Bullied Colleague

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Hi all. A colleague was recently made redundant. This colleague was bullied at work by senior leaders and is now appealing this redundancy. As part of appeal process, colleague has made a data request search and there is one unflattering email which highlights a mistake she made (not major but enough to warrant mentioning it) which would paint her in not a great light and I think the senior leaders would jump on it should I release it. This could worsen her case where they say poor performance led to dismissal whereas in reality this was a textbook bullying case of someone I believe to be quite vulnerable.
I am one of the colleagues who has been asked to send emails to HR. Can I delete this email and send the rest? I don't wish to help them in what I consider to have been a very unjust dismissal.
To paint the picture further, the matrix system used during redundancies was completely abused and only applied to certain employees to alter scores. I am aware of this as I am the union representative.
Your advice on this matter would be much appreciated.

I would contact ACAS and talk to them about this matter.

No I wouldn't. While I totally understand why you don't want to, they might also go to IT to ask for a search of emails too and at my work that would bring up your deleted one, which would be a worry if they see the date you deleted it.

What a tricky situation. If you delete emails, you could be seen as taking sides in a way that is no longer objective.

As a union rep though, why aren't you escalating this in your union?? Even if she is not a member, this bullying behaviour is a major workplace issues. It affects everyone, union or not.

It’s unfortunate but you must not delete the email. It’s a sackable offence. The sender and recipient will remember it and some very basic digging will reveal you deleted it

You are the union rep and you are asking if you should delete an email to make things look better for your colleague?

Seriously????

Unless you’re prepared to give up your job, or get the sack, then leave well alone. I fully appreciate your situation, and I’m sure you’ll be riddled with guilt. But look after yourself, not someone who doesn’t mean a great deal to you.

I helped someone once who was being pushed out, and they threw me under the bus when it all happened. They were desperate. So is your ex-colleague. Be careful.

It will look very bad for you if you delete it and someone else submits it. I would advise being transparent.

If you genuinely feel she was bullied, then offer to be a witness for her and provide the evidence you have re the unfair redundancy.

I'm no HR expert, but don't delete the email here OP. You need to be transparent. Someone else might provide a copy and questions might be asked if its not included in your bundle.

If she made a mistake and it was commented upon, that might not cause huge issues for her, people make mistakes. It wasn't cited as a reason for getting rid of her during the redundancy process so I'm not sure they could grasp it as a reason for wanting to dismiss her now if disciplinary procedures weren't followed at the time?

No, it comes under disclosure and it is a criminal offence to destroy any data that may form part of a trial/tribunal

“Oh I’m sorry I must have missed that one”

If the employee has put it the DAR they will be the one reviewing the info. HR will just compile it and send it to them, they won’t be interested in the mistake unless it’s something huge abs illegal. If you withhold information and this is discovered you will be in deep shit.

You need to comply with the request fully, I know it's difficult and you will feel bad, but you may find yourself in a disciplinary situation yourself if you start playing silly buggers abs deleting emails

You need to release the email, why is there an email that you can access, who was it from and who was it to, is it confidential or easily accessed by anyone. Was the colleage informed about poor performance issues, given support and guidance, was a poor performance review concern followed correctly. I would contact your Union for advice.

Thank you all for your advice, I have sent the email in question, wasn't aware of all the other implications and you are correct, thank you for bringing it these issues to my attention. Much appreciated all.

So my colleague following her data request search hasn't received all the data known to be available.
Employers have hid some evidence. She is still on the system so has copies of what they are not sending her. Any advice on what she can do from here?
I sent everything by the way, thanks for advising me to do this.

One email I sent about her which would have really helped her case has been blackened out. There were sections only about her so they shouldn't have done this.

Now I would DEFINITELY contact ACAS for advice.

You need to protect yourself from any splashback first and foremost.

I’ve been a workplace investigator. You need to release it. If you don’t and someone starts asking where it is you’ll find yourself in very hot water. Everybody comes out of these cases looking grubby. It would be odd if she or anyone did everything perfectly.

Under GDPR (if I remember correctly- I’ve been out of it for a while) she has the right to request her own data within 30 days, or needs to be told why not, along with information about her right to refer it to the ICO. You can find further information here: ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/individual-rights/right-of-access/

OP - have you received proper training for your role as union rep? I suspect you haven’t. It’s not your fault at all but I think you should talk to your union about it because you are flagging concerns and behaviours that you should be acting on but it doesn’t sound as if you are. It sounds like you’re not getting the support you should be getting and therefore you can’t provide the necessary support to the people you represent.

It's not disclosure, as a PP suggested. It's a DSAR. Which the company is legally obliged to comply with (unfortunately the enforcement mechanisms are worthless). Why is the employer relying on individual staff members to collate the data? The data protection officer/compliance/HR should be doing this.

You did the right thing OP in disclosing it. Now speak to ACAS about whistleblower protection. Or take legal advice.

Hello hope you are all well.
By way of update, the bully boss and secretary ended made a major safeguarding error whilst trying to undermine me and lo and behold the senior team pulled the plug on the 'investigation' saying they would like 'peaceful resolve'.
Since then (very recently) they have tried a few 'low level' (comparatively) bullying tactics eg secretary has just published who will be doing training to staff next week and everyone's name is beside their training except mine. This is the second time it has happened. It feels pathetic having to say 'could you add my name please' but I think I have to. They dropped the informal investigation (in their own interests) and I just thought let me see if they behave. They have improved but there are examples such as above which simply aren't acceptable. Should I address the lack of recognition for training or just crack on?
Thank you in advance

Sorry have updated on the wrong thread :)

Address it. Be assertive. Otherwise it will escalate. Sounds like you need union reinforcements though.

By way of update on this thread, I disclosed everything as advised and they sent the information to the person requesting, blacking out the email which she could have used to help her in her potential court case, she told me this. They sent her the one (mentioned above) which would not help her without blacking it out.

Thank you @madroid I will do