To ask for advice on an employment issue

[Vinividivici]

I am currently on sick leave, as is described in another thread. The cause of this is work stress. I am fearful that my employer may take retaliatory action if / when I eventually have to return. Would it be reasonable / strategically wise to send a list of grievances (basically a description of what led to this)?

I'm not sure whether there's anything that would matter to an employment tribunal. My issues are:

• documented historical bullying which seemingly was not addressed at the time.
• my job title is far, far too low for my skills, abilities, and portfolio of work. I was on the verge of promotion two years ago when suddenly the global policy was changed to exclude the option of promotion. Since then, I have been given work that is two levels above my official pay grade and expected to get on with it without any support. My job title means that people treat me as if I have little value and I don't have authorisation to do things I need to do in order to be effective. I am humiliated every day. I have raised this with management several times.
• my new portfolio of work was previously owned by my bully. It was handed to me without any support or guidance, other than having to ask my bully for help
• my manager refuses to have 1:1s and I have to arrange ad hoc meetings for anything I want to discuss. When we meet to discuss work projects, this is a clear imposition and I am treated as if I am stupid or annoying. Typically my manager has not read my updates in detail. Occasionally my manager has held specific pieces of the work hostage for a couple of weeks (eventually doing nothing and finally allowing me to take it over again), causing big delays.
• as a result of the above, I feel constantly insecure about the work and whether i will be blamed if something goes wrong due to my manager's lack of communication and occasionally chaotic approach.
• recently I took time off to get married. When I tried to get cover in place 3-4 weeks beforehand, I was told in an annoyed way that this was too early. When I finally was told who could cover, there were only a few day s left before my wedding. A very senior person who had to cover some of my work was hostile and angry.

When I faced the prospect of going back, I spent several days in a state of severe depression. I could not face it.

It seems to me that none of this is discrimination or illegal. Is there any point writing this all out and sending it to HR and my manager?

Sorry, I meant WFH v in office

They don't really document anything or follow strong processes. It's a clever tactic really.

I suspect that the WFH thing can't be evidenced. We were WFH all through COVID, then told we would have to be in office 1 day a week going forward, because contracts were never changed to being working from home, we were all directed back to our contracted office base. Work from home contracts are worded very differently, so unfortunately there's probably no rights there either.

Gosh op you’re all over the place.

ok if you wish to go to hr, you will need to raise a formal grievance.
you need to be clear on what thay is and give examples.
you have already raised a grievance before, and it was not upheld. So follow that process.

It needs to be a formal grievance and it’s not clear if you have just verbally complained last time or actually raised one last time.

be aware you cannot force them to promote you by complaining and going off sick.

Do you normally kick people when they are down?

Is that what this is, you wanted a promotion, they assessed you against the requirements of the job, found you were not performing at that level so declined to promote, and you’ve went off sick due to it ? It’s all because you didn’t get the promotion? At its core?

I raised the bullying to management but they did not tell HR. No process was followed to my knowledge.

I don't expect them to promote me. I have asked if there would be any advantage to raising these issues to head off any type of retaliatory action .

But you just said you were counting on the promotion? And most of this is about how you want the job title.

And this means you just complained you didn’t raise a formal grievance,

No. No one has criticised my work. They have treated me in a nasty way but I think that is the culture/manager.

Ok this is impossible uo thread you said they assessed you against the promoted role and said no. Now you’re saying they didn’t. You said you were counting on the promotion,then you said you didn’t expect a promotion.

it is impossible to follow as you keep contradicting yourself.

No I would not send a list of grievances.

I would do my absolute best to put it behind me and take the attitude of “starting with a clean slate” when I got back. I would appear positive, enthusiastic and ready to work.

That said if someone was rude to me or refused to give me information I needed for a piece of work I would call them out on the spot or escalate to my manager/ their manager immediately in a non-confrontational and factual way.

I’d also 100% be looking at other jobs.

I was counting on it to prove to myself that I am not worthless. I threw myself into getting the promotion. Many people advised me on things to do to achieve this. This advice was probably based on colleagues' understanding of how things used to work. Idk. My current manager and two previous managers led me on as well, suggesting that a new job title was just around the corner.

Your off work sick due to work. You will only look for work when you are better .

kindly you need to look for work now and get yourself out of there. You won’t win this I’m afraid it will either be culture or certain people in positions will be protected by HR.

