I want to take a work grievance further

[rollonretirementfgs]

I wasn't sure what thread to use so ended up here.
I am being harassed at work.. nothing physical, or to my face where there would be witnesses. It's all very underhand. Reporting things to management for things I haven't done, bad mouthing, setting me up to fail etc etc.
I have made a formal complaint to the top dog. We had to go through the process of mediation, again she lied and lied and lied, Really shocking behaviour. Nothing was done, I am back to square one but in a worse situation now as I reported her.
My question is, can I escalate this to a police complaint? Or is there anything else I can do? I don't want to leave my job because of one person but feel trapped.

Workplace disputes are not a police matter.

if it’s been investigated and dismissed then you don’t have a lot of options - you can appeal the outcome, live with it or move within or outside the company

It's not a police matter. Are you in a union? Have you spoken to ACAS?

Have you gone through the formal grievance process including appeal? How long have you worked there?

Have you spoken to her one on one and asked what the issue is? No need to lie if no one else there to hear?

Yes I'm in a union. What can they do? I've never had to go to them before

What is the potential crime you think the police would investigate?

legal advice from an employment law solicitor to know about any rights. If you have insurance you can sometimes get it through that. I presume you would have talked to a union if you were in one (if not don’t join now regarding this as pre existing)

I don’t mean this in a dick way but what do you think the police are going to do? What crime has been committed?

To my face she has 'no idea what I'm talking about?'

I didn't know if harassment counted as a crime?

If you have put in a formal grievance and aren't happy with the outcome you can take it to tribunal.
You need to speak to ACAS. They're really helpful.

You should maybe speak to your union. But in all honesty the best thing to do would be to plan to leave. As frustrating and unfair as it may be, she's already won and it will be almost impossible for you to get anywhere with your complaint. Just hope that at some point there's a big enough mountain of evidence for one of her later victims to be believed.

Definitely talk to your union and ACAS

Okay, that makes sense. But nothing has been said or done to your face? Genuinely not trying to sound aggro but without a lot of details it sounds like you’re not getting on with someone at work who is being a dick about all of it and work have found no problem which is obviously shitty for you.

When you say. I thing was done after mediation, what was the actual outcome?

you are right harassment is a crime but she would have to be causing you distress by for example repeatedly sending you unpleasant or threatening text messages , following you home or cyber stalking you.

if you believe she is committing a crime then do contact the police but it really doesn’t sound like a police matter unless you have left something out.

speak to your union. They will offer sensible advice.

I hope it works out

I have left a bit out because I got ripped to shreds on a previous post about this incident. She had another colleague of mine watch who was collecting my children from school, report back if they were at school events etc. I accidentally saw an email mentioning me and decided to search my name when she had stayed logged in to our shared PC, I uncovered so many emails where she is saying things about me, reporting me, as well as the stuff about my kids. I was off with a long term illness at the time and she was keeping tabs on my and my family. She is also trying to add my husband on social media, sending friends requests.

She sounds insane. I’d look for another job asap.

The outcome of the mediation was that she apologised. That was it. Then she went into a barrage of lies about me which then made my complaint look like tit for tat. She played a blinder

I think you're right

Did you actually raise a grievance or raise an informal complaint? You need to get a copy of your companies grievance policy and follow that. General people raise an information complaint first so the next step would be a grievance. If you’ve raised a formal grievance already, you should have had a grievance outcome letter and the opportunity to appeal the outcome of the grievance. It is definitely worth contacting your union as they will advise you on what options you have after the appeal. You do need to consider though what action you want your employer to take. For example, if you no longer want to work with this person you need to consider is that even possible. If you work in a small company, could that happen? Equally, if you want them to be dismissed, this could be a long process especially if you feel as though most of their behaviour is well hidden. I would certainly recommend making a diary of his/her behaviour and attitude. If they ask you to complete a task, follow that ask up with an email confirming what you discussed and what they asked you to do. That should help remove their opportunity of setting you to fail. All of this would help form evidence if this ever progressed legally.

I would also raise a SAR with your HR department and ask that then include all internal emails and internal work chat histories (such as teams) where your name has been cited. Pretty sure they have a legal responsibility to provide it. The chains will be some what redacted in that you won’t know who has sent them, but again it would all form as evidence in terms of behaviour within the workplace. And certainly HR would know who sent them and could take appropriate action if they were inappropriate.

She sounds unhinged. I think you need to contact your union

If that’s the case I would do a subject access request with your company which should bring up all emails about you

You're in a union - so call them.

I work for one - dealing with these sorts of issues is my bread and butter.

Yes to subject access request - do this. Keep a diary of events. Mind the timings - there are time limits to tribunal cases (generally three months minus one day from the last incident) and you will need to put in a claim via acas early conciliation first. Your union rep will be able to guide you if they think you have a case.

I'm sorry to sound stupid, but a case for what? What can unions do about situations like this? I appreciate your response