To be told why I’ve been suspended?

[HelloWorld2577]

I’ve been suspended with pay for at least a week and that’s basically all information I’ve been provided.

AIBU to want them to tell me why they’ve suspended me? Or do they not have to? Do they have to tell me the ins and outs once they’ve investigated such as who put in a complaint or is this all anonymous? The only thing I’ve been told is I’ve been suspended due to my behaviour at work & they have suspended me whilst they investigate the ‘allegations’ made by someone in my team.

I have read our policies and I have done nothing to constitute dismissal or even a disciplinary. I’ve never had a disciplinary or warning or any HR involvement. Genuinely any allegations made are false & I know exactly who and where they’ve come from. it is a he said she said situation but obviously this is causing me a lot of distress.

I have looked on so many employment law sites but just wondered if there are any HR or anyone with experience on here!

I know the disciplinary process is to get statements from all involved but suspension I can’t find much on the process. My main concern is when they let me come back to work that they won’t give me any information about the facts of why they suspended me in the first place! them simply saying they’ve found the allegations are false isn’t enough in my opinion. They need to tell me what allegations were made and why who!

Surely you can't just join a Union if your company doesn't have unions in it? I worked for a v large corporation, office based, majority graduate entry level and above jobs. Not aware of any unions here.

The fact you say you know exactly who has complained and why, says something more here. And they need to keep the person anonymous to protect them at this stage. The allegations must be signficant if they’ve taken this route. Is it something like bullying or racism?

Yes any one can join a union. GMB for example is a general union anyone can join. I have been in it for about 10 years now in all different jobs. My OH joined about two years ago. He is in banking m they have helped us both through unfair dismissal, bullying and discrimination. It's the best 15.00 a month I could spend.

A member of staff raised a grievance against me in order to frustrate the performance review. She initially went off sick which stopped it and then did it. I never saw what she said and wasn’t officially told I was just interviewed. My boss told me off the record well told me the themes and when I was questioned it was obvious what she’d said. It’s not nice, I found it really upsetting and was just expected to suck it up because a) I was senior and b) you know it won’t go anywhere.

This happened in my company—the person embezzled tens of thousands of pounds. They were told they were suspended while they were WFH, and had an appointment to meet with their boss/HR the following morning. In the meeting, the boss/HR told them about the allegations/why they were suspended.

If you've been suspended pending investigation, this (almost always) means they don't think it's fair to either you, the complainant or any witnesses (your colleagues) to be in the office environment while it takes place.

That could be for any number of reasons...the impact it would have on the office atmosphere, the alleged behaviour continuing, one party influencing witnesses/the other party, or any number of other things. It might just be their policy (although automatic suspension is gradually becoming frowned upon).

If after the initial investigation they believe have enough to move forward, you will be informed of the complaint and be given the chance to respond. You don't have a 'right' to know beforehand, although most places will give you an idea (performances related, complaint, behaviour etc.

You say you have already been provided this information (suspended due to your behaviour following a complaint from someone on your team), there's not much more you can expect at this stage.

"I know exactly who and where they’ve come from. it is a he said she said situation but obviously this is causing me a lot of distress."

Based on the above you already know exactly what the complain is and who it's from too, so again, I'm not sure what else you are expecting at this stage.

This 'he said, she said situation' is likely to have caused the other party some distress if they felt the need to make an official complaint about you - if so, taking you out of the equation while it's investigated seems reasonable.

Or @AConcernedCitizen it could be they know the complainant has an issue with them like @TorroFerney experienced and they're being vexatious.

Highly unlikely they’d suspend someone for that.

there is no one in the history of employment who has had a complaint made who hasn’t said it was vexatious. Like there is no one guilty in jail

they are looking for collaborative evidence and don’t wish the op there whilst they do it as he or she could pressurise people, plus if the complaint is upheld they don’t wish the complainer to be forced to work with her or him during this.

the fact only one was suspended, indicates they are taking this seriously . Corroborating evidence doesn’t mean someone witnessed events. It can be they witnessed the distress after it, or have seen an attitude, things said in passing about the other person, from either one. General relations etc.

and the op could be wrong, it maybe not the person she thinks. That happens often, but someone else, who doesn’t like it or feels impacted.

the company has told the op the basis, it’s his or her behaviour. They just need to wait it out now, either this will go away and the complainant dealt with, or they will call the op in present the evidence and then allow her to respond.

