Handling accusations of ‘bullying’ from new staff
Last April we had a number of issues after employing one such individual.
They were a little older than the rest of the kitchen team, but they knew their stuff and fitted the profile I wanted. The hours were too long so we reduced them, the travelling was too much so we changed their shift pattern, five days were too much so we reduced to four, they struggled to keep up on busy sessions so we altered their work days.
Why? Because we respected them and their ability, and they fitted in well with our team.
Unbelievable
So late November when they went off sick with stress we were, of course, concerned. Then Christmas week we got a solicitor’s letter accusing me and the whole team of bullying and harassment. How could this be? They hadn’t said anything before.
I felt physically sick; the amount of respect we had for them and the way this had gone was unbelievable. We had done our utmost to make their position viable and bent over backwards, in our opinion.
In the new year we received statements in graphic detail, going back to June, of incidents of ‘bullying’ with each team member. Obviously, we had taken legal advice straight away from the BII (British Institute of Innkeeping) helpline and planned our response.
We interviewed all the staff and reported back all our findings, both positive and negative, but nothing stacked up. How could a member of staff after six months not say anything to us as employers but just send a solicitor’s letter and refuse to have any direct contact? Are we such bad employers?
Stubborn
If we wanted to put it behind us, they were willing to do so for a £2,000 settlement. Is this fair? Should we just get rid of the problem? But I’m stubborn and could not bring myself to pay £2,000 for something neither I nor my team were guilty of.
We stuck to our guns and refused to accept the accusations.
Having put lots of hours into the replies and talking to our representatives the ‘problem’ has now run out of time to bring it to a tribunal.
Even with the best will in the world and ticking all the boxes when employing staff, we still faced this problem. Although it would never have gone to court, we still had the prospect of this affecting our business and having to put many hours into dealing with it correctly.
Thankfully, we had the BII legal helpline to advise our every move, totally free of charge. When will the ‘no win, no fee’ practitioners come clean and deal with the real cases out there?
We have removed the author's identity to protect them legally
