False accusation of gross misconduct

SpideressUK

If anyone is still following this and has any advice/information please comment. I phoned ACAS to find out what would be on my husband's permanent file regarding this. I got the impression from them that nothing was supposed to be kept on either his file (ie nothing about the fact he was suspended on full pay or any of the details of the allegation or the outcome etc) and nothing would be kept on the female employee (the accuser) file regarding it. If this is the case then what happens to all the reports and minutes of the investigation meeting etc?

ACAS have also informed me that if he feels that this female employee's allegation towards him was malicious that he could bring a complaint against her. We do feel that she was being malicious as we feel that the majority of reasonable people know what is an accidental touch compared to a purposeful touch or a purposeful malicious or sexual touch. Our belief in this is re-enforced by the fact she added on all the possible "other" things she says he had done like the allegation of mishandling cash and leaving a cuboard door open which should be closed (those two allegations were dismissed by the manager once he had investigated the background behind them) and made further slanderous allegation of my husband "bullying" her (for which she provided no examples nor, it seems, was she asked for any examples to evidence her "bullying" allegation). My husband has also heard "on the grapevine" (so of course this may not be true about her) that she had done something similar towards another male employee a while ago which everyone presumed was so that she could "get" his hours - seemingly hoping she would be allowed to cover his shift whilst he was on suspension (as she was paid extra hours to cover my husband's shift whilst he was on suspension). He is (understandably) afraid of being around her now. There is no CCTV covering the main area of the shop so if they are the only people in the shop there is nothing to stop her accusing again. On the other hand he is afraid of re-rocking the boat that has just seemed to start to stabilise again. Should he fear and pull away from the idea of putting in a complaint against her saying that he feels she purposefully made a malicious complaint against him?

Guest101

SpideressUK wrote: »

If anyone is still following this and has any advice/information please comment. I phoned ACAS to find out what would be on my husband's permanent file regarding this. - whats a permanent file when it's at home? I got the impression from them that nothing was supposed to be kept on either his file (ie nothing about the fact he was suspended on full pay or any of the details of the allegation or the outcome etc) and nothing would be kept on the female employee (the accuser) file regarding it. - absolute rubbish. The truth cannot be slander/libel. They can fully report in any reference that he was investigated for a work place assault If this is the case then what happens to all the reports and minutes of the investigation meeting etc? - They are typically kept for 6 years, longer where necessary.

ACAS have also informed me that if he feels that this female employee's allegation towards him was malicious that he could bring a complaint against her. - ofcourse he can. We do feel that she was being malicious as we feel that the majority of reasonable people know what is an accidental touch compared to a purposeful touch or a purposeful malicious or sexual touch. - It doesn't matter what you feel, only what your employer thinks Our belief in this is re-enforced by the fact she added on all the possible "other" things she says he had done like the allegation of mishandling cash and leaving a cuboard door open which should be closed (those two allegations were dismissed by the manager once he had investigated the background behind them) - was she lying, or did the company decide not to take action? and made further slanderous allegation of my husband "bullying" her - I'm glad you put bullying in quotations. as bullying is subjective. She may have felt bullied. And therefore such an allegation is rarely slanderous. However if she lied about his conduct ofcourse it is. e.g. "I feel belittle by X" may be true, X belittled me by saying Y and Z (lies) is slanderous. (for which she provided no examples nor, it seems, was she asked for any examples to evidence her "bullying" allegation) - indeed, which is in essence what I just said. My husband has also heard "on the grapevine" (so of course this may not be true about her) that she had done something similar towards another male employee a while ago which everyone presumed was so that she could "get" his hours - seemingly hoping she would be allowed to cover his shift whilst he was on suspension (as she was paid extra hours to cover my husband's shift whilst he was on suspension). He is (understandably) afraid of being around her now. There is no CCTV covering the main area of the shop so if they are the only people in the shop there is nothing to stop her accusing again. On the other hand he is afraid of re-rocking the boat that has just seemed to start to stabilise again. Should he fear and pull away from the idea of putting in a complaint against her saying that he feels she purposefully made a malicious complaint against him?

Have you considered that a new job may actually be easier than all this?

SpideressUK

Guest101 wrote: »

Have you considered that a new job may actually be easier than all this?

Firstly he has been there for 22 years so he should have the "protection" of certain laws that people do not seem to be able to avail themselves of when they have been employed less than 2 years.

Secondly, if there were ever a redundancy situation he is "better placed" with a job having a 22 year service history than in a relatively new job.

Thirdly, whilst it might be "easier" to remove himself from the company and get another job that would not seem to be a "just" outcome. If someone had indeed been malicious in making what they know is a false/inflated accusation against a colleague, particularly knowing that it was a matter that would be gross misconduct and end in instant dismissal then that person at the very least should have a permanent record on their file as to what they have done. Perhaps even have a "warning" for such behaviour.

Fourthly, my husband has a medical condition and it is quite probable that this would greatly affect his chances of getting another job. I read somewhere the other day that there are 200 people going for every job vacancy so if there really is that kind of competition then with his age and medical condition against him I expect he would have little chance of gaining other employment.

