Any Employment Lawyers or HR people around?

[Marie2023]

I could really do with some guidance, if that’s OK.

Basically I have been bullied at work by a very senior member of staff. The Board are now involved. It is clear that me and the member of staff can no longer work together so I have offered to leave.

I have been told that I will receive a ‘generous payout’. The thing is, I don’t know what I should be expecting. Given the time of year, I may be out of work for some time.

So what does a ‘generous payout’ look like, in relation to monthly salary? Any ideas please?

Thanks.

Unless they think you have a discrimination claim they would be idiots to offer that much.

I'm struggling to see bullying here by what you have said. Possible clash of personalities?

This doesn’t sound like you have a discrimination complaint. You cannot bring a constructive dismissal complaint. I’d be prepared for them not to offer much over and above your notice pay and a little bit on top to get your agreement to a settlement agreement. Six months pay would be extremely unusual

This

OP,

Make sure you have copies of any emails/messages etc that you want to use to support any claims or issues,

Sounds like you've been through a tough time. I hope you get it sorted soon.

There is no claim unless she is suddenly going to assert that this is due to a protected characteristic

@user701

Yep - I didn't mean formal claim - I mean claim as in 'assertions' in that conversations she's having to negotiate her exit.

I’m also struggling to see bullying here. Maybe it’s in how she does things? But, on paper, I can’t see anything that would concern me if I were the boss.

It’s the fact that I’m being forced to leave.

But you offered to leave? At least that’s what it says in the OP.

What’s forcing you to leave?

If they wanted to they could just sack you

OP - there is Work section, and a Legal Matters section.

You might be better to ask @MNHQ to move this thread and/or start another, as you're going to get a mix of opinions in here from non-qualified people and could probably benefit from some structured advice.

Good luck with your situation x

Sorry to be blunt - but trying to be realistic. It doesn’t sound like you have bullied on any discriminatory grounds and you’ve been there under two years so have very few rights.

It reads that the bullying was inappropriate work expectation rather than anything personal which is a lot easier to justify to the board / explain as different expectations.

So I don’t think you’ll be offered that much.

I’m afraid if they were my client I would advise them to dismiss you immediately in which case you would receive salary to the date of termination plus payment in lieu of your notice period.

Can they? Even though I’ve done nothing wrong?

It makes no difference. Non lawyers post on the legal threads too.

It sounds like they're getting ready to sack you. The only time I've had HR involved in performance-related emails, it was so that they could ensure that there was no ambiguity in the email (ie by me being too nice) and that the performance-related issues were clearly understood and there was an evidence trail of how they'd been communicated.

I would agree with this. As you have worked there for less than two years then you cannot bring a claim for unfair or constructive dismissal. You could claim if you felt you had been discriminated against due to a protected characteristic outlined in the Equality Act but that does not sound the case here from what you've said.

Normally, we would pay notice pay, holiday accrued and then look at a figure over and above that. The amount you would receive if you were to be made redundant is often a starting point for gauging how much to offer (used as a maximum amount we'd offer to pay) but as you haven't been there very long I certainly wouldn't expect it to be six months of your salary.

Remember to get them to agree a reference with you if you decide to take their offer and that your payment will be tax free if under £30k.

Yes absolutely. They can sack you at any time for any reason (unless it’s discriminatory). You can do nothing about it because you haven’t been there for two years. They will I’m afraid see you as a problem employee. Hence my advice not to overplay your hand asking for excessive sums like six months’ pay.

It’s always dangerous to ask for specialist advice on chat or AIBU

the legal position is that with less than 2 years service they can dismiss you for any reason as long as it’s not for a protected characteristic (eg: sex, race. Etc). So their starting point is that they can simply dismiss you with notice and they don’t have to do anything more. I don’t think you’ve said what your notice period is. I would offer to go quickly quietly and gratefully in exchange for 12 weeks, and agreed notice and £500 for thr legal costs of doing a settlement agreement. They probably have more like 4 weeks in mind. Remember your only leverage here is being nice and making them feel bad so just really emphasise that you weren’t expecting to leave, it could take some time to find another job, probably won’t be anything advertised now this side of Xmas and process will take a while after that etc.

Can they just sack people who have done nothing wrong?

Yes

Yes, if they've worked there less than two years and they're not sacking them due to a protected characteristic such as age, race, disability, sex etc.

Having under two years service, yes they can.

I’m an employment solicitor (25 years pqe). Hermioneweasley is also an employment lawyer I believe.