Workplace bullying

[Pariah]

Hi there,

I am hoping that Eloise may be able to give me some insight into a situation. This relates to my husband who works for a division of my father's company.

My Husband is hypothyroid and because of this he can become quite unwell if his meds need adjusting. This has caused him to take quite a number of days off from work over the last 3 years. Last month he fell Ill and was in hospital with pneumonia. Thankfully he recovered after 3 weeks and was back in work. When he returned a particular manager started to overtly undermine him infront of other staff. He started picking apart his work and criticising the speed at which he did his job. Started calling him names, is overtly racist saying things like " you are just a mad Turk, no one takes you seriously" he is anti Islamic and my husband endures endless taunts about his religion.

Today his boss came over to the project he was working on and told him to go and get a fuse, he went off to look in the place he was told, the guy comes up behind him and shouts " why are you wasting time, are you blind" and then produces a fuse from another pallet. My husband calmly said " do you have a problem
With me?" before he could say anything else. His boss pushed him against a work bench and opened up a foul mouthed deluge against him. The manager then storms off to the office Followed by my husband. As if this was nor enough, the manager then shouted infront of other staff, " you need to behave yourself and F off home or I will sack you"

I am completely shocked and appalled No matter what the situation this is scandalous behaviour.

The advice I would like to gain, is really how does he tackle this. He doesn't want to go to work tomorrow but I think that not going would be Ill advised as he will be just giving more ammunition to them.

[Pariah]

Re: Workplace bullying

I just want to add that other staff witnessed the incident and I verified this evening that this was entirely unprovoked.

[busytrev]

Re: Workplace bullying

I'm sure more qualified people in here will advise you better than I ever could but you could start by visiting this website

https://www.gov.uk/workplace-bullying-and-harassment

[bluebottle]

Re: Workplace bullying

I am sure Eloise will have something to say about this.

I am a retired policeman and, so, deal, mainly, with criminal matters.

The push or shove up against the workbench is Battery per se. As for the racial and religious abuse, what is the employer doing to curb this? This manager should, at the very least, receive a warning about their conduct. It is unacceptable. Has your OH been pushed or shoved by this manager on previous occasions? Also, over what period of time has the racial and religious abuse been going on?

[Pariah]

Re: Workplace bullying

I am sure Eloise will have something to say about this.

I am a retired policeman and, so, deal, mainly, with criminal matters.

The push or shove up against the workbench is Battery per se. As for the racial and religious abuse, what is the employer doing to curb this? This manager should, at the very least, receive a warning about their conduct. It is unacceptable. Has your OH been pushed or shoved by this manager on previous occasions? Also, over what period of time has the racial and religious abuse been going on?

Thank you for your response. Yes, I thought that it would be common assualt/ battery. The issue here is that this person is in fact not just a manager but one of 4 directors of the company who provides technical staff management. In my honest opinion the man is dangerous. The racial and religious element is usually between him and two other members of staff who also work on the team. It is usually done in a "joking" manner. But they quite clearly know that it's offensive. Examples would be saying all Turkish men are rapists; turkish people can't be trusted; That he blocked a drain in the bathroom with his hair, which was infact blocked because of paper towels( he abtests
Before namaz and before eating) they criticise him for the way that he keeps his food in the car because they keep bacon in the fridge. They wave bacon sandwiches infront of his face taunting him. Any time there is an incident involving terrorists on the radio news they ask him if that's one of his friends. The list is truly endless. He is a very strong and proud person and would not let anyone treat him this way. But he is putting up with it because he needs a job and my father arranged it for him.

So, my advice to him was that this is a criminal matter but that's not really going to help. It seems unfair that as a director if my husband reports this to the police, then the other directors and staff will likely turn on him even more. I don't want to inform my dad either since he finances this subsidiary but they are for all intents and purposes autonomous. This will cause friction for him and he is in poor health. I told him to log everything and then when the other director ( HR person) is back on Wednesday make a formal grievance.

[bluebottle]

Re: Workplace bullying

I will PM Eloise and ask her to look in on this thread and advise on the Employment Law matters. However, from a purely criminal point of view, the racial and religious abuse are unacceptable and there is legislation that can be used to deal with it. However, it will need to be seen if this can be resolved within the framework of Employment Law. Failing this, resorting to Criminal Law may be one of the solutions. Whatever, an attempt does need to be made to resolve this matter, in-house, before more formal action is taken to abate it.

[Eloise01]

Re: Workplace bullying

The difficulty that he is going to face is evidencing this behaviour. You say it has been going on for some time, and that he has not complained. How likely is it that any of the witnesses are going to back him up? Because without some form of evidence it is his word against the word of the others. "Joking" is not a defence against racial or religious discrimination, although it is a common excuse (even at times, on this site!) and is usually followed by "I can't be racist because my friend/ drinking buddy / neighbour / brother in law is a ..... (fill in blank as appropriate).

The first step in relation to these incidents has to be to say "no" - he has to clearly state that these things are not funny, that he finds them offensive and he wants them to stop. Whether he does this as part of a grievance, or more informally, is a matter of judgement for him - but it must be done. He also needs to start keeping a diary or recoird of incidents, noting when and where something ahppens, who is involved and who witnessed it.

I agree that whilst this latest incident may meet the standards for criminal behviour, it is still "small potatoes" - at best this person is likely to get a talking to (and that's probably only if the police are satisfied that there is more to it than one persons word against another) and without backup of witnesses and/or evidence then involving the police in the workplace may simply make matters worse.

So yes, I think what you have suggested in terms of keeping records and making a formal complaint is probably all that you can do right now, but equally I am not convinced that this will necessarily help. In reality, such situations seldom end well. You might want to consider looking for new work for him - it isn't a solution, but it is often the best answer.