Whilst you’re NBU wanting to know all the details, in reality you won’t get to find everything out even when the case is closed.

Surely you can't just join a Union if your company doesn't have unions in it

You can join a union if you want to, they need to be recognised for collective bargaining (eg negotiating pay rises or changes in employment terms) but can act for you as an individual even if not the recognised union in the workplace. GMB, Unison and Unite have members across a range of occupations and won’t be recognised by some of their members employers. It’s always worth having the protection that comes with union membership.

Unsure if by "they" you're referring to the OP or the company here...

OP surely knows that the complainant has an issue with them based on the info provided, and is already complaining that its vexatious.

If the company is aware of an issue and feels that the complain is purely vexatious, it is extremely unlikely that they would have suspended OP (without at the very least explaining that they know the complaint is unwarranted but have to follow a procedure, if that is indeed the case).

As @ThatCoralShark noted, it's also possible that OP is incorrect and that someone else has filed the complaint. I have dealt with an issue recently where a third party filed a complaint about an incident involving a particularly meek co-worker, who didn't want to rock the boat.

Ultimately, the question was whether the OP should have expected further info at this stage, and the answer is "It would be nice for you, but no".

That's interesting. I wish I'd know before by current issues with management. Definitely something to keep in mind!

Yes you can. I've been very glad of it.

The employer doesn't have to recognise a union unless at least 30% of the staff are members, so you won't have collective pay or stroke action. But if you're in a disciplinary, you are entitled to a rep to attend with. In my case, it meant an external person who was a full time union employee, and was excellent, really knew his stuff. I also used them when i was made redundant, which meant a whole load of stress was removed - for example, i didn't have to go and find an employment lawyer to check through the severance documents - they have them already there.

I've also attendee things like a woman in STEM day with them, and there's a library of information on employment law i can use.

Join a union. Hopefully, like insurance, you'll never need them, but they've been worth every penny I've paid in dues over the years when I did need them.

As someone whose husband has recently been suspended for his behaviour at work, you know what you have done, even if you don’t care to admit it to yourself, like the woman we had to suspend, and sack for taking illegal substances at work!

they should have told you what type of behaviour it is, be prepared to get dismissed. You should get a hearing before that happens, however employers always get their own way regardless of what you say

A couple of people have referenced my comment about someone taking a grievance out against me and me not being told why and me referencing it being vexatious. . I didn’t get suspended, but I have known people be suspended pending investigation but that’s usually where allegations of something that goes against a protected characteristic is being alleged or bullying.

it does seem odd though and counterintuitive to be accused of something and not told what. But playing devils advocate it’s better for the person making the accusation to feel safe.

I think the difference between me and the op was that the couple of people who knew me and the complainant were in agreement it was rubbish and couldn’t understand why I was upset as justice would prevail so I was just devastated as I’d just done my job and performance managed her after lots of people hadn’t and it was me that was getting punished.

As others have said, anyone can join a union. I am a director of a small company (and 5% owner). I am a member of Unite.

See which union would be best for you here https://www.tuc.org.uk/join-a-union

I have known people be suspended pending investigation but that’s usually where allegations of something that goes against a protected characteristic is being alleged or bullying.

It can be for anything. I've had to suspend a manager where the issue was their performance in role. Wouldn't have been fair to have them in the office while interviewing 20+ team members.

Ended up taking weeks to get around everyone due to shifts, so they got quite a nice bit of paid time off! 😅

@mummaclaire not necessarily so. Whilst we would like to think all companies behave ethically not all do. I was once suspended without any details, and fired the following day, still without any details of what I'd allegedly done, and from my understanding the worst thing I had done was disagree with a colleague who was junior to me, but friends with the owner and suggest we set measurable KPIs. This apparently was good enough to fire someone over.
I hadn't been there 2 years so had absolutely no rights under unfair dismissal BUT I did have grounds under wrongful dismissal as they failed to follow any of their own contractual disciplinary or grievance procedures and I won when I brought a case against them as their claims were absolutely hideous and not based on any facts.

Lets not assume the OP is in the wrong here. Companies behave appalling more than we like to admit.