Can we stop employees from having direct contact?

marliepanda

undercoverirish wrote: »

I regret it already. She is screaming discrimination now so this has turned into something bigger than we expected. We just wanted her to stop messaging her colleagues directly.

Just dismiss her then. She isnt working out. Its not a discriminatory reason. it is not constructive dismissal.

Id also remind colleagues if they dont want people to contact them outside of work to not give their contact details until they are certain they want that person as a friend not a colleague, and if they do find them out, to block or ignore those people.

You cant stop her sending daft messages, but the people receiving them can stop receiving them.

unless you have said 'stop messaging people, only white/gay/old/transgender/disabled/female people can message', then its not discrimination

BorisThomson

undercoverirish wrote: »

We!!!8217;re a small family run company so we do enlist help to put policies together etc but day to day things we just manage ourselves. We thought this was a simple issue!

The cost of proper advice would far outweigh the cost of defending a discrimination claim, whether that claim is successful or not.

What type of discrimination is she claiming?

undercoverirish

She has said it’s gender discrimination because she’s a female.

marliepanda

undercoverirish wrote: »

She has said it’s gender discrimination because she’s a female.

Have you told all the women not to?

is she the only woman?

undercoverirish

She!!!8217;s the only woman - we aren!!!8217;t a sexist organisation, it!!!8217;s just a very male dominated industry!

Carrot007

Odd one.

From the sounds of it she has done nothing wrong, just been friendly.

I would suggest going back to her and saying you were just passing the message on from the other staff that they don't want you to contact them outside work and are sorry for how you phrased it.

Of course then she will probably leave because everybody apparently hates her.

BorisThomson

undercoverirish wrote: »

She!!!8217;s the only woman - we aren!!!8217;t a sexist organisation, it!!!8217;s just a very male dominated industry!

Now you understand the purpose of proper legal advice?

Comms69

I bet the complaints have come from some angry wives / GFs......

undercoverirish

They don!!!8217;t hate her, they just wanted to stop the direct communication. Their wives probably aren!!!8217;t keen on them getting messages from a woman at work and I can appreciate how that might look.

In hindsight it seems stupid that we would try and say she can only have direct contact with them if they invite her to. It!!!8217;s worded all wrong. !!!8220;Don!!!8217;t you call me, I!!!8217;ll call you!!!8221;. We were trying to make things easier on everyone

BorisThomson

Carrot007 wrote: »

Odd one.

From the sounds of it she has done nothing wrong, just been friendly.

I would suggest going back to her and saying you were just passing the message on from the other staff that they don't want you to contact them outside work and are sorry for how you phrased it.

Of course then she will probably leave because everybody apparently hates her.

And make a claim for victimisation.

We don't know if she has a valid case or not, we don't know what she has said/ sent that has caused such offence, but it is clear that she has the upper hand because the employer has failed to manage the situation properly.