Malicious grievance against me

[DandelionPockets]

Hi all - looking for advice or solidarity because I'm really being put through it atm.

I manage a team of 5 in the transport industry, I've done this job for 6 years with a break in the middle for mat-leave. When I returned from mat-leave they had hired a new person. She has been a consistently poor performer (never answering emails or messages, never updating the internal database, ignoring supplier calls, asking other people to do her work. Some days it seems like she does about 30minutes of work all day. Constant escalations to me from colleagues because her not doing work has led to them not being able to do their jobs).

The person has protected characteristics and along with HR we documented reasonable adjustments we would make and I support these. I also document our 1:1s on email and give consistent feedback on expectations and performance. I ask her about each of those things she hasn't done in the 1:1s and ask her to do them by the next week's 1:1 and sometimes they are not done even after that.

So after 3 months of this I spoke with HR and my line manager to say we need to do a capability review, everyone agrees. We do the capability review and the outcome is a PIP with clear objectives. No formal warning as advised by our lawyers. She has 6 weeks to show she has improved before the next review. She brings a union rep who is extremely argumentative during the meeting, but myself and the HR manager do well.

After the capability hearing there is a flurry of emails from the employee to the Head of HR. One is a grievance against the HR manager, one is a grievance against me, a whole new list of adjustments they require (some are very very unreasonable). Quite stressful for me but I'm assured by HR and my line manager i've followed process perfectly and been a supportive line manager. All I know is that the grievance states that I have not been supportive of their protected characteristics and harassing them as I have not cancelled our scheduled 1:1 for next week and have been unfair in not giving more of a chance to improve outside of a formal process.

My manager and Head of HR are meeting with the employee next week to talk about the grievance against me as per the policy which I know means they need to treat it seriously even though it does make me feel uneasy as I've never ever had a direct report complain about me before.

So my questions are:

1. I should ask for details of the grievance and the minutes from the meeting where she outlines her complaint and evidence?
2. The grievance is likely to not be upheld as I haven't done anything wrong and it's a direct ploy to stop the formal PIP. Should I send a counter grievance following the outcome to say it was malicious?
3. Should I make sure to have a formal meeting with HR and my line manager to give my evidence/side of things. Should I start gathering evidence and witness statements myself?

I just want to make sure that I'm not being ridiculous but also standing up for myself with all this.

Thank you

@weegielass remember in this instance the PIP is a direct consequence of very poor performance for a prolonged length of time. Reasonable adjustments are in place and have not lead to any obvious improvement in performance unfortunately. If new reasonable adjustments are needed and put in place, the PIP will still continue I assume?

Here's what I think:

1. the PIP should still continue. If new adjustments are needed, you put them in place and then maybe slightly adjust the timeline of the PIP to give the new support a chance to work but you don't need to pause or stop the PIP altogether.
2. I do foresee the victimisation claim if the PIP fails. The employee knows that the second they are dismissed after raising a grievance (a 'protected act'), they have a very strong case to argue that the dismissal was retaliation, not a legitimate performance issue.
3. But here’s the clever bit they'll use: they won't just say, "You sacked me because of the grievance." They'll say, "I failed the PIP not because I couldn't do the job, but because the reasonable adjustments you provided were ineffective." That's why she's asking for new ones - maybe she needs them, maybe she doesn't, but if they are refused, the risk is you may strengthen the potential claim.
4. The duty to adjust is continuous. The fact that the current ones haven't led to an improvement is actually evidence, in the employee's favour, that the current adjustments are inadequate. This means the company is still in breach of its duty to level the playing field, and therefore the PIP results are not a fair measure of their capability.
5. Regarding any new adjustments you perceive as 'very unreasonable'—this is the company's defensive line. You must document, in minute detail, why any specific request is genuinely unreasonable (e.g., disproportionate cost, or it fundamentally changes the role). If you reject it without that solid paper trail, it just looks like another failure to help, and feeds their discrimination claim.

Basically, you are trying to build an airtight defence that proves you fired them because of the long-term, objective failure to meet standards, and not because of the grievance or an unfair lack of support. It's a proper legal tightrope walk!

How's it going with this? X

@Loloblue the grievance process is very slowly plodding along. I've not yet had a date for my chat with the manager running the investigation into the grievance.

The company's lawyers advised that an interim line manager be given to the employee whilst the grievance plays out so quite relieved on my part that I can get on with my day to day (and helping the other people who report to me who are a pleasure to manage!).

Still a little bit of apprehention on what happens after the grievance process ends as the PIP will restart....

I wish you all the best with this, @DandelionPockets

I’m currently (partially) involved in a grievance investigation, as I’ve been taking the notes in the meetings, and i can see the toll it’s taking on the poor woman.

I don’t think the accuser’s trying to be malicious, i think they’ve just had a clash of personalities.

His case doesn’t look great at the moment, i have to say. I don’t think his union rep is giving him good advice.

The rep is young and inexperienced; and I think he’s actually a bit unprofessional; during the meeting he kept interrupting when his colleague was talking.
He also advised him not to accept my notes as a proper record of the meeting. He said that I didn’t emphasise his distress enough.
I explained that my role is to use neutral language, and his witness statement does the emotional heavy lifting.

Your direct report’s grievance looks spurious in the extreme, though, and I hope it’s all over for you soon.

