£18,663 payout for physio who was told complaint could affect "future prospects"

Friday 01 April 2016

A “highly-regarded” physiotherapist was bullied out of her States job and let down by her bosses who warned her that complaining could affect her future prospects, an Employment Tribunal has found.

The applicant, Mrs S Maclagan, has been given a £18,663 payout by the tribunal which found that she had been constructively dismissed from her job running a ward helping to rehabilitate neurological patients, in which she had been “highly regarded and very proficient”.

The tribunal found that a new manager recruited from the UK to the Health and Social Services department had bullied Mrs Mclagan, criticising her for outdated practices and for spending more time at her computer than on the ward. When she initially raised concerns with her senior line manager she was told “be very careful what you are saying” because upsetting her new boss might affect her “future prospects”.

In a statement, Health have confirmed that the new manager has left the department - they say that he resigned during a review meeting conducted as part of his probationary period.

An informal meeting was held to try to resolve the differences between the two, but senior managers took the new boss’s side, and he laughed at the complaints against him – Mrs Mclagan left that meeting in tears and was signed off with work-related stress.

At a presentation to staff while Mrs Mclagan was away, the new boss claimed that the ward she had been running was not working properly and that “patients would rather kill themselves than come to [the ward]”. While off sick she was also told that her contract extension would be decided by the new manager – against whom she had now filed a formal complaint – and he was also made responsible for handling her “return to work” interview.

When the Health department’s HR team set up an investigation into the formal complaint, the tribunal heard that they left out elements of her complaint – Mrs Mclagan saw this as “the last straw” and resigned from her job.

The tribunal’s judgment found that what started as a personality clash between two members of staff exacerbated because of poor management and HR within the Health and Social Services department.

They found: “In the Tribunal's view, the issues could have been addressed at a very early stage had the matter been dealt with by an experienced manager with proper involvement from HR. It is undoubtedly to the detriment of both parties that this matter was allowed to fester.

“The Tribunal found that the Respondent’s treatment of the Applicant throughout this period was neglectful and dismissive.

“Whether or not her complaints against [her new manager] were justified, the Applicant was entitled to expect the Respondent to conduct the grievance process in a manner which would diffuse the situation so that both parties could continue to work together. The Respondent failed entirely in this duty.”