Bullying at work

[BeauMirchoff]

Hello,
A friend of mine is being bullied at work. What can she do? Can she take legal action against the individual/company?
She couldn't take it anymore last night and walked out. She was packing up an order for a customer and her supervisor elbowed her out of the way and snatched the stuff and continued packing the things herself. And then told my friend she had a bad attitude

How long has she worked there? Has she previously complained to anyone there?

About 6 weeks! She has complained to the actual boss but not much has been done.

Sorry to say, bullying of the type you describe is not something your friend can take action against. She has only been working there for a few weeks so will not have anything other than basic employment right.

If she walked out, she has unfortunately not put herself in a good light. She should have waited until the customer had been served, then asked for a private word with the supervisor about how she had been treated.

Does she intend to return to work?

Unless she is being discriminated against for one of the protected reasons then she has no right to take her case to an ET as she does not have the required two years service.

What exactly is happening with regards to the bullying?

Walking out is extreme and undermines her position as it gives them something to complain about.

Has she raised a formal grievance? Is the bullying related to a protected characteristic? Eg race, sex, age etc

Being shoved out of the way is assault of course - maybe forget employment law and look at other avenues to take action.

Being shoved out of the way is assault of course

Assault sounds too strong a word. Without a witness who is prepared to vouch for the "shoved" employee, the chances of an action against the employer holding water is very slim indeed. It would be the employee's word against the "shover" which becomes very subjective and therefore problematic in a court.

I had assumed as there was no mention of any disability, race or sex characteristics involved here, that there is no incidence of harassment.

Thing is, even if something is strictly speaking a crime (assault) it doesn't mean that the police will take any action unless they have substantial evidence.

Crimes happen everyday that meet the statutory definition of the crime, if doesn't mean that anything will come from reporting them.

My friend was being constantly put down and verbally abused. The supervisor was nice to everyone, apart from her. My friend would often have to stay after hours to clean the kitchen on her own when it was actually a two-people's job and usually done by two people. Nothing that she did was ever good enough, no matter how hard she worked. Even the manager called that supervisor 'a little Hitler' but never actually did anything about her.
Being shoved out of the way was the last straw.
We're now looking for a new job for her, hopefully we'll find something soon.

We're now looking for a new job for her, hopefully we'll find something soon
Does your friend have difficulties which mean that she needs extra help with things?

Does she have any disabilities that you feel she may be discriminated against because of?

Just to clarify - If she has disabilities but did not declare them when she was interviewed it will make things problematic trying to prove harrassment ( ergo discrimination. ).

The employer could argue that they couldn't give support or adjust their processes to make allowances if they didn't know about the disability in the first place.