My Boss is an a-hole

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OP
OP
Crankarm

Crankarm

Guru
Location
Nr Cambridge
Contact HR, arrange a meeting, explain the situation and casually mention "constructive dismissal" do this after finding another "just in case" job

I believe you can only claim this when you have been employed for 2 years and you have to resign.

Contacting HR will formalise what I have experienced. Of course my boss will have his version of events and those of his two face grass asst manager. It might well precipitate my departure irrespective of how wrong this might be and how unjust this might feel to me.
 
OP
OP
Crankarm

Crankarm

Guru
Location
Nr Cambridge
Contact HR, arrange a meeting, explain the situation and casually mention "constructive dismissal" do this after finding another "just in case" job

If I find another job I will leave. The only thing that worries me is reference given that my boss is such an a-hole and has written this document which he has kept on my file and which is false and defamatory.
 

Andy_R

Hard of hearing..I said Herd of Herring..oh FFS..
Location
County Durham
Keep a diary of all events and there is some good advice here. Mrs_R was in a similar situation a couple of years ago - her manager was bullying her but after following the advice I've linked to, keeping a diary, speaking to HR, etc., he no longer works for the company. As for them sacking you if you complain, I think that would immediately become a case of constructive dismissal. At the end of the day, the company, and your manager have a duty of care for your wellbeing.

Edit: AFAIA, there are no stipulations regarding constructive dismissal only being possible after 2 years. You have the same rights as any one else in the workplace apart from redundancy payments as long as you are no longer in a probationary position. I may be wrong though.
 

betty swollocks

large member
You do not have to put up with this.
First thing to do is keep a log of everything that happens and is said to you.
Times, dates, witnesses etc.
Give yourself some ammunition then go to HR with the evidence.
 

tadpole

Senior Member
Location
St George
I believe you can only claim this when you have been employed for 2 years and you have to resign.

Contacting HR will formalise what I have experienced. Of course my boss will have his version of events and those of his two face grass asst manager. It might well precipitate my departure irrespective of how wrong this might be and how unjust this might feel to me.
Not as far as I am aware Employment Rights Act 1996 section 95(1)c makes no mention of a minimum time.
 
OP
OP
Crankarm

Crankarm

Guru
Location
Nr Cambridge
I sympathise crankarm, had a lot of problems at work recently myself, but not from the boss. It can be virtually impossible to sort out.

I get round it by not having the same job all the time.

Thanks. It's very hard sometimes. Even when I stay late, making the company money, but I am not getting paid, I get grief, ranted at, told I am a disappointment. I am on tenter hooks the whole time, who is approaching me and what they might say. Some days I have ridden home in tears and I am in my forties! Not something I am proud to admit. He even had a go at me for re-cycling. I take all my rubbish from lunch - cans, cartons, plastic, home to re-cycle whilst everyone else chucks eveything and I mean everything in the general waste. I asked about re-cycling when I started but was told it was too expensive although the company has a re-cycling policy. One day the boss opened the fridge which was full of food, so he came ranting to me that he couldn't get his lunch out as "I was taking over the fridge". When he brought me to the fridge to move my food I told him that it was not my food. His face was incandescent with rage. He didn't apologise. He NEVER apologises or says please or thank you. Simple courtesies are beyond him.
 

Svendo

Guru
Location
Walsden
I'm no expert, and have fortunately not had to deal with a bullying manager. Have had managers I've had to 'manage', usually by telling them what it is they want me to do so they think it's their idea!
Might I suggest whatever else you do to keep a diary, you may well have had this idea anyway. It's standard advice for harrasment in my sector (housing). Then when either your leaving anyway and resign, or the boss finally has to cut you loose to save his own skin you've chapter and verse on his mistreatment of you, which could help with any constructive dismissal claim etc.
 

