Discrimination query

[Warbride]

I am being bullied at work by a male Manager.

My confidence is at rock bottom because he picks on me continually. However some of the things he picks on me for he is actually guilty of himself. The MD,s know of his flaws and he gets away with it. If I were to be disciplined for my mistakes could it be classed as discrimination if he is not disciplined for his, even if I have proof of the wrongdoings he has done?

Have you provided this "proof of wrongdoings" to the appropriate people?

Are the mistakes you and he are both making disciplinary offences in your view?

Are you being disciplined or is this purely hypothetical?

Do you have any reason to believe gender has anything to do with this bullying or with the (hypothetical?) disciplinary action?

Hi Flowery. He just doesn't like me. Yes I have made some mistakes but so has he. He failed to get a company vehicle MOT and it was on the road for a month without it. The MD knew about this yet he picked on minor errors I had made.

He ignores me daily and yet speaks to everyone else. I have forgotten to do the odd little thing and he jumps on me. Yet he never returns customers phone calls and they ring to complain that no one has got back to them.

It is getting to the point where he is complaining daily to the MD about me yet is doing similar things himself. Typing errors. Poor customer care etc. I suspect it won't be long before he will try and get me disciplined.

It sounds like he may be bullying you, but I'm not sure this is a discrimination issue.

Have you tried raising this with him at all, or considered a grievance?

Hi

My boss (the MD) took me aside one day and had an "informal chat about my mistake making" as Manager had complained to him about me.

MD backtracked when I pointed out the MOT incident and stated that Manager had done something illegal. MD said (Manager and I) had issues with each-other that we should sort out between us. This Manager continues to pick faults daily and is running to my MD with anything he can.

It is making me ill, I am having to go to the Doctors with constant palpatations due to worry and stress.

I have evidence of things Manager has done wrong inc MOT incident so am hoping if it came to it, would make it a discrimination issue as nothing was done to Manager about failing to MOT the van for a month, yet they are diciplining me for minor things such as typo's!

I have tried being nice to Manager but he seems to delight in being vile and a bully. Dont want to go down the grieviance route as it is a small family run business and would make it a really unpleasant environment, more so than it already is.

Further more it is not the first time he has bullied someone out of their job, and the Company is currently being taken to tribunal as a result of something he did to a former employee.

We had a chap start for a week and he decided after a week to quit. Manager like to make sure that they can take deductions of any money owed so they are left with nothing. Former employee was deducted for not returning the van and so Manager took money to cover the cost of collecting it from him. As a result, former employee is taking the Company to court.

I need something to protect me if Manager decides to try and get rid of me.

How long have you been there?

I agree it sounds as though your Manager may not be being appropriately dealt with for things he's done wrong, but that's really not your concern, and while it may seem unfair it doesn't mean that it would be a discrimination issue if you were disciplined for something.

Just 7 months. :-(.

I can't believe there is no form of protection for a woman who is actively being bullied by a male superior.

I am currently hoping to go back to my old job. Just waiting for them to get back to me to arrange a meeting date. Worried if that doesn't come off though as I don't have a back up plan. Are you a HR professional flowery?

There is only protection if the bullying is discriminatory. If your gender is irrelevant to the treatment you get no more protection than if a man was being bullied by another man, or vice versa. Obviously I am only working on very limited information about what's going on, but nothing you have said so far indicates that your gender is relevant here.

Yes I am an HR professional. I own a business which provides employment law advice and HR support to small businesses.

It looks like I am scuppered then. My confidence is on the floor. I have never had problems with my performance at work before, if anything, my employers have always appreciated me. I put the mistakes I am making down to the fact my confidence is being knocked daily.

I spent 4 years working for a College in the past and achieved some of the greatest things in my life. I can't believe it has come to this. This man is evil.

Hopefully you'll be able to go back to your old job, but to be honest, regardless of any additional protection you might have had if the bullying had been discriminatory in nature, it sounds like continuing to work there is not viable anyway for you, so you would have needed to focus on finding something else even if you could bring a discrimination claim/claim for unfair dismissal.

If you've not had performance problems before, try also to focus on the fact that this one nasty individual is the reason, therefore try not to allow him to knock your confidence in terms of being able to perform well in a new job/your old job where he is not a factor.

Just to confirm everything flowery has said. You may well be being treated badly and be female but in order to succeed with a discrimination claim you would have to demonstrate that you are being treated badly BECAUSE you are a female.

Had really bad day. Stuck the boot in and tried to blame me for something that wasn't my fault. Meeting old work tomorrow, fingers crossed it will be a positive meeting. :-(

have you raised this issue with your boss's boss? if you don't raise the issue and then use it as a form of defence in a disciplinary it will be too late. regardless of who he is he should treat everyone the same, HR should be able to help you and companies have grievence procedures. If you don't say anything your letting him win and stay in control if you raise the issue and after this he continues to act the same you have the amo to take it further. make sure you use emails to communicate with bosses then you always have back up.

It would be worth you writing down all the examples of issues you have witnessed and keep a daily log to refer to.

Yo do sound very down and it would be worth speaki g to your Boss's Boss and letting them know how you feel or more importantly how he is making you feel.

I have my fingers crossed for you and your old job.

Update. I have quit. My old bosses have taken me back.
I went to the MD,s in current job about him and they have defended him. Manager has lied through his teeth. They know he is a bully but refuse to do anything about it.

Will be negotiating my notice period tomorrow. Feel relieved.

That's good news-you are well out of there and have somewhere to go, which is excellent.

Really good news for you feel sorry for your poor replacement though

Good luck

Yeah, had chat with MD last night and told him that there is a serious lack of support there.

Just having things dumped on your desk that you have never seen before and be expected to know what to do with it (gas cylinder info)!!!! Is not really acceptable.

It has been a case of "here sort this out, I don't have time" I have no idea what I am looking at half the time.

Going to sort out notice period today and waiting on written confirmation from old boss. At least they are all nice where I am going back to. Advice to others, don't sit and suffer!