Sexual harrasment in the work place

[crazymotorbik...]

Hey,

This is quiet a serious subject and i was just after some advice on what you guys think the course of action should be.

The story

My GF works for the DWP and is currently still in her probation. About 3 months in she started to get sexual and suggestive text messages from her manager who got her phone number out of her personal file. The texts included things like:

'Stand up so i can perv at you'
'Come meet me upstairs i'll make you feel better'

Just generally disgusting things which should not be said at work or anywhere else for that matter.

Anyway due to teh stress it caused she was signed off sick by the doctor with depression. The doctor put work related sickness on her sick note.

A few weeks in she was called into work and told her line manager what had been going on and how it had caused her to be off work ill. She was basically fobbed off, told she would be given a written warning and the offending manager would be spoken to, but not disciplined. She was talked out of taking the formal route and basically made to feel it was her fault. To add insult to injury her line manager said that she was trying to get her just a written warning and that she may be finished.

Nothing has been done, she is still receiving the messages, she still gets phone calls now and again from the same guy.

Tommorow she is going to push for a formal complaint to be made however she doesn't feel anything will be done. At the moment she is terrified of going back to work there. but feels she has to to keep her job.

What other action should she take? Can she loose her job for this incident? Should she even be getting a written warning?

Im fuming and want to kill the guy with my bare hands but know its best not to do anything in case it hurts her case.

Any help is appreciated,
Shaun.

[panrider_uk]

If she's kept the texts on her phone then she's got evidence of harrassment and should have a good case I'd have thought.

Mark
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[Handsome]

Human Resources regards the conduct of said manager, then police for the harassing texts...
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[Alexio]

Definitely a criminal offence. Call you're friendly local police station now
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[crazymotorbik...]

Thanks for the replies.

Tommorow shes off back to the doctors, then shes ringing her company to let them know she wants a formal complaint. She is terrified of the place and is adamant she isn't going back so will be seeking legal advice.

Hetzer as always your right on the button and this is the course we shall be taking. She has at least 5 messages on her phone including those telling him to leave her alone.

Were determined to fuck this guy over one way or another even if it means going to the papers.

Cheers,
Shaun.

[Barry_M2]

They should never have fobbed her off in the first place when she mentioned it. Becauce of that, I would go straigt to making a formal complaint, and even threaten them with an independant tribunal.

There is loads of info on the net about it, just do a search on Google for sexual harassment at work.


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[J0Al1]

Get it in writing. All this verbal stuf is very hard to manage.

I've experianced just this over the last month. Unfortnatly, tere are so many pricks about.

If she does not put a stop to it immediatly, she may be seen as encoraing it (unfair as it may sound).

I emailed both the guys that were bothering me (one a line manager and the other a contractor) a warning. Now there is a record of what they have done and the fact that I've asked them to stop on the server

I got two appologies immediatly. One verbal, one written.

Tell her to rise above them, letting them getting under her skin and letting them stress her is only letting them win.

[J0Al1]

PS - What a thick boss to text that stuff.

[bazza]

[Skudd]

Formalise everything, everything to be recorded. Another complaint should be made of those who tried to brush it under the carpet and those that gave her the warning. Heads should be strung up for this sort of thing.
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[Ste]

Suggest to the manager that he moves to Russia?

[Robby]

Which DWP office are we talking out? Central London (policy) or the regions (cowboys).

I'm surprised this sort of thing is going on at all, it's very rare in the civil service and dealt with very quickly when it happens.

Anyway, if her line manager isn't doing anything then she needs to over their hard, and call HR as well. If she's signed off with a doctors note she can't have a written warning until she's been off for ages - about 6 months, usually.

So keep escalating up the chain and talk to HR. Of course, if everyone in the office is a cunt then you probably live up north, so she's fucked either way. Going over her manager's head will piss off her manager. HR will stay professional, they're a long way away and totally detached.

[crazymotorbik...]

Hey Robby,
Shes only been off six weeks. How does she go about refusing to accept the written warning?

To me her line manager was just giving her the slip and didn't want to help her. It wouldnt surpirse me if she was friends with the guy.

Shes going to ring tomorrow and ask for HR's number but is afraid that her line manager will not supply it. Is there anyway that you can help her get this info? PM me if you have too

And yes we do live up north!

Cheers,
Shaun

[panrider_uk]

[ZRX61]

[bazza]

[Robby]

That was meant to be "go over their head". I was tired.

I don't have the DWP HR number, I don't work in that department. She may be better off calling a colleague, they'll just grab it off the intranet. She should also call her manager's manager.

HR will be able to advise her about the written warning, if she has recieved it. In all department's I've worked in you can't issue a written warning without the approval of HR and after jumping through a lot of hoops - only one I knew of took about a year.

The usual way of dealing with low level sexual harrasment like this is to give the person doing it a quiet word and tell them to keep well away from the victim. If practical they get slid into a job where the paths of the two individuals will not cross.

Of course she could just be lying to you, but you'll deny this to the ends of the earth so it isn't worth discussing.

[J0Al1]

I'd say this kind of thing goes on a lot more than people think.

Good luck to your lass.

[warped one]

Ok, before I begin let me make a statement:

Bro you are far to kind ofr your own good, and you know what I mean.

Back on topic(ish)

Anyone rember when I got my bike done over by a work mate (Mr Clown) I tried to go through the propper channels but all I got was further texts and phone calls off the guy. What needs to be done is going straight over the top over everyone in your way, and to the top boss at the place, lodge a formal complaint. I know the she is far far far to quiet to try and stop this herself, which is why I dare say bro you will have to do it.

Type up a formal complaint which she signs saying she agrees, this must include what has been said in the texts and how intimidated it makes her feel. With the annotation that you have proof (If you have any) and that you are willing to show it. And that is it does not get sorted at the instant and the least he recives is a suspension, then you will be taking it to court.

If this fails give me his address and i'll sort something.

You know I recieved a similar sort of thing with harrassment over been threatend to be beaten up everyday of basically everyone at work, and I know how hard it wil be for her to go to work and look people in the eye knowing she has brought down someone's reputation, but what she also may find is that she is not the only one to have had this behaviour cast upon her, and other females in the office my come forward.

You maybe more legal in this bro, but it needs to be sorted and it needs to be sorted now.

Warped
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amnesia - Never in the history of usernames has one been more accurate. Warped indeed. You sir are a fecking oddball.

[MarJay]

This may be going off topic slightly, but anyone who uses the word 'Bro' in casual conversation has the mental capacity of a small rodent. Thats twice the mental capacity of most Americans who use the word!
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[benjami]

They're literally brothers though. Nothing wrong with calling your actual brother "bro" IMHO

[Clanger]

Go to a solicitor. Get the text messages recorded and signed for. This is evidence. And get their advice.
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[MarJay]

[Carl_steveo]

I worked for the DWP and I suggest she goes to her union representative. Even if she isn't in the union they will still help her. I got a written warning when i worked there because I was over heard calling another member of staff a slag (she was). It was a private conversation between two of us but none the less it was given. The two people who I was in the meeting with to receive my warning where two of her friends. A few weeks later I mentioned it to my manager who asked the HR who knew nothing about it. They had just made it all up. I've never known anyone to get a written warning only verbal ones.

The reason they are trying to sweep it under the carpet is because if one story comes out there will be loads and it will soon become a DWP sex scandal.
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[J0Al1]