Any liability for 'customer' abusing staff over phone?

T

threebedsemi

Registered User
Messages
253
Dont know if this should be in the legal section or here, but i have a general question following a recent incident as follows:

One day when i was out of the office a 'client' of mine called and spoke to a (foreign) employee who told him I was not in at the moment. He then became VERY annoyed and commenced to give out to the employee and to issue instructions to her in a bad tempered manner. The employee had no idea who he was or what he was talking about, and found it difficult to follow his presumably exicited rant. She asked him to please repeat what he had just said, at which point he really exploded and told her that she should 'learn english' if she wanted to work in this country, and threw in a few other racist and generally insulting remarks before hanging up.

The employee was rather shaken, and when I was informed of the matter I phoned the guy up, told his voicemail what I thought of his behaviour, and considered that the end of it.

It recently occured to me however that my employee may have some cause for complaint against either the caller or myself. Can anyone point me in the direction of the relevant legislation regading and issue such as this (if it is an issue at all)?
 
I am not sure that there is much you can do.

After a similar, though not as bad incident, I told our employees that if any caller was bad mannered or abusive, they were to tell them that they had my authority to hang up on them. That the caller was to call again after they calmed down.

You must provide a safe working environment,but you can't prevent an abusive phone call.

Brendan
 
Brendan, i assume that you're right, and I did not intend to take it anywhere anyway, just wondering about the issues. Some staff training along the lines you describe would have been good practice for all companies even before most of us (and our customers) were under as much stress as we are now....
 
A student I know had a part-time job in a call centre and they were told during training that if they received any verbal abuse from a caller they should terminate the call immediately, maybe you should consider that, put it in writing in staff manual, it would give the staff direction & permission and perhaps protect you.
 
You've got some good advice here. Also, I'd suggest that in responding to such calls in future, it is probably not a great idea to leave your response on his voicemail.
 
Under employment equality legislation, an employer could be liable for harrassment of an employee by a customer - in the case you described this would be harassment under the race ground. The law expects that you act in a preventative way - at the most basic level you should have a written dignity at work policy covering bullying, harassment and sexual harassment. There are three separate codes of practice from the LRC, Health and Safety Authority and the Equality Authority that should be observed when drawing up a policy. If you google "dignity at work policy" you will see some examples. On your specific instance the Equality Authority say that your policy should "point out that the sexual harassment and harassment by non-employees such as clients, customers and business contacts will not be tolerated and may lead to termination of contracts or suspension of services, or the exclusion from a premises or the imposition of other sanctions (as appropriate)."
 
As pointed out. It's hard to control, so most actions are reactive. The dignity at work charter is a good place to start. Then it's like Brendan says you just direct staff that they don't have to stand for any form of abuse or inappropriate behaviour and they can terminate calls on that basis.

With the customers in mind, it would be reasonable that the staff give a warning and opportunity for the customer to be more appropriate and then terminate if they don't.

After that, it's essential that your staff have your support and backing for taking that action.
 
I think a lot will depend on what the company's policy is on this? Can you find out from the HR dept what the company's stance on it is? An employee should not be subjected to harrassment, racist comments or verbal abuse at work by a manager/colleague or by a customer. Like someone else said - does the company have a dignity at work policy? Most do or should have one. Do you record any calls for quality reasons - i.e. is there a chance this call has been recorded which would help?

The company obviously cannot preempt what will be said to an employee on the phone but should take steps to ensure its not tolerated and is not allowed recur. Company policies vary - one friend worked over here for an American company which had a three strikes policy if the customer was rude they were advised that it was not acceptable and if it was ignored twice the employee was entitled to terminate the call.

I worked in one company in the tech support department and there was one customer who was extremely rude to the point of abusing staff and calling people stupid and worse. The MD wrote to them and advised that either they treated the staff with manners and respect or their support contract could not be renewed. Fair play to him.
 
Great response. I will look into implementing a 'Dignity at Work' charter and writing recommendations into the office manual regarding dealing with these types of calls in the future.
Many thanks for all the excellent advice.
 
Threebedsemi it would be worth also checking with the company if they are already Ibec members as I know they help with the likes of setting up a dignity at work charter and dealing with these sort of issues. If the company are a member they can access all sorts of information via the website www.ibec.ie
 
As well as your legal responsibility here I think that all employers have a moral responsibility to do everything they can to ensure this does not happen. Whilst it is sometimes frustrating dealing with receptionists and call centres it is never acceptable to behave in this way. This is coming from a white english speaking person who has himself suffered from this in the past whilst abroad. Very good topic for discussion. Well done.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top