BULLYING TACTICS WHILE OFF SICK

barrychuckle · Post by **barrychuckle** » 30 Jan 2008, 17:42

Hi, had a WTL today. Have been told if you are off sick you have to phone in everyday. The manager in control of sickness will phone you everyday to make sure you're at home. They will also call around your house to make sure you're at home. This is only if you are short term sick. If you are signed off sick by the doc or long term sick they will not use these bullyboy tactics. Trying to catch the one dayers I feel. However surely this is bullying and harassment can they do this? Does it happen at any other offices? Is it against the law? Look forward to your replies.

k979aaa · Post by **k979aaa** » 30 Jan 2008, 17:49

barrychuckle wrote:Hi, had a WTL today. Have been told if you are off sick you have to phone in everyday. The manager in control of sickness will phone you everyday to make sure you're at home. They will also call around your house to make sure you're at home. This is only if you are short term sick. If you are signed off sick by the doc or long term sick they will not use these bullyboy tactics. Trying to catch the one dayers I feel. However surely this is bullying and harassment can they do this? Does it happen at any other offices? Is it against the law? Look forward to your replies.

For sure it is and it has happened to me and now my responce will be. I have informed you of my illness and will let you know when i will be returning for if you continue to harrass me i will consider takeing this to a further stage.

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 30 Jan 2008, 18:18

I don't know if its against the law but I do know from letters that Dave Ward sent to Royal Mail that the Union would be very interested. After a brief google session I cant find anything on the law but only 1 mention that daily contact may be seen as harassment, unfortunately I cant find it again so I don't have a link.

However, contact your area H&S Rep straight away and get their advice.

Moving to Union room so one of H&S reps can perhaps give some advice.

Post by **Carnoustie** » 30 Jan 2008, 18:31

barrychuckle wrote:Hi, had a WTL today. Have been told if you are off sick you have to phone in everyday. The manager in control of sickness will phone you everyday to make sure you're at home. They will also call around your house to make sure you're at home. This is only if you are short term sick. If you are signed off sick by the doc or long term sick they will not use these bullyboy tactics. Trying to catch the one dayers I feel. However surely this is bullying and harassment can they do this? Does it happen at any other offices? Is it against the law? Look forward to your replies.

Definitely harrassment to my way of thinking.
Strikes me that if a manager says they'll only hassle people if they're off short-term, they kind of deserve it if that individual then goes to their doctor and gets himself signed off for a week with 'occupational stress'. Doing this will relieve the underlying cause of the problem, as the harrassment will cease (according to what you've told us)

barrychuckle · Post by **barrychuckle** » 30 Jan 2008, 18:38

Hi, thanks for the replies. Silly me but I forgot to say the manager also said if you don't answer the phone or are not in when they call round they will stop your pay. Surely not right.

saru · Post by **saru** » 30 Jan 2008, 19:05

Tell them to eff off! That is harassment, pure & simple.
So what if you have to go to the doctor's, hospital, pick the kids up, get medication? Will they stop your wages for that....I don't think so!
Also, what if they phone while you're in bed getting much needed rest so you can get back to worK? Just tell them on your return to work that you would have been back a day earlier if you hadn't been disturbed which hindered your recovery.

Post by **Carnoustie** » 30 Jan 2008, 19:07

barrychuckle wrote:Hi, thanks for the replies. Silly me but I forgot to say the manager also said if you don't answer the phone or are not in when they call round they will stop your pay. Surely not right.

ADVICE FOR YOUR NEXT WTL SESSION:

1. Put an excerpt from the Fleetwood Mac song 'Little Lies' on your mobile phone, and play it at full volume every time your manager says anything

2. Print out the following jpeg, and follow the instructions, and tell the manager about the new Personal Protective Equipment that is now mandatory to wear at all his WTL sessions

k979aaa · Post by **k979aaa** » 30 Jan 2008, 19:24

barrychuckle wrote:Hi, thanks for the replies. Silly me but I forgot to say the manager also said if you don't answer the phone or are not in when they call round they will stop your pay. Surely not right.

yes they did the very same to me but now i have my union rep's number and will call him for advice in this matter this time , this is the one of many benfit's of being in the union!.

