Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2009 - 01:44 AM

Hi Razzar,

I am outraged by the way you have been treated, I work as a Human Resources Manager and firmly think that you should treat people they way you would expect to be treated.

I would like to offer you my support and experience to deal with this situation, they can not legally do this to you. There are employment laws which protect your rights at work and as a Local Authority they should know this. Firstly and this is very important, dont agree to anything, without your concent they cannot demote you. You should aslo consider joining the Union, normally as a HR proffessional I dont like Umions, they are their to protect your rights and fight against bad employers, if this is not possible go to your local Citizens Advice, they will not have the power to repersent you, but will be able to give you good advice.

You say Equal Op's policy is just paper, but it also relates to the law, you need to get a copy and see what it covers.

You also need to get a copy of your "Employee or Staff Handbook" all the rules, regulations and procedures will be in there. Dont be afraid to ask for a copy its your right to have it.

I would aslo advise you to start keeping a diary, not at work, but at home where nobody form work can find it. Write everything they do or say to you that is not right, for example the incident where you were asked to bring your own cup from home. Make sure you keep times, what was said by whom and the names of any witness present. If this ever came to a point where you needed to take them to tribunal you cant rely on your memory.

Along the same lines, if they call you in to a meeting to informally discuss anything, ask if you can have a colleague to join you and act as a witness, you dont have any legal right to this, unless it is a disaplinary meeting, but ant good employer with nothing to hide will not refuse such a reasonable request.

They other angle to look at is HEP B covered under the Disability Discrimination Act, if so and we are classed as disabeled because of the virus they must treat us differently. I need to look at this in a bit more detail and see if we cover all the criteria.

Legally in order to demote you, they must first follow their disciplinary procedure. There are two reasons why you would disciplin an employee.

Its what we call won't do vs cant do

The first is conduct, this is the won't do situation, an example would be you refuse to carry out a reasonable request or timekeeping comes under the conduct, in other words you wont do. They can not relate this to being ill, its not a wont do situation.

The other is capability, cant do, this is related to the performance of your duties, for example you make repeated mistakes and after training you are still not doing your job. Again if you are performing your job correctly they cant use this. When was the last time you had an appraisal, what was the outcome, did they discuss your perfomance in your job or has this happened recently.

Also look at other people doing the same job as you, are they being treated in the same way.

They must give you a reason for demoting you, providing you can still do your job, they can not use ill health as a reason.

Also remember to get them to put everything in writing, its amazing how quickly people back off when you ask for it in a letter, because they know thats a written record of what they want to do.

So for these two reason they can not legally demote you, unless you agree to take the lesser job.

There is also what we call greivenance procedures, which means if you feel your are being treated less that other members of staff, you have the right to complain about that treatment.

There is also another point you need to keep in mind, there are 5 legal reasons to dismiss an employee, one of which is ill health, be careful that dont try this in the future, form what I've read so far I wouldnt put it past them. But to do this they need to get your doctor to say you are not fit to do you job. And I think you mentioned that your doctor had given you clean bill of health to return to work. Remeber they can only contact your doctor if you give your concent, and any report your doctor supplies you have the right to see first, you can also request that information is taken out of the report brfore your employer see it.

Sorry but its getting late, I think the way you are being treated is totally unacceptable in this day and age, but i understand it can be hard to stand up to these people, they think that have all the power, especally when employees like yourself dont understand the law.

If you want my proffessional help please feel free to email me and we can go over some of the more personal points, without it being on view to everyone.

I really do think you have been treat very very badly and dont think they should be allowed to get away with that, but totally understand if your not up to fight them.

I hope this has given you some confidence to stand up to these bullies, because after all thats all they are. At the end of the day the law is on your side

Best wishes

Kermit