The bullyboy Assistant DOM, victimisation and the solicitor.

[brothermagrew]

A point or two given in good faith that you may wish to consider:

If you are off work suffering stress as a result of bullying it is important to let the employer know in writing (maybe a solicitors letter) that the injury to health you have sustained is caused by the behaviour of one or more members of staff. This letter will become crucial evidence for a personal injury/duty of care action later should that become necessary.

If you've suffered a psychiatric injury (e.g. stress) it's essential to have good medical evidence to support your injury to health. If you suffer a stress breakdown get medical evidence immediately. A stress breakdown, often wrongly called mental breakdown or nervous breakdown, is a lay term comprising either a short cessation of brain processing or a period of uncontrollable crying perhaps lasting several days, perhaps accompanied by panic attacks, trembling, loss of memory, reactive depression, suicidal thoughts and unusually high levels of hypervigilence resembling paranoia. It is a serious traumatic event but it is not a sign of mental weakness. Quite the reverse.

Agree with Norbert a Solicitor would establish precise grounds on which to take action. After all the injury to health which has caused you to take sickness absence was caused by the unacceptable aggressive and dysfunctional bullying behaviour of 'X'.

[norbert]

A point or two given in good faith that you may wish to consider:

If you are off work suffering stress as a result of bullying it is important to let the employer know in writing (maybe a solicitors letter) that the injury to health you have sustained is caused by the behaviour of one or more members of staff. This letter will become crucial evidence for a personal injury/duty of care action later should that become necessary.

If you've suffered a psychiatric injury (e.g. stress) it's essential to have good medical evidence to support your injury to health. If you suffer a stress breakdown get medical evidence immediately. A stress breakdown, often wrongly called mental breakdown or nervous breakdown, is a lay term comprising either a short cessation of brain processing or a period of uncontrollable crying perhaps lasting several days, perhaps accompanied by panic attacks, trembling, loss of memory, reactive depression, suicidal thoughts and unusually high levels of hypervigilence resembling paranoia. It is a serious traumatic event but it is not a sign of mental weakness. Quite the reverse.

Agree with Norbert a Solicitor would establish precise grounds on which to take action. After all the injury to health which has caused you to take sickness absence was caused by the unacceptable aggressive and dysfunctional bullying behaviour of 'X'.

I've thought about this - go for the bare minimum RM stuff - register a complaint at Rugby , note it down in a diary , I spoke to whoever at such and such a time etc , record it if possible , tell them politely that you have no confidence in RM's B&H procedure but wish to have your complaint registered . You'll get a letter back off them - get it copied .

Also ring the CWU helpline , do the same , if you have to do formal letters , copy it .

Put a grievance in , nothing will be done , copy one for the Union branch & self etc BUT you'll have a paper trail in Black & White for a " rainy day " .

The Asst DIM will be lulled into a sense of false security , see the solicitor act as well advised , the Asst DUM might get a very serious letter or something or hear about it , he might get the shock of his life .

You need the right balance of guile and Industrial Thuggery - Might be wrong on this , I'm sure there's others here who might be able to advise better or correct me

[La Poste]

Everything you do you have to come out shining.
Every question they ask you you have to be consistant, especially in your statements, don't change your story from the first statement as you go along.
Allways look like you are the one who appears cooperative.
Allways play on the unfair angle and you have allways tried to be fair.
As you are loading your guns keep it a secret even from the CWU. Don't trust reps to much, I'm not saying they are bad but there is an awful lot of gossip in offices and if they think big trouble is coming they will avoid it and possibly become difficult and unresponsive to your requests.
Play the one who is being victimised, if you genuinly are then just be yourself.
As for solicitors I don't know how it works, to sue the whole company is very hard although you may have a case against an individual.
Look for double standards, has someone under the same accusation been treated differently to you IE their case was thrown out, maybe the union could help you here.
Be very respectful to reps, if they think you are taking the piss they will not help you, a lot of complaints dealt with by reps are from pisstakers.
I would love to hear from anyone who has involved solicitors in RM I really would. Anyone here ever done it?
Allways remember the RM pays for the CWU facilities (offices, electricity, paper, fax machines etc) the CWU relies on RM financially, there is a limit to how far they will go.
Cheers.

