Grievance raised against me

[Piggywaspushed]

I posted this yesterday in staffroom but I might get more traffic here possibly. (Sorry, I have made it longer so as to avoid dripfeeding but I don't want to out myself at the same time. I have NCd)

I don't want to go into too much detail here but does anyone have any experience of/ advice on having a grievance procedure raised against them?

Am in bits and most of online advice is for the aggrieved party and the info the head gave m yesterday is aimed at the aggrieved party, too. My local union guy is an old fashioned socialist type who, last time I met him, launched into a discussion about education and politics and wasn't useful.

Not been told what I have allegedly done just who has raised a grievance.

I don't need a character assassination here but just an outline of what valid grievances someone could have against another person : the colleague who has raised her grievance is not in any way my junior. We are co workers. She is not in two days a week and we only ever really communicate via emails so I am puzzled.

I also want to know , if her complaint is proven, what her endgame(s) could be?

I am being very careful not to now go around fact finding with my department colleagues (I have only told one and she is a close friend) but, for example, she spends a lot of time in our HoD's office with door closed (it's an interesting leadership style my HoD has!)if she has raised problems there, my HoD has never discussed these with me so this is a bolt from the blue. I know someone who worked with her in a previous school - a bit of digging reveals she has done this before : but , obviously, I can't mention this as an excuse! I think she knows I have a bit of a reputation for being a bit of a rebel and this makes me a soft target. I certainly inadvertently upset my line manager last week who then (apparently) cried and this aggrieved colleague rushed to soothe her. No doubt they then had a good bitch about me. But the line manager herself discussed matters with me later,and certainly hasn't raised a grievance herself. It just isn't what people do in my school.

It is clear she does not like me - but I can't see that as a viable reason to raise a grievance!

Lastly, assuming she has put this grievance in writing, should I request to see it? What are my rights there?

She has been frustrating me ever since she came to the school (she is a kind of automaton and keeps planning my lessons for me and organising me and I have found it hard to keep up.) - but I have never raised any of these issues as they seemed petty and I thought we were both just rubbing along. She seems to find me borderline incompetent : but that isn't a grievance, is it?

I think I would point out that nowhere in your job description does it say "must be best friends with x and sit next to her whenever possible".

Indeed it doesn't!

The catch all phrase that is being used is 'continuous unprofessional behaviour'. My unfriendliness is compared with others in the department. I am not childish enough to counter that with the fact that no one much likes her. True but unusable as a defence. I guess I have been unsuccessful at masking it compared to others.

I am told I 'rolled my eyes'. I would know if I did this because the person I am said to have rolled my eyes at has been trained by me to tell me when I have done this as I have a shocking poker face.

Has she included what your shared class said about her/concerns you voiced to colleagues?
If not then all she has is you almost not finishing a play on time and not according her the same respect you show others, which is in itself subjective/hard to prove.
I assume though she has a date-stamped log of times she's felt dissed.
Insidious bullying in the workplace is a thing but personality clashes are just that.
(Currently I have a colleague who I know doesn't like me particularly but...
We make small talk, albeit stilted, we are polite, we make each other drinks.
Adult behaviour in other words).
Good luck with the interview next week.

Has she included what your shared class said about her/concerns you voiced to colleagues?
If not then all she has is you almost not finishing a play on time and not according her the same respect you show others, which is in itself subjective/hard to prove.
I assume though she has a date-stamped log of times she's felt dissed.
Insidious bullying in the workplace is a thing but personality clashes are just that.
(Currently I have a colleague who I know doesn't like me particularly but...
We make small talk, albeit stilted, we are polite, we make each other drinks.
Adult behaviour in other words).
Good luck with the interview next week.

Thanks gin - no she hasn't as she doesn't know about them because of the professional manner in which I have behaved...

Will see what happens on both scores.

I suspect this issue will escalate.

Good grief. Is she 13?

Yesterday was truly horrendous. I went to my meeting. The SLT guy was great at what he did but I just couldn't really handle it. Especially when I found out that they have already spoken to people within my department about me, in order to corroborate evidence. I don't think they should have done this. Certainly not before speaking to me.

Any fudging I might have done in my own statement (mainly to protect a friend ) will have been exposed.

I also had to reveal that students have been complaining about her style to me and ma worried they will now interview them. Not because I have done anything awful but because I don't want them involved. It is stressful enough hat they keep bleating as it is.

I am sure it's not a big deal but I feel so awful that people I very much like have had to 'tell on me'. I worked in pastoral care for years and it feels like when you have two year 8 girls squabbling and you have them separately in your office!

I cried for two hours solid and can't eat a thing.

Now the head gets all the notes and decides what to do.

I have to get ready for this interview (assessment day they are calling it!) so need to refocus.

Oh no, that sounds awful . No real advice but I think you need to unfudge your statement ASAP after your interview and chase your union rep / ACAS. Is the head a sensible / nice person?

They seem to have dug very deeply for a 'she won't sit next to me at break' complaint.

When you have the meeting with the head make sure that you stick entirely to what is recorded in the grievance notes. Don't get side tracked in to anything else.

use phrases like
"moving back to the notes"
"sticking to what was in the notes"
"I can't see that anywhere in the information that that has been passed on to me"

If they push say
"Let me check the notes that I have been given"

and don't rush in to answers, even if they try and force you to.

