Outcome of complaint

alexb123

Hi All,

Due to a disability I was having problems getting around a major UK airport. This lead to a very abusive encounter with a member of staff. Due to the location its guaranteed that the counter would have both audio and video. I informed the member of staff I would be complaining. I then had to submit the complaint twice as it wasn't getting a reply. I then yesterday got a reply, saying how sorry they are etc etc. But they included this clause:

"Unfortunately due to reasons of confidentiality we will not be able to disclose details of any internal investigation, however I would like to assure you that we take all such complaints extremely seriously, and where any misconduct is identified - especially of a discriminatory nature - we take a zero tolerance approach."

Is this correct? Surely, if you submit a complaint regarding a member of staff being abusive you have a right to know the outcome? Maybe not the punishment (if any) but at least if the complaint was upheld?

Your thoughts would be appreciated 

Bradden

I don't think so... if they told you they could be breaching the privacy of the employee involved.

screech_78

You absolutely don’t have the right to know the outcome, sorry. 

Regardless of what happened, any discussions that take place between an employer and employee are confidential. 

born_again

alexb123 said:

Hi All,

Due to a disability I was having problems getting around a major UK airport. This lead to a very abusive encounter with a member of staff. Due to the location its guaranteed that the counter would have both audio and video. I informed the member of staff I would be complaining. I then had to submit the complaint twice as it wasn't getting a reply. I then yesterday got a reply, saying how sorry they are etc etc. But they included this clause:

"Unfortunately due to reasons of confidentiality we will not be able to disclose details of any internal investigation, however I would like to assure you that we take all such complaints extremely seriously, and where any misconduct is identified - especially of a discriminatory nature - we take a zero tolerance approach."

Is this correct? Surely, if you submit a complaint regarding a member of staff being abusive you have a right to know the outcome? Maybe not the punishment (if any) but at least if the complaint was upheld?

Your thoughts would be appreciated 

Yes. 
Any internal investigation is private.

tightauldgit

No you absolutely don't have the right to know anything. It's a completely private matter between the employee and the company. 

user1977

alexb123 said:

Surely, if you submit a complaint regarding a member of staff being abusive you have a right to know the outcome? 

Under what law?

alexb123

Thanks for the replies. Surely, an independent something or the other could review the complaint to see if it was handled fairly? Because at the moment I feel there is a very good chance it won't be dealt with. I already had to submit the complaint twice as I wasn't hearing back.

Also another issue happened, the member of staff took a photo of my car, so surely I have a right under my own data protection to know what happened to that photo, why it was taken?

eskbanker

alexb123 said:

Thanks for the replies. Surely, an independent something or the other could review the complaint to see if it was handled fairly? Because at the moment I feel there is a very good chance it won't be dealt with. I already had to submit the complaint twice as I wasn't hearing back.

Let it go, there is no "independent something or the other" or anyone else who's going to be in a position to tell you what you seem so desperate to find out, so you have no choice other than to accept the company's assurance that it'll be dealt with.

alexb123 said:

Also another issue happened, the member of staff took a photo of my car, so surely I have a right under my own data protection to know what happened to that photo, why it was taken?

No, that's not personal data in the context of data protection legislation - there's nothing to stop you from submitting a subject access request to the company concerned if you want (a universal right), but if (as a company) they don't have data stored in such a way as to be associated with your name and retrievable as such then they're under no obligation to disclose anything to you.

Alderbank

You mentioned a disability.
If you feel you have been unfairly discriminated against because of a disability, in addition to making a complaint you might have rights under the Equality Act 2010 and be able to make a claim in a court.
We can't help you with that though because we don't know any of the circumstances.

What is your problem about a member of staff photographing your car?

A wild guess but I think you parked your car in the grounds of a major airport and got a ticket which you think should be cancelled because you have a disability?

If so you would be better posting in Parking tickets, fines & parking
 https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/parking-tickets-fines-parking

tightauldgit

alexb123 said:

Thanks for the replies. Surely, an independent something or the other could review the complaint to see if it was handled fairly? Because at the moment I feel there is a very good chance it won't be dealt with. I already had to submit the complaint twice as I wasn't hearing back.

Also another issue happened, the member of staff took a photo of my car, so surely I have a right under my own data protection to know what happened to that photo, why it was taken?

There's no requirement for a company to handle your complaints fairly - they can offer bad customer service if they want to provided they are in compliance with consumer laws, etc. 

If you feel that the company has done something illegal in terms of discriminating against you then maybe have a chat with these guys and see what they can advise https://www.gov.uk/equality-advisory-support-service

You could offer to go to mediation or even take them to court - but there doesn't seem to actually be any ongoing dispute or any loss on your part that you've spelled out. You're just unhappy with them. So pursuing it further through those routes doesn't seem very useful. 

alexb123

Thanks for the additional information. To answer the above it wasn't a parking offence, I was lost and the employee decided to lose his temper and give directions I'd not asked for. Its a complex airport, even people without a disability were in the same situation as me.