I'm not sure that you'll get useful advice here on a query of this nature. You might need to get legal advice through your HR dept.
Agreed.
You do not need to state this at all. HR should be refuting this, not you.
It would be normal in a situation like this for HR and the line manager to sit down and respond to the complaint. I am not sure that it makes much difference that the complainant is criticising you. It sounds as if you are being accused of doing your job.
Brendan
Your post is unclear.
The typical idealised process is:
On recruitment/promotion the supervisor outlines clear expectations regarding performance for all employees.
Supervisor undertakes regular performance reviews with all employees.
As issues arise they are brought to the attention of the employee by the supervisor and explicit targets outlined.
This might represent a "counselling period" which should be documented.
The employee should be advised that continued failure to meet these targets could lead to a disciplinary procedure.
This would escalate from verbal warning- continued underperformance in the same arena- written warning- final written warning- dismissal.
For gross misconduct you can escalate to dismissal.
If this process is not clearly in place for all employees, you might be vunerable to accusations of "picking on" this particular employee.
All the fact that they have complained about 2 of you weakens their position. It is fairly typical for an employee subjected to tight performance management to cry "bullying". But if your processes are tight, consistent and applied across your workforce you will have more protection.
Data protection states I cannot see anything on their file unless it relates to me
That's not true. You have an automatic entitlement to see the file if the data relates to you, but that doesn't mean that no-one else can see the file. It just means that no-one else has an automatic entitlement to see the file.
It sounds like line managers are not being allowed or supported to line manage. You should get clarification as to whether line management is part of your role or not. If you are the manager, then you need access to the file. If not, then the whole thing is HR's problem.
If you have been documenting evidence of the individuals poor working practices then you should have been documenting evidence of where you pointed this out to the individual and tried to get them to improve their work. I'd be very reluctant to use the information you've been documenting if you haven't been giving the individual a chance to rectify the situation. I know the individual has been posing problems for a while but I think the onus is on management to prove they have given the staff member every opportunity to improve. If you've only been recording when her work is poor and not highlighting this to her, then I don't think bringing it up will help your case. Sorry.
I'm at a loss as to what more can be done, a child made a complaint ( serious enough) was uheld...
I presume you mean "upheld".
If there is a risk that person is involved in abuse of children, however slight, that puts a whole different complexion on the matter.
Unless I'm reading far more into your comment than you intended, if a child made a complaint then your office may have a duty to report the matter to the Gardaí and not be treating this as an internal matter.
Failing to involve the proper authorities could expose you to the kind of opprobrium the catholic church got for its "in-house" handling of child sexual abuse cases.
HIQA may be a reasonable next stage of referral where an allegation has been made but no case is yet proven, especially given the dismal performance of the Gardaí in the cases referred to them by the South-Eastern Health Board [Ferns, etc].
[Unless of course the complaint was made to the Gardaí or HIQA before, in which case disregard these comments].
As the employer, you should examine any computer he uses or to which he has access and the backups for inappropriate content and forward any evidence found to HIQA/the Gardaí.
If found this could amount to gross misbehaviour and an immediate dismissal, but as others have warned, tread lightly and follow procedure as you appear to have done.
ONQ.
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