@DandelionPockets an interim line manager could be win win for you. If she performs better for him/her it shows she can and that arrangement can either continue or there can be a negotiated handover whereby she identifies what has helped her improve to be replicated. If she continues to underperform then your position is further endorsed.
So great advice from the lawyers! Can't see you have anything to worry about.

@Seelybee thank you for pointing that out as hadn't occurred to me!

@ChimpanzeeThatMonkeyNews interesting you say that as the union rep in this case is very similar. I would say early 20s and has come in on full attack mode. Although that's maybe what the employee wants them to be doing to maximise impact on the business. E.g. grievance raised followed by escalation of grievance emails in less than 24 hours.

Ok fingers crossed for you!

@DandelionPockets How are things going?

@unlikelysuspect still rumbling on! We've had the grievance meetings, then grievance appeal meetings and now still waiting on the outcome. I'm very much out of the loop through really as HR Director and lawyers speaking to her lawyers and she's been on sick leave since the initial meetings so not had to see or speak to her irl.

It's so slow isn't it. That's part of the stress

@DandelionPockets It really boils my p. Classic behaviour. Useless employee makes a grievance to deflect from said uselessness, goes off sick and will probably end up with a severance payment to resolve it. Talk about play the system and create havoc in the process. 😡

Wait - I don’t understand. You said she’s making things up about you, what do you mean exactly? Cause you then go on to explain events that you agree occurred?

are you saying

• she is fabricating that on X date, you said Y when such a meeting never occurred?
• or is she merely referencing actual events and saying she feels upset, she feels you aren’t supportive etc?

There is a huge distinction here, and if it’s the latter then she isn’t making things up. It may be totally valid that you don’t feel you did anything wrong whilst she’s not necessarily making things up, she does genuinely feel upset or unsupported?

I’ve been on both sides of this and I am super tactical as a result. I’m a senior manager. Grievances don’t phase me. But to best protect your interests you need to get out of the headspace of “she’s lying”. Ultimately it’s always contentious when you’re dealing with protected characteristics and she may validly feel grieved by the situation.

To be frank, are you intending to manage this individual after the grievance?

If I were you, I’d ask for her to be permanently removed from your caseload and for another manager to see if they can support her instead, they can decide whether to put a PIP in place. I’d be washing my hands of the entire situation because it’s a detrimental situation for you, it will waste loads of your time and headspace, and it’s unlikely the relationship will ever recover ? I mean, I feel I’m stating the obvious here.

Don’t fall into the trap of resuming managing her just to prove you were right and that she’s a big liar and vindicate yourself. As you’d get a much cleaner outcome accepting the relationship is irreconcilable and exiting before it escalates. Therefore any future PIP is not your concern.

Ultimately if this escalates, it’s less risk for the company to remove you from all management responsibilities with her. If you’re senior/strategic, put that forward to your leadership team for them to reduce legal risk; I wouldn’t insist on having her back and seeing the PIP through. That’s junior behaviour.

A team member once raised a grievance against me that was entirely untrue and unsupported by any evidence. It was an extremely difficult experience and almost derailed me. HR proposed mediation, which I agreed to, but she refused, and the matter was eventually dropped.
The grievance appeared to be retaliatory, following a conversation where I addressed her unprofessional behaviour.
Several months later, she left the organisation after securing what she described as a better role, but was dismissed during her probation period. She later contacted my manager asking to return, and despite there being vacancies, he declined, stating there was no position available.
In the current job market, which strongly favours employers, individuals who create conflict or struggle to work collaboratively are far less likely to be retained. The balance is shifting quickly.

@Power26 lying in that she's said I've harassed and not supported her which is not true. However, a lot of reflection from me and great responses on this thread have made me realise that I obviously can't account for how she feels (and that is assuming that how she says she feels is genuine which I also don't believe it to be).

I am 99% certain now she won't return to my team and assume there will be a settlement as she is unlikely to want to return and I don't think the company would want her to return either given that she's never performed well in her role and probably won't start now. I would also have to say I can't manage her of it came to it - but it most likely won't.

@hulkincredible so sorry you had to go through that. These people never end up doing well, you can't go through life treating people this way and there not be consequences. Or, it's karma if you believe in these things!

How is this going op ? X

@DandelionPockets How did this play out in the end out of interest?

Great username 😆

@UncannyFanny

It's still rolling on if you can believe it.

She wanted £££ but got offered £ to settle. She tried to up the claims against everyone to the point which I think she's living in full delusion-mode now. She thinks there was a plot against her. She thinks we're all pure evil.

Ultimately she revealed that she'd been doing something to try and catch people out (privately recording us all during meetings from day 1 of employment !! ) so the lawyers are now saying take the settlement or we'll be opening an investigation into you and let's see the outcome of that.

I hate reading about this kind of thing. It's makes it so much harder for the next person with ADHD.

I will say this though - is she has rejection sensitivity disorder then she may we'll have experienced everything very differently to you. That's not to say that she isn't a poor performer.

So sorry to read your predicament OP.
Sadly, people management has become about managing self indulgent victim hood culture and at the same time watching out for the daggers about to strike you from the back.

Stay strong, speak the truth and do not waiver. You will get through it.

Sorry to hear this. At least she's shown her arse! It's incredible what people think they can get away with. Sending strength x