Moved to new unit: existing staff lost out, now making unfounded allegations about me

Hello

I am hoping for a bit of advice.

I have worked for the same organisation for 16 years and have had a perfect record, no complaints never late nothing on my file and no problems and I do love my job and work hard. The unit where I worked closed and my employer had to find me another job in a similar unit.

I was moved to another unit, on the same terms and conditions, unfortunately that meant that existing part timers lost out, it was clear immediately the new unit was not happy.

Within 3 weeks my new line manager wrote to me with 4 allegations all of a personal nature nothing about my work and then his director (who I have never met) wrote to my employer with much the same allegations the letter was almost a carbon copy but further exaggerates the same 4 things and said they wanted me removed but as they did not have the authority to do so were asking for action to be taken they wanted me to be sacked.

I cant prove 3 of them aren't true but are exaggerated and bullying however I can absolutely prove one is a total fabrication and I have written proof of that fabrication.

I am now being investigated and very stressed out.
As I live this night mare, knowing I have done nothing wrong, I keep asking myself what did I do to deserve this?

Is it libel for the director a man who never met me to write to my employer questioning my ability and calibre?

I can prove the manager blatantly lied on one allegation does that automatically discredit him on other allegations?

The manager when asked for evidence got a co-worker to make a statement confirming part of one of the allegations its unsigned 6 months after the alleged incident.

I am in a union but they say I am in the process one day at a time and I had to provide a written response and am back in the waiting game.

When all this is over will I be able to take action against the manager who I can prove lied?

In my indirect experience unions are useless in situations like this. They will write a letter but once they are told to get lost they will run for cover in case they have to spend money on solicitors.
Yes, you can take action against the individual who you can prove lied about you. If you do take an action against him then name both him and the organisation in your action.

What size in the company you work for?
Do they have a head office that you can contact?
Do they have a separate HR department?

+1 on the union, although it helps if you have them on board as management may be more reluctant to put up a fight if the issue becomes perceived as a "union" issue.

Does the company have a proper grievance process?, possibly before you contemplate other actions you should exhaust that process and certainly if this ended up in court, you could be in a stronger position if you could show you followed company procedures and either they were inadequate or failed to give you the response you required.

Take highly detailed notes of everything that was said to you, about you, or concerning you. Write down times, dates, who was present, etc. Get a copy of your perfect record and your file. Put those letters from your manager and director together. Make an appointment with a solicitor, and go and see him or her immediately.

Thanks everybody. I wonder if anyone has a suggestion for a solicitor. I dont have much money at the moment being in negative equity and have very little spare cash. I am in a state organisanation like a social worker in a care unit. There is a HR department and they are going to follow the procedure but it should never have got this far.

These allegations are all petty nothing a serious offence even if I did them, petty minded and mean of the manager.

Why don't you put in a counterclaim against all those that are making claims about you highlighting the vexatious nature of them, They wont like the shoe on the other foot.

Purple said:

In my indirect experience unions are useless in situations like this. They will write a letter but once they are told to get lost they will run for cover in case they have to spend money on solicitors.

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Unions don,t state this, but they all have solicitors on the payroll, ask your rep. to run this case thru the legal dept and get a response on this, don,t take the "no point, thery won,t say anything different" response

Contact

http://www.flac.ie

Ask for Industrial relations lawyer, they have them in different centres

As a poster above has stated all Unions employ solicitors who are conversant with employment legislation , ask your rep if he has made union head office aware of your difficulties and if so would it be possible to speak with the full time official dealing with your case.
I do agree that union representation is your best bet as employers often back down from confrontation with unions particularly if the complainants case is a strong one

Thanking everyone for their advice, no one can ever describe how much waste and worry and brain damage is caused by this rotten type of bullying. Anyway I went to the free legal assistance provided at citizens advice. They read the complaints and said that the manager had acted very badly and no correct procedure some of it was just pure meanness. I felt a hell of a lot better coming out of it. Nagging the union is difficult but thats seems to be the only plan for now. The solicitor said if I walked out I would win constructive dismissal but thats the last thing I want. The chair of the board did a very unwise thing writing that letter

The complain has to be investigated and once an employee makes it official, then it is out of your hands.

