Same as electron,but my thoughts are with you best of luck xxx

Just been on the phone to HR department and i said that we would be putting a written grievance letter in,HR's responce was now we know your wife is off at the moment ( we have a doctor's appointment tommorow and was going to get a sick note ) and would she be willing to work at another store on friday which is local to us but after friday they could sent her to random stores which could be miles away while the investigation takes place. My first thought was to say yes as it shows we are willing to act in the right manner,but now im thinking we should of siad no she is in no fit state to work at the moment with the stress of it all. what do you think she should do,go work in another store or get a sick note?

Ok will leave out anything that could be misinterperted and keep it to the facts. Thanks again..

Dear sir/madam Please accept this letter as a written grievance as discussed in our phone conversation on the 23rd september at 9.am This action has been carefully considered after our informal meeting on the 22nd september at 1pm at the ...... branch,where we discussed the claim of bullying and harrashment which has occured at the ........ branch of ...... with yourself and the area manager. I wish to thank you and ..... for your support on the above matter but as discussed i feel that any mediation between myself and the alleged parties involved would fail to resolve the issue in the long term and as there is no senior aurthority in place at the store at the moment i feel as though any mediation would only be a short term fix and i would be deeply concerned that the bullying and harrashment would continue and maybe even excalate without any senior manager in place to monitor the issue,i feel as though it would be detramental to my health,safety and welfare if i returned to that work enviorment. i would follow this with various examples of the bullying and harrashment,with witnesses etc. yours sincerely Does this look ok as a written grievance letter? sorry i copied and pasted it from my wordpad so its a bit all over the place.

Thankyou very much,just what i needed,we have about 6-7 recorded bullying incidents in the last couple of months and i will write as much detail down as i can.. Regards Andrew ..

Just spoken to ACAS and they just confirmed to me what i already knew but its good to have someone at the other end to talk too. Yes Erica, the mediation route would defo only be a short term fix as we know the bully in question very well and she will for sure go back to her old way so we think the mediation will have little or no effect long term to my wife's health and welfare. Plus they have no real authority running the store at the moment to keep tabs on the situation. So i think a wriiten grievience is the way to go. Does anyone have a letter template they could share or any idea's how i should set out this letter as i have never written a letter like this is my life. Regards Andrew

Yes i think this is the route we are going to take,the bullying has gone too far and my wife dos'ent wanna face someone who has been mean to her. so we will see the doctor and get a sick note and then i will work on a written grivience letter and get a full investagation into the issue. But i need a template letter as i would,nt have a clue what to put,can anyone give me any advice how i should put this across in a grievence letter or a link to a template.. big thanks Andrew

Had our meeting today as mentioned above,was greeted by the area manager and a member of the HR team. We gave our version of events and notes were taken by the HR repsentative and the area manager listened intensely. The area manager and HR rep said all the correct things and were very supportive and in a way helpful We asked for a transfer but this was immediately turned down as no vacancys available They gave us 2 options,1 the area manager want to resolve it a quickly as possible by sitting my wife and the bully in question to talk it over with the area manager sitting in and listening,we think this will have little effect and things will just return to old ways after an initial period of sorry's etc have passed. option2 is to start a written grivience if my wife is not preparred to sit with the bully face to face to discuss the matter. Now my wife really dos'ent really want to face the bully its the last thing she wants,even with the area manager in the same room she will still feel imtimidated and very uncomfortable.. The way i see it is that the company has acted correctly by wanting to resolve it in house,but do we go along with it and show we are trying to assist as best we can or do we put in a written grievence as my wife really dos'ent want to face the bully in any kind of enviroment. We have to let HR know tommorow on which root we will follow Any advice please..

Thanks Erica, some more excellent advice..Some very helpful people on the site and i thank you all informal meeting arranged at 1pm tomorrow at neutral venue ..will update tomorrow after meeting

Thanks for your advice..if we dont get anywhere when we have our informal meeting next week then i will ask her previous boss to write to HR and explain what he had seen going on while he worked there. i'll have to read up on the Protection from harrasment act,dont know much about it.. Its patethic that a group of mature wemen from the age of 30-40 can be so childish in their behaviour a small group of 4 wemen,talking about my missus behind her back constantly,no one speaks to her and they make her feel really uncomfortable working there and make sly and vindictive comments to her..but the rest of the staff she gets on well with. gggrrrr makes you so angry that a loved one can be treated like this,i wanna go round and bang some heads but i must resist as this would only make things worse for my missus,I'll play it cool Thanks Andrew...

Thankyou for your replies, we are going for a transfer as working with these people would be impossible.They own quite a big chain of chemists and getting a transfer should not be difficult so we will push hard for that. we have no intention or returning to the store in question even if a new manager was put in place,too much has happened now. If HR and the area manager do go on the deffensive i will threaten a tribunal as the way i see it we have enough evidence and people who will back our claim up but hopefully it wont go that far. As for the bullies, they should not be allowed to get away with this and if proven it is gross misconduct and some sort of disipline should be given to them. Big thanks for you advice and i will update this thread once we have spoken to HR and the area manager

Yes being a pharmacy technician is an important job and her work has suffered through the stress,and like you say mistakes cannot be made. We have already contacted HR and they are contacting us on monday to arrrange an informal meeting at a neutral location to discuss the matter. What i wanted to know is that they wont be allowed to force her back to work do we have a right to request a transfer? will she be allowed full pay while its being investigated? Also we have make a few notes of things that have been said and have the previous manager and a couple of members of staff who will back the claim of bullying and have seen it going on and will speak on my missus behalf if needed. 20+years she has worked there and this chain bought it out 3 yrs ago. How should we approach this informal meeting?