Not sure how to get it quote a quote when you have replied in the quote so here is the best I can do:


If anyone is still following this and has any advice/information please comment. I phoned ACAS to find out what would be on my husband's permanent file regarding this. - whats a permanent file when it's at home? By this I mean his "employee" file - the file the company keep with his name on it that has within it all the things relating to him, perhaps his employment start date etc as well as any records of "incidents" that may have happened. I got the impression from them that nothing was supposed to be kept on either his file (ie nothing about the fact he was suspended on full pay or any of the details of the allegation or the outcome etc) and nothing would be kept on the female employee (the accuser) file regarding it. - absolute rubbish. The truth cannot be slander/libel. They can fully report in any reference that he was investigated for a work place assault So by this am I correct in my assumption that you are saying that notification of the fact he has had paid suspension will go on his file and that if his company were to give him a reference for a new job they could say that he was investigated for a workplace assault BUT this was found to be an accidental touch so no further action was taken? If this is the case then what happens to all the reports and minutes of the investigation meeting etc? - They are typically kept for 6 years, longer where necessary. Will these just go on my husband's file or will a copy be on the female accuser's file and will there be a note on her file that she made an accusation of assault which was investigated and found to be an accidental touch?

ACAS have also informed me that if he feels that this female employee's allegation towards him was malicious that he could bring a complaint against her. - ofcourse he can. We do feel that she was being malicious as we feel that the majority of reasonable people know what is an accidental touch compared to a purposeful touch or a purposeful malicious or sexual touch. - It doesn't matter what you feel, only what your employer thinks Our belief in this is re-enforced by the fact she added on all the possible "other" things she says he had done like the allegation of mishandling cash and leaving a cuboard door open which should be closed (those two allegations were dismissed by the manager once he had investigated the background behind them) - was she lying, or did the company decide not to take action? In the case of the open cupbaord door, it was open but it was found to be open for a legitimate reason so she was not lying about it being open. We are not aware if she knew it was open for a legitimate reason or not. In the case of mishandling cash it was found to be an error at office level and so my husband had done nothing wrong, he had just done what anyone would do whilst trying to deal with the mistake the office had made. We are not sure if the accuser was aware of the office mistake when she reported the mishandling of cash. The accuser was therefore not lying about the mishandling of cash - had she known it was an office error and still reported my husband for it that would seem to be potentially malicious, trying to get him specifically in trouble, if she did not know then there can be no malice there and she reported just what she saw. and made further slanderous allegation of my husband "bullying" her - I'm glad you put bullying in quotations. as bullying is subjective. She may have felt bullied. And therefore such an allegation is rarely slanderous. However if she lied about his conduct ofcourse it is. e.g. "I feel belittle by X" may be true, X belittled me by saying Y and Z (lies) is slanderous. This is a very good point, thank you, sadly this particular individual is not very good at her job and my husband is constantly covering for her mistakes or asking her to do things that need to be done in order for the company not to lose money from her mistakes (rather than - as he sees it - "telling tales" on her everytime he finds something she has done wrong. It may be that she feels that since my husband is on the same "level" job title wise as her that when he asks her to do something that he knows is likely to prevent the company losing money she feels "bullied" as perhaps she feels he has no place to advise her on what should and should not be done (for which she provided no examples nor, it seems, was she asked for any examples to evidence her "bullying" allegation) - indeed, which is in essence what I just said. My husband has also heard "on the grapevine" (so of course this may not be true about her) that she had done something similar towards another male employee a while ago which everyone presumed was so that she could "get" his hours - seemingly hoping she would be allowed to cover his shift whilst he was on suspension (as she was paid extra hours to cover my husband's shift whilst he was on suspension). He is (understandably) afraid of being around her now. There is no CCTV covering the main area of the shop so if they are the only people in the shop there is nothing to stop her accusing again. On the other hand he is afraid of re-rocking the boat that has just seemed to start to stabilise again. Should he fear and pull away from the idea of putting in a complaint against her saying that he feels she purposefully made a malicious complaint against him?

Mersey_2

Guest101 - They couldn't, of course, report in any reference that he was investigated for assault WITHOUT stating that he was exonerated. That would be partial, defamatory and actionable.


''doesn't matter what you feel, only what your employer thinks" - er yes, but they HAVE stated that the allegation was unfounded.


I really don't 'get' your tone in reply to the OP, even after the OP's husband has been exonerated.


Although it is now amusing looking back at page 1 of this thread to see how some others were so dismissive of the OP's husband and that he shouldn't even mount a defence or refer to the witness.

Ozzuk

If it was me I'd put a complaint in, what is to stop her doing it again otherwise.

TELLIT01

SpideressUK. Your husband has been cleared on any wrongdoing. It's time to put this behind you and move forward. He'll certainly never trust that female employee again, but still has to work with her. Trying to take a complaint forward at work could be counter productive.

SpideressUK

TELLIT01 wrote: »

SpideressUK. Your husband has been cleared on any wrongdoing. It's time to put this behind you and move forward. He'll certainly never trust that female employee again, but still has to work with her. Trying to take a complaint forward at work could be counter productive.

Having read the few replies here so far we are starting to think that too ie counter productive. However, I think he does need to keep pressing in to ensure he is safeguarded against her at work ie asking them to put CCTV in the whole of the shop or maybe sending someone down with her when she comes to take him off shift at night time so they can witness him leaving with no incident (then that other person could go back working).

polgara

Definitely leave her alone! She might be malicious or she may have genuinely be concerns - treating her in any way differently may have repercussions

annandale

It was found that there was no substance to her complaint. Of course it was malicious!

And she's to be left alone! I agree with the poster who said whats to stop her doing it again.

She's very lucky to have escaped with no action being taken against her.

Some employers would view a malicious complaint as gross misconduct.

jobbingmusician

This is a suggestion for discussion, rather than just a suggestion - I think it needs thinking through as it's the sort of thing that will depend on the company. I know what would happen if I did this at my work, but YMMV and all that...

The suggestion is that you(r husband should) raise a grievance against this woman. Make it clear that that grievance is not asking for action against her as a result of the initial malicious action, but is asking for a formal record to be kept that the initial complaint was malicious, and asking what action will be taken by the employer in fulfilling their duty of care to make that no similar action happens in the future.