[mailsort6]

You can go to an employment lawyer who will give you 30 mintues free consultation, they will give you guidence to whether you have a case or not and they will also tell you how to structure your case. You need to follow RM's grievance procedure or RM's bullying and harassmet procedure, take a look at the ACAS Code of Practice it gives you information on grievances: http://www.acas.org.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=1047" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If you do not follow the some form of a grievance procedure before you go to a employment tribunal you could end-up with a reduce compensation if you win your case or you could lose you case because you did not follow the grievance procedure, so be careful.

[brothermagrew]

Everything you do you have to come out shining.
Every question they ask you you have to be consistant, especially in your statements, don't change your story from the first statement as you go along.
Allways look like you are the one who appears cooperative.
Allways play on the unfair angle and you have allways tried to be fair.
As you are loading your guns keep it a secret even from the CWU. Don't trust reps to much, I'm not saying they are bad but there is an awful lot of gossip in offices and if they think big trouble is coming they will avoid it and possibly become difficult and unresponsive to your requests.
Play the one who is being victimised, if you genuinly are then just be yourself.
As for solicitors I don't know how it works, to sue the whole company is very hard although you may have a case against an individual.
Look for double standards, has someone under the same accusation been treated differently to you IE their case was thrown out, maybe the union could help you here.
Be very respectful to reps, if they think you are taking the piss they will not help you, a lot of complaints dealt with by reps are from pisstakers.
I would love to hear from anyone who has involved solicitors in RM I really would. Anyone here ever done it?
Allways remember the RM pays for the CWU facilities (offices, electricity, paper, fax machines etc) the CWU relies on RM financially, there is a limit to how far they will go.
Cheers.

Play the one who is being victimised.


Sorry but have to disagree with regards to bullying in this context, the word victim should not be used as such instead 'target' is more appropriate for this simple reason. The word 'victim' allows bullies and their supporters, apologists and deniers to tap into and stimulate other people's prejudices and preconceived notions about 'victimhood', e.g. that it is all your fault. It is not - the bully has deliberately and intentionally targeted you. It is the bully's pattern of behaviour (constant nitpicking criticisms, specious allegations etc) which reveals intent.

[norbert]

Everything you do you have to come out shining.
Every question they ask you you have to be consistant, especially in your statements, don't change your story from the first statement as you go along.
Allways look like you are the one who appears cooperative.
Allways play on the unfair angle and you have allways tried to be fair.
As you are loading your guns keep it a secret even from the CWU. Don't trust reps to much, I'm not saying they are bad but there is an awful lot of gossip in offices and if they think big trouble is coming they will avoid it and possibly become difficult and unresponsive to your requests.
Play the one who is being victimised, if you genuinly are then just be yourself.
As for solicitors I don't know how it works, to sue the whole company is very hard although you may have a case against an individual.
Look for double standards, has someone under the same accusation been treated differently to you IE their case was thrown out, maybe the union could help you here.
Be very respectful to reps, if they think you are taking the piss they will not help you, a lot of complaints dealt with by reps are from pisstakers.
I would love to hear from anyone who has involved solicitors in RM I really would. Anyone here ever done it?
Allways remember the RM pays for the CWU facilities (offices, electricity, paper, fax machines etc) the CWU relies on RM financially, there is a limit to how far they will go.
Cheers.

Play the one who is being victimised.


