Bullying claim as an employee with perceived rights

[FallenFigs]

This is potentially quite complex so I’ll explains a much as is hopefully necessary without too much detail.

i worked for a company, took redundancy then returned shortly afterwards. I have not been issued a contract, but have been on payroll and paid via PAYE for last approx 10 months. I don’t receive paid holiday (although I suspect I should) and am paid on a day rate basis. So, my understanding is I am on perceived/implied employment terms.

A senior person has since engaged in what I can only describe as a campaign of bullying - a vendetta in effect, against me. They have blocked my work on more than one occasion, without talking with me about it but blocking it with others. They have engaged in persistent and very personal criticism of me, much of it in writing (emails and work messaging platform). They have encouraged others to criticise me, and make what could be construed as complaints, but I have not been made aware of these or given the opportunity to respond.

Long and short of it is, it is a very toxic situation. I am looking for other roles etc etc. However, my question is do I have grounds for a claim of bullying and importantly can I do so given my very vague employment status? Frankly I believe this person needs dealing with to stop them doing it to someone else.

I agree with this and @WeAreAllLionesses further post. It’s not worth the stress. I expect most people know exactly what he’s like and what he does but choose to do nothing about it. Move on for the sake of your mental health.

Ugh. Morally though that makes me really uncomfortable. If I effectively turn the other cheek and he does this to someone else, how can I be an ally to them? When I knew/had experienced and did nothing?

I do agree that the common sense approach is it do nothing. But it just doesn’t feel right.

Because at the end of the day, your ultimate duty of care is to yourself and yourself only. It is hugely frustrating when these people get away with it though.

If you really want to pursue it raise a complaint through work as your first step. Then you can at least say to yourself that you've done something.

Although if he's in HR the chances are it'll get swept under the carpet and you won't have any more work from them.

But at least you will have tried.

Why don't you put your time & energy into getting a new job instead ?

Ask your current good employer contacts to provide you with a good reference for your CV

I’ve checked and there is no bullying or harassment policy. There is a grievance policy but this details the process, not what sorts of things could constitute a grievance.

@TetrisRetr000 i am searching for other roles as previously mentioned, however I can’t leave without something to go to. So I do need a way of making the remaining time bearable.

@WeAreAllLionesses by complaint do you mean grievance? What would you do?

I do feel like I should stand up to it all in some way. The NHS pages on bullying are really good, very clear.

or do I just need a good therapist 😀

Do you work for the NHS? If not, their guidelines won't be much help.

And no, I don't mean a grievance. Have you raised, in writing, to either your line manager or someone senior, what the issues are and how you'd like them dealt with? That's your first step if you want to complain.

Then you have to give them time to respond.

If nothing, then go above them.

But you're probably best phoning Acas first to determine your employee status.

No, I don’t work for the NHS. But their guidelines are useful in terms of framing and explaining definitions of bullying, and have reaffirmed my view that that is what’s going on.

I’ll call ACAS.

Ok and good luck with ACAS but again, in the nicest possible way, it's not about whether this is bullying by any definition.

It's about whether you can prove it.

There isn’t any legal definition of “bullying” nor will being able to establish you’ve been “bullied” give you any legal rights as (a) you are likely not an employee; and (b) you haven’t been there two years.

you can raise a grievance if you like but if the accused is a senior HR person and you have no evidence of wrongdoing I would say that will do you more harm than good. My advice would be to move on.

Op
It's also worth saying that criticism in itself is not bullying, only if you can prove that it's unwarranted .