Grievance appeal won what now?

[mariejader]

Hi everyone, I've had issues with my employer and this has resulted in me resigning on a constructive dismal grounds.

 

In brief

 

My wages were wrong and had been for nearly a year.

Bullying was going on and not being addressed properly 

I was on sick leave due to the above and stress with lack of social distancing  at my work place.

I was not offered any welfare meetings

I was not contacted once my sick notes had expired, although I did make contact with the employer nothing was sorted out.

Christmas vouchers were withheld 

Not able to make any contact with HR or ER or even payroll due to all working from home and no phones being answered or diverted.

 

That's just a brief description, so I resigned and raised an formal complaint, believe it or not the only way I could get any response from my company was replying to a post on Linkedin!

 

So here we are 7 months later two appeals and they have finally agreed with me and offered my job back with no break of service etc.  

 

I'm not sure I can go back as the people who caused me these problems are still employed and in fact one has taken over my role, so you can see if I go back to my old position so would have to move out or step down.  I can just imagine how that will go.

 

So my question is am I entitled to any cash compensation?

 

I have now received a letter confirming they have upheld my appeal and offering me my position back, and I have an apology

 

[BankFodder]

Was this an internal procedure or an external IT procedure?

@Emmzzi

[mariejader]

I'm not sure what you mean?  the appeal was internal held by a senior manager

 

[BankFodder]

Okay. That's what I mean. I was wondering whether it had gone external and that you had made a complaint to the industrial tribunal – who would normally have awarded damages rather than giving your job back.

It certainly seems to me that there is a case for damages. I have put out a shout to @Emmzzi who is probably the best qualified person here to comment on this.

For the moment I would certainly go back to the job – assuming that you want it – and get your head down and try to build bridges because although the finding of the investigation was that it was not your fault, I can imagine there may be some bad feeling and if you want a comfortable work environment then building bridges is probably what you need to do.

In terms of damages, you should consider what your actual losses were. He said that some Christmas vouchers et cetera were withheld.

 

Of course if you don't want the job back then that could be a different matter. In that case it might have been better if you had tried a claim for constructive dismissal as soon as you had resigned.

As I said, I expect that Emmzzi will give some much better and more experienced advice.

 

[mariejader]

Thank you so much.  

 

I don't feel that I could possibly go back to work there even though they have offered mediation I think the stress levels would cause me health problems again especially as someone would have to step down to allow me back into my role

 

They have now given me my Christmas bonus vouchers.

 

[Emmzzi]

Hello, that's good news your grievance has been upheld.

 

I would expect the grievance finding to suggest a remedy in it as well?

 

Normally mediation is a positive process, and one courts would look to see you had engaged in - so i would participate in that with an open mind and see what happens.

 

Have they offered you your pay backdated to the date of dismissal? That would be normal with a reinstatement.

 

Other than that, what financial loss do you have?

 

[mariejader]

Thank you @emmzzi for your reply.

 

Nothing offered apart from re-instatement with no loss of service, and mediation which the manager who upheld the grievance has offered to facilitate, but I don't think he has had any experience of this before.

 

I have financial losses as they sold my shares and have charged me a massive £525 handling fee! which to this day I don't understand.  The pay has now been sorted.  I really don't feel that I can go back there, to be honest I think it will be worse than when I left.  My role has been filled by one of the perpetrators and some of her "mates" are also working in the department.   It's a small environment and will be overstaffed if I go back, and this was one of the reasons for my concerns with leaving because lack of social distancing with COVID.  

 

Plus the main grievance was against the store manager who is still there you can imagine what return will be like.  

 

I was signed off for two months with workplace anxiety and stress and I honestly believe this will again affect my mental health.

 

Since I left in January I have not worked so financially have had no income.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 22, 2021 by mariejader
Spelling and gramma

[Emmzzi]

I'm confused by "the pay has been sorted" and "I have had no income since January."

 

Have they paid you for the period you were not at work, or not?

 

Mediation by the manager who found in your favour seems a positive, to me... I think you need to go through that to demonstrate you have exhausted all routes with your employer.

[mariejader]

3 hours ago, Emmzzi said:

I'm confused by "the pay has been sorted" and "I have had no income since January."

 

Have they paid you for the period you were not at work, or not?

 

Mediation by the manager who found in your favour seems a positive, to me... I think you need to go through that to demonstrate you have exhausted all routes with your employer.

The pay that has been sorted was the error that was made by them when they put someone else's sick leave on my payslip and when I queried it,  I kept getting told it was sorted but no evidence or amendments and when I went sick I never got the pay.  After my appeal it was looked into and paid back.  I have had no money since 

 

[Emmzzi]

So your first step is to ask for your backdated pay from January, and the loss made on forced sale of shares - shares should be repurchased for you to put you back in the same position.

 

Put that request in writing to them, on the basis that you are reinstated with no break in service, so need to be remunerated for the period during which you have been unpaid.

 

Give that a week to settle, then if no news, go to ACAS.

[mariejader]

Thanks for your advice but what if I don't want to go back?  

 

I honestly don't feel I can with what has happened and the fact that the cause of the problem is still there will cause me even worse problems than I had before.

 

Ideally I would like to know if I am legally entitled to any settlement with out going back.  I have spoken with ACAS and I am out of  time with making an appeal but that is due to the fact how long it's taken my ex company to sort it out.  They did say that I could still appeal but it would be upto the judge? to decide if they will proceed.

[Emmzzi]

When did you speak to ACAS? before or after the grievance result?

 

Write the letter asking for the money. I can't see that you have any case for a settlement without asking. What happens after that depends on their response. 

 

it is entirely reasonable to ask you to go to mediation. If you will end up not working for them anyway - what is in it for the company to make an effort? You need to meet them partway, with an open mind. 

 

 

[mariejader]

I have spoken to ACAS before and after. 

 

I'll give it a go with the letter see what happens thank you very much