However, you have a right to a fair and indepenent investigation. In this case it appears that there has been a rush to condem you on the basis of the accusation by virtue of asking for you to be removed.

On the basis of the information you have provided, this is against natural justice and may be a breach of any company's dignity at work/bullying policy.

The case against a manager is a possibility, but co-operate with the investigation (though with legal/union advice). The policy should dictate the consequences of someone making false accusation, these should be as severe as the consequences of being found to have conducted any inappropriate behaviour.

The fundamental point is that the investigation should have been conducted before the letter was sent.

This is what you've paid your union subs for, use them to the fullest extent.

Deiseblue said:

As a poster above has stated all Unions employ solicitors who are conversant with employment legislation , ask your rep if he has made union head office aware of your difficulties and if so would it be possible to speak with the full time official dealing with your case.
I do agree that union representation is your best bet as employers often back down from confrontation with unions particularly if the complainants case is a strong one

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While unions do have solicitors who will write letters they will not take a case on behalf of a member unless they think it will establish a legal precedent (and that they will win). This is understandable as they simply don't have the money to do much more. So basically they will write a letter or two for you but if your employer ignores them/ tells them to get lost then you will be on your own.

Local union reps are generally voted into their positions by the local union members. In your particular case, you are a minority in your unit. The union rep will probably be more concerned about losing the votes of most of the existing workers than losing your single vote in the union elections. So they may just give you the run around and do nothing so as to avoid conflict with the existing workers i.e. the bulk of their local members.

Within 3 weeks my new line manager wrote to me with 4 allegations all of a personal nature nothing about my work

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What do you mean by a personal nature? Company only has the authority to investigate work related incidents.

they wanted me removed but as they did not have the authority to do so were asking for action to be taken they wanted me to be sacked.

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What opportunities did your line manager give you to state your case before making the above recommendation to his superiors? This is very important. If you were not made fully aware of all allegations against you and given a chance to formally respond, then the line manager is in serious difficulties regarding this. Any HR Department who finds out that one of their managers made such a serious decision on a disciplinary issue without following the correct procedures is not going to be happy with the line manager and will probably be praying that they dont get sued by the employee.

csirl said:

Local union reps are generally voted into their positions by the local union members. In your particular case, you are a minority in your unit. The union rep will probably be more concerned about losing the votes of most of the existing workers than losing your single vote in the union elections. So they may just give you the run around and do nothing so as to avoid conflict with the existing workers i.e. the bulk of their local members.

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There is a risk of confusion here between local rep/shop steward (who may well be voted in, or more likely will get the job because no-one else wants it) and the full-time union official - the employee of the union dealing with this workplace.

For a problem like this, you should be dealing directly with the full-time union official, not your local shop steward.

1234 said:

It would help if you could post some details of these allegations made again you.

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It may also be necessary not to post too much identifying information on this matter.

up date

Thanks for the responses. An up date!
HR asked Manager for the allegations in writing and evidence, I was given this and responded in writing. As a result of my response its no longer a disciplinary issue and I am being moved without prejudice to another unit and an investigator assigned. He interviewed all involved, I was given copies of the interviews. Its horrible and frightening how far this manager went. There was no complaint he trawled and he lied and made up false allegations.

The chair of the board backed up his manager 100% even though the story didn't stack up and he wrote a letter and went to a meeting asking for me to be sacked with out ever laying eyes on me.

I am happy to wait for the outcome of the investigation but I want some out come if the manager is not disciplined or demoted or the chair of the board resign or something to acknowledge the pain and stress they have caused me I want to sue.
Is there a time limitation on this as the investigation may go on for another while yet.

Can some one really get away with waging a personal vendetta against an employee? Its hard to believe but this guy was not going to allow me to work there was clearly determined to find something all allegations based on nothing. Taking normal conversations out of context.

alan11 said:

I am in a union but they say I am in the process one day at a time and I ad to provide a written response and am back in the waiting game.

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I agree with the union, you should follow the formal procedure through to conclusion.