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Harassment and privacy
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lidlfan
Posts: 36 Forumite
I have been volunteering for a year at a service I had used previously as a customer. I enjoy the role, but have fraught relations with staff which have crossed over into harassment.
The service knew I had mental health issues from a previous visit, and have used slurs against other people using the service as "nutters" and so on in front of me. They also know what benefits I receive and I get insinuations I'm workshy as I get ESA and not standard jobseekers or UC. Worse, someone found out I have other health issues and spread it about the office which has damaged my reputation as it relates to sexual health.
I have already made an apporach to the manager but it still continues to a degree and the damage has been done. This has also resulted in me being turned down for job opportunities there. I want to make a complaint. but everyone in there is either staff (who are uniformly against me), volunteers trying to be staff or who have turned against me because of it, or those I got on with have left. There is also a toxic culture to other volunteers they decide they don't like.
Should I make a complaint? What else can or should I do?
The service knew I had mental health issues from a previous visit, and have used slurs against other people using the service as "nutters" and so on in front of me. They also know what benefits I receive and I get insinuations I'm workshy as I get ESA and not standard jobseekers or UC. Worse, someone found out I have other health issues and spread it about the office which has damaged my reputation as it relates to sexual health.
I have already made an apporach to the manager but it still continues to a degree and the damage has been done. This has also resulted in me being turned down for job opportunities there. I want to make a complaint. but everyone in there is either staff (who are uniformly against me), volunteers trying to be staff or who have turned against me because of it, or those I got on with have left. There is also a toxic culture to other volunteers they decide they don't like.
Should I make a complaint? What else can or should I do?
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Comments
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If it is a voluntary role, are you working for a charity?0
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I have been volunteering for a year at a service I had used previously as a customer. I enjoy the role, but have fraught relations with staff which have crossed over into harassment.
The service knew I had mental health issues from a previous visit, and have used slurs against other people using the service as "nutters" and so on in front of me. They also know what benefits I receive and I get insinuations I'm workshy as I get ESA and not standard jobseekers or UC. Worse, someone found out I have other health issues and spread it about the office which has damaged my reputation as it relates to sexual health.
I have already made an apporach to the manager but it still continues to a degree and the damage has been done. This has also resulted in me being turned down for job opportunities there. I want to make a complaint. but everyone in there is either staff (who are uniformly against me), volunteers trying to be staff or who have turned against me because of it, or those I got on with have left. There is also a toxic culture to other volunteers they decide they don't like.
Should I make a complaint? What else can or should I do?
You can do, but as you aren’t an employee there is no real recourse.0 -
You can do, but as you aren’t an employee there is no real recourse.
Think I might disagree with you this time. The volunteer status is irrelevant, it appears that others (whether employees or volunteers) have shared personal data and potentially sensitive personal data about the OP. At the very least this would be a breach of data protection rules. Presumably there will also be a policy about anti-harassment/bullying and I would expect this will cover bullying by and against volunteers as well as employees.0 -
tizerbelle wrote: »Think I might disagree with you this time. The volunteer status is irrelevant, it appears that others (whether employees or volunteers) have shared personal data and potentially sensitive personal data about the OP. At the very least this would be a breach of data protection rules. Presumably there will also be a policy about anti-harassment/bullying and I would expect this will cover bullying by and against volunteers as well as employees.
Depends on what the desired outcome is.
In terms of data protection; potentially there is a breach. But it’s unclear. The behaviour is not acceptable, but if the information is widely known - the OP was a service user - then it’s not a data breach, unless it’s thereafter being shared outside the known persons.
The anti-bullying policy I’m sure does exist. But there is no loss to the OP, so I’m struggling to see what may be actionable.
In terms of outcome- the volunteering position will no doubt end if there’s a complaint0 -
Get out OP and look for work or a voluntary position elsewhere.0
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Why are you still there?Don’t be a can’t, be a can.0
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Why should I be bullied out?0
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Action taken against the perpetrator(s).
Also the malicious gossip is the worst aspect, someone got hold of my health issues and has divulged it to the rest of them.0
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