I should have said I spoke to union last night. He is on board.

My statement fudge isn't massively significant. Some digging was being done into the whole whispering debacle and I have never said my friend told me about it. I said it was apparent that X was 'how did you know?'

I answered that I could tell. The chap they have spoken to probably told them I told him my friend told me, if you get my drift...

The head hates bureaucracy and red tape and is very pragmatic. He doesn't like people who cause ripples/ trouble . Our relationship has not been plain sailing but it isn't his job to take sides and I think he will want to keep this informal.

I think the fact that the ball is in her court bothers me the most.

Good advice both. I am not sure I will have a meeting with the head to go through the notes again. I think I'll just be told his decision. I think the SLT guy will steer him a bit on what he thinks might work. At the very least he will have gathered a) how upset I am compared to her and b) that she is quite a dangerous and difficult person.

My union man is NOT happy!

Totally standard to gather evidence from others before speaking to the accused.

Apparently not Titty especially since my head listed all the people who knew and said they were the only people who would at this stage.

Union and all documentation cites witnesses can be called at the formal stage, which this in not meant to be. Union said if witnesses were felt to be needed, my statement should still have been taken first.

I know the whole process is designed to protect the victim and do get that.

Chin up.
It all sounds bloody awful.
Cannot believe they have gone to colleagues asking whether or not you choose to sit next to/how you get on with this colleague.
I would have hoped that colleagues had the grace to say they were above idle gossip and didn't wish to comment.
What was the whispering debacle, I must have missed that. Did someone tell you she had talked about you in a disparaging way?
I have had that, it's not very helpful and a "friend" wouldn't pass that on unless you were being stitched up or you wanted to take things further.

The whispering debacle is that I was told that she said I whispered something to someone about her in a 4 person meeting meeting. I didn't.

In the complaint that same out as her absolutely having heard me say 'in front of other colleagues' something about her quality of marking. She misheard actually. But I did then go and ask another colleague what eh thought of the meeting and her attitude (and we had a general chat about marking).

He was one of the called witnesses so it all slightly hinges on whether he remembers it the same way as me / her. And whether he is asked to recall any details beyond the meeting ie whether he volunteers the information that we had a discussion about the whole thing afterwards. In which I believe I said ' she really doesn't like me'

But if I remember if differently from her it doesn't matter if he also recalls it differently. only if he says exactly the same as her. Which I doubt he will as she implies I said it very loudly and in fact I said it very quietly.

I can't imagine any other colleagues at the meeting heard it.

I do know my friend was insistent that she did not want to provide information and cried and was told she had to.

She is consulting her union....

It's a mess.

Try not to worry Piggy. Easier said than done I know but....

It is quite normal when a grievance is raised (especially one such as this which seems to be very much subjective) that an employer will talk to other staff as part of their investigation as they are trying to establish if there are genuinely grounds for the grievance or not. This is quite different from calling witnesses on a more formal basis.

From everything you've written it, it sounds likely that anything other staff (or pupils) say will support your version of events so it may actually be a good thing that they're asking people!

Fudging your statement isn't good though. That was a silly thing to do. You need to be 100% truthful. You are perfectly entitled to say "someone told me but I'm not willing to say who as I don't want to get them into trouble".

Why doesn't your friend want to provide information? If you have nothing to hide, it would be in your interest for her/him to talk to them and tell the truth. Not wanting to do this implies something less favourable, rightly or wrongly. You sound like a good person and this other woman sounds like she has over-reacted, surely people will be happy to speak up on your behalf.

She doesn't want to because she is my friend and she thinks the whole thing is awful. It's not like they are being asked to be character witnesses : they just have to corroborate facts.

I guess I myself am being a bit paranoid now...

Your friend is right - it IS awful. But this is her chance to support you by telling them what happened/what was said. Once they understand that this other teacher is completely over-reacting, hopefully that means you will be exonerated and you can move on from this ugly affair. So rather than crying, she should be rushing to speak to them. I certainly would be if a friend or colleague had been put in this horrible situation that you're in.

I hope this doesn't sound unsympathetic. I really feel for you. To be honest, I am struggling to understand how this level of unnecessary drama can even be allowed to drag on but I work in a much more aggressive environment. I wouldn't last a day where you work as I'd be fired for a lot worse than eye rolling and not sitting next to people. Strewth! It's a job, not a popularity contest. The whole thing is ridiculous!

Hang in there. You've done nothing wrong.

Thanks :)

To be clear, she has spoken to them , as she wasn't given a choice. They asked her questions and she replied I guess. She isn't allowed to tell me this but I have guessed a lot of it.

And I know what you mean about other jobs. I was watching Three Girls and Little Boy Blue recently (both amazing) and it seems the police spend the whole time shouting at each other!! Teachers are a rather restrained bunch.

ps I didn't eye roll!

I think I might even mention at some point - this is type of thing I expect 12 year old girls to have squabbles about not a colleague of mine - if you feel it appropriate at some stage.

Yes, maybe when it's over...

I did pinch the 'adults can choose friends' line from a PP!

I think a queen bee entered the hove and thought I was the resident queen bee. When I look at her evidence it begins from almost the moment she stepped in the building.

hive not hove!