband (according to my husband). They can't even fill all the roles in the branch and branch meetings are one man and his dog type things (I don't know if they have to be quorate or not but seriously it is only two or three people in total). My husband used to be a union rep and he has sat in with scores of people. He had to give it up when the pain associated with his life long disability got so bad that he couldn't do everything any more. He manages his mobility issues well, he puts all his effort and energy into his work and despite his disability he has a near perfect attendance record.

getmore4less

Become the local union rep.

that might put the wind up them

marybelle01

justontime wrote: »

I didn't intend to imply that the union reps were lazy or good for nothing. The local branch officer is a very decent man, but he doesn't work for the same company so he can't accompany my husband (according to my husband). They can't even fill all the roles in the branch and branch meetings are one man and his dog type things (I don't know if they have to be quorate or not but seriously it is only two or three people in total). My husband used to be a union rep and he has sat in with scores of people. He had to give it up when the pain associated with his life long disability got so bad that he couldn't do everything any more. He manages his mobility issues well, he puts all his effort and energy into his work and despite his disability he has a near perfect attendance record.

I think your husband may be getting confused, or his branch official is. The local branch officer can attend a meeting with any employer - he's a union rep and where he works isn't relevant. The issue may be that he doesn't get paid time off from his employer, in which case he needs to kick it up to regional office for a full time official. Unless your union is very odd and very small, they can't be that far away that they cannot travel to support a member. That is what they are paid to do. Several years ago, when I needed a union official, my regional office were not able to help because of the specialist nature of the issue - the union rep was a national officer who travelled 250 miles from London for every meeting.

justontime

getmore4less wrote: »

Become the local union rep.

that might put the wind up them

I am sure this was said in fun, but I don't even work in that industry.

getmore4less

justontime wrote: »

I am sure this was said in fun, but I don't even work in that industry.

Not you your husband