Lost grievance - refuse mediation?

[1977dad]

Hello

A former direct report (difficult argumentative woman) lost a bullying grievance against me recently

She has been told she must mediate with me. As the defendant I'm not allowed to know what action is taken against her but the senior person in the team told me this.

Previously this woman has refused for no good reason. If someone puts in non proven allegations, refuses mediation and continues to refuse to speak to me, is this grounds for disciplinary?

It is difficult to do my job without her speaking to me, ignoring me off emails and not attending any of my meetings.

Thanks in advance.

What a horrible situation for you. I hope she leaves that job really quickly.

I really feel for you, it is not uncommon for a direct report to make this type of allegation because their performance/behaviour is not up to standard. It deflects action being taken against them.

You can’t instigate disciplinary action for raising a grievance or refusing mediation. What you can do is gather evidence of her not talking to you, ignoring emails, not attending meetings etc. Once you have sufficient evidence you can raise a grievance against her, which if proven would normally lead to disciplinary action.

If you were her manager you could use the performance management process to address this. Basically she is not meeting the requirements of the job if she is ignoring all communications from you.

You may find it useful to talk to your manager and HR and ask for their support in getting her to engage with you on a professional basis. You are a senior manager to her and her behaviour is unprofessional and may impact on delivery of objectives etc.

What Alpinechalet says.

Speak with your line manager and HR and ask them what action you should take eg keeping records of her not attending meetings.

It then shouldn't be down to you to raise a grievance - it will be a disciplinary matter about her performance which should be dealt with by another manager and HR.

* It is difficult to do my job without her speaking to me, ignoring me off emails and not attending any of my meetings.*

^Does she get the work done? I’d start her on capability process

I would start her on performance management, I'm assuming it's part of her job role to liaise with you in order for both of you to do your jobs. Which she is not doing!

You said she is a former direct report, who does she report to now? Can you speak to her current line manager?