The manager left about a month ago,so since then there is no senior authority in store and the next person who is in charge is one of the bullys,hence it cant be dealt with in house so this is why we went straight to HR.. Since the perviuos boss left it has got worse since there is no really authority there at the moment and the bullys know this and are takeing full advantage of it .She work for a chemist chain and is a pharmacy technician. The previous manager who left a month ago and now works for another company was fully aware of the this going on and to be fair did keep it in check to a certain extent,we spoke to him last night on the phone and we have the full support of him and if needed he will speak to the area manager and support our claim of bullying We do not have a union

My missus has work at the same place for over 20yrs and although the buisness has changed hands a few times in that period. Firstly my missus is the quiet,shy type who hates confrontation and will cry before arguing with someone. I wont go into details about what is happening to her at work but she is being mentally bullied and sometime verbally attacked in full view of other members of staff and customers,there are about 3-4 members of staff who have sent her to coventry and slag her off none stop behind her back,we know this as she does have a few friends there who will back her up. It all came to a head friday afternoon when 1 of the bullies said something not very nice to her out loud in full view of other staff and customers and my missus walked out deeply distressed and upset. When she got home we imediatly contacted human resourses and told them about the issue and now have a meeting on monday or tuesday with the area manager and a human resourses person at a neutral location. I just wanted some advice on how we should appoach this meeting, its informal but above all my missus does not want to return to the store ever again as its too distressing for her. Do we have a right to ask for a transfer? can she be on full pay while this issue is investigated? Under the health, safety and welfare act of 1974 employers have a legal responsibility to do something about this or they are breaching my missus contract,is this correct? Its been really distressing and she is an emotional wreck and in no fit state to return to that work enviroment,can they make her?In her works handbook it say bullying and harrashment is gross misconduct,so for me they cant make her return to the store in question. Any advice is welcome..Big thanks Andrew

Thanks Allwood,now i guess she is gonna be worried about what she's gonna do when the 31st comes round,let me know what happens. Thanks Marie for all your advice.My missus is gonna talk to the line manager tommorow and find out why he has,nt asked others to help with the cover and we'll go from there.I'll let you know what happens tommorow night.

An other thing i need advice on is my missus has got to go to work on monday and face the store manager but she is such a soft, sweet submissive lady that the words just wont come out or she will just get too frightened to speak and may even start crying at the fact that she is falling out with someone and i wish i could go with her and have a word with the manager myself as i feel i will put her case across much better than she will but i feel if i do that i may make things worse, do you think i might make it worse if i do that? What should i tell her to do? be confident,calm and focus on what your saying and even more so the managers responses, what advice can i give her going into a possible conflict?

But if her boss, refuses to ask the other members of staff to help out, and threatens my partner with having her contract changed the my partner would be well within her rights to say no to doing the overtime as its unreasonable to expect her only to cover the member of staff that is off. Ok after my partner says no to the overtime and they do carry out the threat of changeing her contract and she refuses to sign it and they sack her, well i think we would have good cause for an unfair dismisal claim. Anyone else got any opinions on this matter? Sorry if im repeating myself but i have to get this embeded in my head.. Big thanks for you replies Andrew xx

There are another 3 members of staff who could share the workload, but as far as we are aware my partner is the only one the are trying to forcefully do this overtime and have not even asked the other members of staff. I think what my partner needs to go into work on Monday as state the fact that she is prepared to help out but it is unreasonable to expect her to do all the days and the other members of staff who could help out not to do so,to me that would be unreasonable. Do you think something like that could work? Thanks Andrew

Thanks Marie. To your questions 1 She was worked in the same job and building for 22 yrs although the company has changed hands a few times in that period,and the recent owners have been in charge 3yrs now. 2 She has worked part time and the days of Mon,Tues and Friday now for most of the 22 yrs she has worked there. 3 In her contract,or company hand book it states......Due to the nature of our buisness you will be expected to work whatever overtime is REASONABLY expected of you.. Now the problem i see her is the work REASONABLY ..How vague can you get,what is reasonably? what one person see's as reasonably may not be what the other persons see as it to be.. She is expected to work an extra 16hrs per week for a month is that reasonably considering the commitments she has outside work an ill mother and a son that needs feeding etc.. Your opinions are greatly welcome

I really could do with some advice on this matter A.S.A.P. Another thought i had about this is the reason she is being forced to doing this overtime is due to another member off staff walking out of work claiming her farther is really poorly in hospital and she wanted to be with him,but hence the word poorly not dying so why has she been given a full month off!! now call me a cinic if you like but to me the other member of staff is PARTLY using this as an excuse to get off work for a bit, What would happen if her farther had'nt recovered by October, would they then give her another month off and then try and force my partner to work full time in october,surely the company should get some part-time cover in for her. Ok i know by law you are intitled to time off if a spouse or member of close family dies but what time off are you allowed if they are only i'll in hospital? but there is a good chance they may pass away but no one knows when one month/two months etc Sorry about my ramblling as im not good at expressing things in written words,but i really could do with some help on this matter. Thanks Andrew

Hello and thanks for reading this,im here for some advice from people who understand abit about work law. Right my missus works part-time 24hr's and get family credit but yesterday her bully of a boss told her she has to work almost full time next month ( september )as the were short staffed, well she rufused stateing she had a life outside work and that her mother is poorly and needs looking after and also it would affect her family credit but the store manager would not have it and phoned the area manager who also said she will have to work these hours. To me this is bullying my missus into doing she dos'ent want to do,it's stressing her out i hate to see her worrying about some crummy part-time job. My question to you guys is can they force her to work more or less a full month of work? Surely not !! she has other commitments outside of work, ill mother and a son who's 16 but still a little dependent of her. Any advice would be greatly appriciated.