Filed a grievance and two weeks later formally accused of racism

spiritus

A friend of mind filed a grievance against his manager for a non-race related manner. He did it with his eyes wide open anticipating that things may get difficult but felt it was something he felt he had to do.


Within two weeks of the grievance being raised he has been accused by one of the managers of making racist comments about someone else in the office.


Another worker has also claimed that he made a racist comment to him and this has also been reported to the manager.


My mate swears on his family's life he made no racist comments of any kind and feels that this is a ploy to get him out of the company in retaliation for filing a grievance. Obviously this act of retaliation cannot be proven but the suspicion remains.


The question also lingers as to why would my mate having worked at the company for years and never having been accused as racist would suddenly have two separate complaints made against him in the space of two weeks and within a fortnight of having filed a grievance ?


I appreciate no-one but my mate will know the truth but please can I ask the board this hypothetical question ?


If my mate is telling the truth what defence does he have if false accusations are being made against him ?


I appreciate some people may contribute to this thread saying that my mate may indeed have made racist comments etc etc but I would like to confine my question to what rights does an employee have if accusations made against them are false ?









Thanks in advance

Takeaway_Addict

The employer only needs reasonable belief that racism occurred, if they have more than one member of staff corroborating that your friend did make the comments then it is possible the employer will dismiss based on this.

Your friend can only put his side across and wait it out, if they dismiss he has the option of taking the employer to a tribunal but there is no guarantee that he will win.

spiritus

Takeaway_Addict wrote: »

The employer only needs reasonable belief that racism occurred, if they have more than one member of staff corroborating that your friend did make the comments then it is possible the employer will dismiss based on this.

Your friend can only put his side across and wait it out, if they dismiss he has the option of taking the employer to a tribunal but there is guarantee that he will win.

Thanks. Without wishing to be too pedantic here but the accusation is that each of the supposed conversations were not witnessed by anyone else other than my mate and the accuser.


One worker claims a racist comment was made during one private conversation between the worker and my mate.


One of the management team claimed a racist comment was made during a private conversation between the manager and my mate

anamenottaken

Is the company following the company's grievance procedure timescales in relation to the original grievance?

Takeaway_Addict

spiritus wrote: »

Thanks. Without wishing to be too pedantic here but the accusation is that each of the supposed conversations were not witnessed by anyone else other than my mate and the accuser.


One worker claims a racist comment was made during one private conversation between the worker and my mate.


One of the management team claimed a racist comment was made during a private conversation between the manager and my mate

If no evidence can be brought to the employer other than 1 on 1 conversations then the employer IMO would struggle to dismiss based on this.

anamenottaken

Takeaway_Addict wrote: »

LOL whoops, yes 'No' Guarantee...I won't edit the main post otherwise yours doesn't make sense.

No I've amended mine so this exchange can be deleted.

spiritus

Takeaway_Addict wrote: »

If no evidence can be brought to the employer other than 1 on 1 conversations then the employer IMO would struggle to dismiss based on this.

Thanks. He's tearing his hair out because he cannot prove he did not make those comments and yet the fact that two different members of staff are making two separate allegations within the space of a week so soon after his grievance was filed makes him feel he is being hounded out of the company.

whitewing

Stressful situations often lump together. It's unfair. It may be malicious. It may not be. In any case, he must ensure that he deals with all of it ultra-professionally and does not panic. Otherwise he will be master of his own downfall.

spiritus

whitewing wrote: »

Stressful situations often lump together. It's unfair. It may be malicious. It may not be. In any case, he must ensure that he deals with all of it ultra-professionally and does not panic. Otherwise he will be master of his own downfall.

I told him the same.


In one way I would like to believe that there is some element of truth in the accusations as otherwise it means a well known company using dirty handed tactics to hound an employee out of the company for daring to file a grievance !

Another_not_new_user

Takeaway_Addict wrote: »

If no evidence can be brought to the employer other than 1 on 1 conversations then the employer IMO would struggle to dismiss based on this.

I wouldn't agree. Sorry OP, but if it was one persons word against another's on a single occasion then I would agree it would be dodgy to dismiss (although not necessarily the same thing as winning a case of unfair dismissal). Two private 121 conversations where two different people claim racism without any evidence of collaboration - that is reasonable belief if they stick to their story and if the employer wants it to be.


The question as to why there has never been a previous complaint of racism is a red herring. Just because someone hasn't reported this before doesn't mean it hasn't happened. It isn't that I don't believe your mate, it's just that based on his totally denying it, unless he can prove the conversations didn't take place, there is as much likelihood that they did - and twice makes it look bad on him. Putting aside the content of the conversations, is there any chance he can prove that he wasn't there when the alleged conversations took place? Being on a day off, for example, works wonders at casting doubt on statements.

spiritus

Another_not_new_user wrote: »

I wouldn't agree. Sorry OP, but if it was one persons word against another's on a single occasion then I would agree it would be dodgy to dismiss (although not necessarily the same thing as winning a case of unfair dismissal). Two private 121 conversations where two different people claim racism without any evidence of collaboration - that is reasonable belief if they stick to their story and if the employer wants it to be.


The question as to why there has never been a previous complaint of racism is a red herring. Just because someone hasn't reported this before doesn't mean it hasn't happened. It isn't that I don't believe your mate, it's just that based on his totally denying it, unless he can prove the conversations didn't take place, there is as much likelihood that they did - and twice makes it look bad on him. Putting aside the content of the conversations, is there any chance he can prove that he wasn't there when the alleged conversations took place? Being on a day off, for example, works wonders at casting doubt on statements.

I totally agree with you. It is irrelevant that he had no previous history of being accused of this. It is entirely possible that someone could suddenly start making racist comments........I get this.


I appreciate I cannot have 100% confidence in his innocence hence why I did not want this post to be about assessing his trustworthiness but rather "what if he is actually telling the truth-what are his options-lines of defence" ?


As I am writing this I have had word from him that his preliminary interview has finished and "no further action will be taken" against him. He is still steaming about this though and asked one of the interviewers can any action be taken against someone who makes a false accusation.......he was told he can do nothing about it.