curly1975 · Post by **curly1975** » 30 Jan 2008, 19:36

http://www.royalmailchat.co.uk/forum/vi ... php?t=9246

newpostie · Post by **newpostie** » 30 Jan 2008, 19:42

im sure if ur off short time illness, the only way to get better is goto the doctors and to sleep! so if they question y u wernt at home..simple, at the doctors or in bed! But come on you think there gna take the effort to call at peoples houses that are off sick everyday! They are fkin bullys!!

barrychuckle · Post by **barrychuckle** » 30 Jan 2008, 20:12

Thanks for the replies. Our managers are bullies and are always in their cars or RM vans out and about trying to catch posties out off route, unattended mail etc. So coming around your house each day will be like water off a ducks back.

k979aaa · Post by **k979aaa** » 30 Jan 2008, 20:17

barrychuckle wrote:Thanks for the replies. Our managers are bullies and are always in their cars or RM vans out and about trying to catch posties out off route, unattended mail etc. So coming around your house each day will be like water off a ducks back.

Dont forget to let the dog out!.

brothermagrew · Post by **brothermagrew** » 30 Jan 2008, 21:09

TrueBlueTerrier wrote:I don't know if its against the law but I do know from letters that Dave Ward sent to Royal Mail that the Union would be very interested. After a brief google session I cant find anything on the law but only 1 mention that daily contact may be seen as harassment, unfortunately I cant find it again so I don't have a link.

However, contact your area H&S Rep straight away and get their advice.

Moving to Union room so one of H&S reps can perhaps give some advice.

Are any of the Union brothers and sisters aware of any Royal Mail Attendance Management Policy floating about anywhere.

jacko · Post by **jacko** » 30 Jan 2008, 23:02

We had a manager off sick a couple of weeks ago i asked the question did he get any phone calls from anyone asking him if he was sure he wasn`t fit for work as he rang up saying he had the flu.

norbert · Post by **norbert** » 30 Jan 2008, 23:32

k979aaa wrote:
barrychuckle wrote:Hi, had a WTL today. Have been told if you are off sick you have to phone in everyday. The manager in control of sickness will phone you everyday to make sure you're at home. They will also call around your house to make sure you're at home. This is only if you are short term sick. If you are signed off sick by the doc or long term sick they will not use these bullyboy tactics. Trying to catch the one dayers I feel. However surely this is bullying and harassment can they do this? Does it happen at any other offices? Is it against the law? Look forward to your replies.
For sure it is and it has happened to me and now my responce will be. I have informed you of my illness and will let you know when i will be returning for if you continue to harrass me i will consider takeing this to a further stage.

We'd the Transport Act , so there was all these Horror stories about people being followed , Big Al would like it , Culture of Fear ?

That's nice of them WTF? to not come round if you're signed off . I'm not a lawyer but it appears to go against the human rights act clause -for privacy and the 97 Harassment Act i.e.What a "reasonable'" person would consider to be Harassment .What if you've to go to the Chemists ,to the shop for a loaf of bread , fags , milk etc ? , It turns into a Grasses charter and idiotic over zealous mangers spying and snooping for Brownie Points to impress.

I think they're out to catch the p***heads out from my experience .We had "Managing for Attendance" and everyone being brought into the Office if you went over 4 days . Just a tool to settle petty vendettas with the a***holes in charge. You also got "coincidental " visits .

I know the RM Ulster Personnel Director used to work for Bombardier Shorts wanted 273 redundancies by fair or foul means , he ended up with 474 Tribunal Cases against him . He spied on someone who'd put his back out with a piece of steel the size of a snooker table , they filmed him from a van picking the baby up so this "Individual " had him in the Office with a Rep for Malingering !.

Firms do check up on staff but they'd do it a bit more discreetly . I'd the "enquiries will be made " in one public service -what it really meant was the gossip grapevine .

If RM want to play that game , throw the rule book back at them !

It's all down to pressure from HR/Senior /Area , it gets very silly , once there's too many complains /grievances /B&H complaints in , the stupidity stops , usual RM belligerent/bolshy contrived "firefighting" nonsense .

That NHS statement from TBT is a legal get out , very laboured/ exhaustive /longwinded in case of complaints for B&H or to ET , naturally it's contradictory and full of holes .

--Royal Mails New Absence policy ?

ROYALMAILCHAT