Sorry but have to disagree with regards to bullying in this context, the word victim should not be used as such instead 'target' is more appropriate for this simple reason. The word 'victim' allows bullies and their supporters, apologists and deniers to tap into and stimulate other people's prejudices and preconceived notions about 'victimhood', e.g. that it is all your fault. It is not - the bully has deliberately and intentionally targeted you. It is the bully's pattern of behaviour (constant nitpicking criticisms, specious allegations etc) which reveals intent.

The other thing is that the bully can appear to be " reasonable " & superficially charming , all part of their Jeckyll & Hyde nature - all text book elementary psychology - Brother Macgrew is right , keep it broadly personal as regards to his poor people skills / lack of training / motivational / managerial skills BUT DON'T make it sound too much like a character assassination or people will think it's just a personalty clash/ a grudge and it's six of one & half a dozen of the other

Keep it concise and clinical .

The irony is with what they call Utilitarian / Macho / "Robust" management is that " personalty clashes will be " avoided " by the use of discipline " as it's upsetting "the team" - all complete b***ocks of course but that is the basic idea .

The other elementary text book bit is that " " troublemakers " will be disciplined " - What I'm driving at is don't give them a chance to be appear " reasonable " - i.e. they'll say so and so was " difficult " / " had a attitude problem " / " inflexible " - hence the good points made before about coming out " shining " and being totally consistent .

If you do that , the bully / the instigator or whoever is trying to defend him will trip himself up somewhere down the line .

Hope I've explained this properly ?

[Sci_Dog]

Once again guys and girls, thank you all very much for the wealth of information. It really is very much appreciated. Just would like to clarify a few points, if I could.

I'm not looking any compensation and I would rather not have all this fuss in my office. I just want to go and do my days work without the fear of making a simple, genuine human mistake. This simple, genuine mistake is my Assistant DOM's way of using the conduct code in whatever way he can. However Joe Bloggs two frames down could make the very same genuine, human mistake and an eyelid wouldn't be blanked at him. This is no way to manage. To be honest he is making my working life a misery. I'm determined not to let him make my life a misery outside work. I'm off sick now and have a few weeks to get my head cleared. I really dunno what to do. I really hate the thought of using the corrupted Royal Mail internal system for dealing with victimisation. By the looks of things I'm going to have to use it though. However I have to have a back-up plan i.e a solicitor who is totally independant and impartial. I

I'm not looking to sue the company or even my Assistant DOM. I just want him to get off my case and treat me with a respect. So whatever way I achieve this, is the road I'm going to have to go down. I hate the thought of perhaps having to get sacked then having to appeal, tribunals etc etc. I would rather hit the nail on the head as soon as possible and get this lying manager off my case.

[brothermagrew]

Sci_Dog

Tribunals place great emphasis on whether an individual has followed every option open to them, especially employer's dispute procedures - where employers have such procedures. If an individual has followed the procedures, and they haven't worked, this is a point in their favour. If they haven't then a Tribunal may reject their case on this point.

Tribunals are not interested in whether employers' are fair or whether they work, they are only interested in whether an individual has followed them. In 1998 a study done by the Manchester School of Management found that of 165 tribunal decisions, in every case where the employer had no formal procedures, the employer lost. The grievance procedure is unlikely to resolve a case of bullying, but it does give an individual the opportunity to bring all the bullying behaviour out in the open and to alert the employer to what is happening.

Whilst the employer may be able to claim ignorance on the first occasion, if it has been brought to their attention and they have chosen to take no action, an individual's case and the cases of those who follow are strengthened. Tribunals can only make judgements under exisiting law, if they do otherwise, the case will be overturned on appeal.

[La Poste]

At the end of the day it's all about balance of power, being at the bottom us posties have very little power

[Sci_Dog]

Thank you very much 'La Poste' and 'Brothermagrew'.

I'm starting to see now what I have to do. Basically exhaust the Royal Mail corrupted bullying system. If it doesn't give me the result I deserve then I go to tribunal and prove that Royal Mail is full of bullying managers and the system to deal with them is even biased and corrupt. Would that basically be it guys?