No, I never said that they assessed me on the promoted role. There must be a misunderstanding here.

In the past, I was about to be given a new title just before the new no-promotion policy was instituted. I don't really know much about the process, which was very secretive, but multiple people have told me about this and how I was considered obviously to be at the higher level.

There is no published information about what attributes each level has. It's just known that my level is junior and inferior and the other level is higher and superior

Could you resign and sign up with an agency so that you dont have a significant break in your CV?
It certainly sounds as if your best course of action is to leave this toxic environment.

Ah, I think I understand. You were led to believe that you were due to be promoted and then they introduced a new policy, which left you at your existing grade with the 'lower' job title. The impact on you has been disproportionate to what they have actually done, so It's time to move on, they've changed the way they structure job titles. You need to work out a way of returning to work and then throw everything at finding another job if it's not possible for you to resign from this one. How long have you been off sick for?

No, I plan to look for work asap but I feel like absolute trash and have been literally unable to look for work due to having been crying all day for several days

Yes. And then after the new policy was implemented I was also led on. One manager said that we could look at an unofficial title, which are sometimes adopted. Another senior person said if I throw myself into it, it should become possible on a year (2 years ago).

There are no promotions per se now, but a committed manager can create a new role with a lot of effort. My manager might even still have been planning to do this (no more, no doubt) but I have reached breaking point with this job and how there is no recognition or reward at all.

I'd forget what they might or might not have been planning, you need to concentrate on your health rather than becoming broken by empty promises. And unfortunately that's what they are. I've had it happen a number of times, but I don't have the personality where it's then caused a breakdown, I've moved on, found something better and focussed on that. Sometimes, things don't work out for whatever reason. Their underlying culture isn't going to change. How long have you been off sick at the moment and are you receiving help for your health?

@Vinividivici I'm sorry you're having such a hard time. You've had some helpful advice here, some posters have found it muddled but I've found it clear, although it's clearly emotional for you.

You need to find another job, and don't waste any more energy on this one. My mother in law was treated very badly by her management and she spent years raising grievances. It had a huge impact on her mental health, and to be quite honest also had an impact on the rest of the family as it just totally consumed her for months and she talked about nothing else. The grievance was upheld in her favour and the management were told to apologise. They didn't apologise, in fact it didn't seem like anyone even told them they were supposed to. There were other recommendations made that were not followed through. Even though the grievance was in her favour it gave her no closure.

I also spent a year in a horrible workplace, it is so overwhelming and it can feel like there is no way out. It grinds your self esteem down so you lose faith in your own ability to find another job. You can definitely find a better job! If you're a lawyer then consider local government, my mum was a lawyer for the council and much preferred it to private practice.

I was assessed as if I had a promotion
**
????

Here is what happened at my appraisal.

I was told that I have been given an average rating.

This came as a surprise because my manager previously told me that she agrees I should be at a higher job title, and it's very clear that the work I have been doing is simply not within the capabilities of someone with my job title.

Then she said, "it's very normal not to be excelling the same way when you take on new work. It's like when people get promotions ; they often are surprised to find that they just get an average rating when they are still coming up to speed with the new role."

I said, "But I didn't get a promotion"

She then said I know she doesn't have authority to spend more money on staff etc etc etc, even though she previously led me to believe that she was working to get me a promotion.

I don’t think you are listening to what they’re telling you.

You need to leave.

Yes, I am going to leave. I think that I have been clear on that.

What are they telling me? That I am a shit lawyer and they want me to quit?

I am going to be concise/blunt

You arent that special. Many many people have been here and got through it
I have. My dh has. Several of my friends.

Your job isnt salvageable. You need to leave...the sooner you leave the better (for you)

here is what you need to do.

• Write your CV. Now. Today.
• Use AI to assist and refine. Not write.
• Apply for at least one job. Any job. Today.
• read up on searching for jobs applying early how to time them. Etc.
• when you are ready to go for it (dont wait more than a week) get linkedin premium (free for 1 month) it helps with job searching.
• apply aggressively. By that I mean look and apply for 4-6 hrs per day.

An excellent result would be:
Stay on sick leave apply for jobs - either when you get one or as sickleave end approaches
Ask to have a conversation without prejudice with HR and management and aim to get paid out 3 months notice plus something without having to work it and move on with your life....