Andrew_Culture

Internet Marketing bod
If your boss is shouting at you, by which I mean actually raising his voice above the normal volume of polite conversation then that is entirely unacceptable. The last time someone in the workplace got unhinged and angry with me I politely listened (this was on the phone), I then got a written warning for being unhelpful. They were my client, I was freelance, so I left.
 

marinyork

Resting in suspended Animation
Location
Logopolis
Thanks. It's very hard sometimes. Even when I stay late, making the company money, but I am not getting paid, I get grief, ranted at, told I am a disappointment. I am on tenter hooks the whole time, who is approaching me and what they might say. Some days I have ridden home in tears and I am in my forties! Not something I am proud to admit. He even had a go at me for re-cycling. I take all my rubbish from lunch - cans, cartons, plastic, home to re-cycle whilst everyone else chucks eveything and I mean everything in the general waste. I asked about re-cycling when I started but was told it was too expensive although the company has a re-cycling policy. One day the boos opened the fridge which was full of food, so he came ranting to me that he couldn't get his lunch out as "I was taking over the fridge". When he brought me to the fridge to move my food I told him that it was not my food. His face was incandescent with rage. He didn't apologise. He NEVER apologises or says please or thank you. Simple courtesies are beyond him.

I've had a boss who had a lot of the qualities you said (and their boss was even worse). I was only in that job for 6 months. I found that although they behaved like that most of the time there were odd rare moments each day when particular people were out of earshot that they calmed down and you could actually talk to them. And then I struck. But they were rare moments. And a lot of it was predicated on not getting pissed off with the barrage of four or five other things before that time. I think fridges/dinner areas attract busy bodies, we actually had that with our 'dining area'.

One of the biggest problems with bosses like that like the fridge is getting randomly blamed for stuff that isn't your fault. The thing that annoyed me was not investigating stuff. There was an e-mail complaining once when I got back one morning that talked about me and then several of my colleagues. The really annoying thing is the e-mail stated exactly when the incident happened and I was down on holiday and the clocking machine said I hadn't clocked in that day!

Not sure on the reference one. It's a very real threat. I lost job offers due to a malicious and erroneous job reference. I wish I'd handled things differently in hindsight (although I believe it would no longer happen now where it was).

I've got an ongoing issue and process going on at work and it's going nowhere, so I really do sympathise. I don't have to deal with the same people every day I work though, so it's very different.

I find cycling is a good break from work. If you're thinking about it on the commute all the time there's a big problem :sad:.
 

tadpole

Senior Member
Location
St George
Employment Rights Act 1996
108 Qualifying period of employment.
(1)Section 94 does not apply to the dismissal of an employee unless he has been continuously employed for a period of not less than [one year] ending with the effective date of termination.
The Unfair Dismissal and Statement of Reasons for Dismissal (Variation of Qualifying Period) Order 1999
1.—(1) This Order may be cited as the Unfair Dismissal and Statement of Reasons for Dismissal (Variation of Qualifying Period) Order 1999 and shall come into force on 1st June 1999.

The only change I can see to the law is the qualifying period for a mandatory provision of a reason t for the dismissal has been reduced from two years to one year.
A good legal advisor would be able to give you the full and up to date position.
 

BrumJim

Forum Stalwart (won't take the hint and leave...)
I have a friend who is a good solicitor in the area of employment law. PM me and I will send you his details. He is a top bloke, and good at his job to boot. And he rides a bike.

TBH, if I was in the same situation, I would talk to him as my first step.
 

ASC1951

Guru
Location
Yorkshire
The only change I can see to the law is the qualifying period for a mandatory provision of a reason t for the dismissal has been reduced from two years to one year.
A good legal advisor would be able to give you the full and up to date position.
I'm afraid you're wrong, Tadpole, and Crankarm is right - the qualifying period for the right not to be unfairly dismissed was increased from 1 year to 2 years from 6 April 2012. In some circumstances it can still be less than two years - http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=3733

IIRC it was 1 year from 1978 to 1985, then 2 years to 1999, then 1 year again to 2012 i.e. Crankarm's "nasty Tory party" left it at 1 year for Margaret Thatcher's first six years.
 
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