Dear Sir/Madam

I would like to know how many employees of the city council have
been absent from work due to either stress, anxiety, depression or
any combination of those ailments between 1st August 2004 and 31st
October 2008.

Please also confirm how many complaints of bullying have been made
by employees of the council against managers or colleagues during
the same period.

Please confirm how many employees have claimed constructive
dismissal within the same period for bullying/harassment.

Please confirm how many claims have been filed against the city
council at the Employment Tribunal within the same period for
bullying/harassment.

I would ask that you remember the statutory duty imposed upon
public authorities by virtue of Section 16 of the Freedom of
Information Act to provide advice and assistance to requesters. If
for any reason you are leaning toward rejecting any part of this
request or if you plan to argue that it is unmanageable or
unanswerable in any way then I would expect you to contact me
promptly to find ways to answer this request to our mutual
satisfaction.

Yours sincerely

Vicky Gray

Dear Vicky

Could you confirm please if you need this information from Chelmsford
Borough Council or Essex County Council?

It has been received by Essex County Council but you mention city
council in your request.

Yours sincerely

Yvonne Norman

HR Corporate Services

Finance and Budget Analyst

Essex County Council | telephone: 01245 436229| extension: 30229 |
email: [email address]

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Dear Yvonne Norman

Thank you for your Prompt response could you please provide the
information on bullying and harassment for both Chelmsford Borough
Council and Essex County Council.

Thank you for your assistance.

Yours sincerely

Vicky Gray

Hello Vicky

I'm afraid I will only be able to provide the information for Essex
County Council as Chelmsford Borough Council is a different
organisation. You will have to send your request seperately to them I'm
afraid.

I will send you an official acknowledgement from Essex County Council
shortly.

Yours sincerely

Yvonne Norman
HR Corporate Services
Finance and Budget Analyst

Essex County Council | telephone: 01245 436229| extension: 30229 |
email: [email address]

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show quoted sections

Dear Yvonne Norman

Thank you for your prompt response. I would also clarify when I
mentioned constructive dismissal, I was referring to the employee
directly, similar point about bullying and harassment complaints,
there is no Employment Tribunal claim called "bullying and
harassment". This will usually form part of a claim for unfair
dismissal or one (or more) of the various discrimination claim
and/or under the Protection from Harassment Act. Could you provide
the information on the aforementioned.

Could you provide the information in electronic format via this
website.

Thank you for your full co-operation

Yours Sincerely

Vicky Gray

Dear Vicky

Thank you for your request for information, which was received by Essex
County Council on 4th December 2008.

We will determine and let you know whether we hold the information you
have requested and consider whether it is exempt from disclosure. Under
certain circumstances we may charge for providing information, but we
will let you know before we do any work that would incur a charge.

Your request is covered by the Freedom of Information act, under which
we must respond within 20 working days.

Please contact me if you would like further advice or assistance about
your request or your right to access information held by Essex County
Council.

Yours sincerely

Yvonne Norman

HR Corporate Services

Finance and Budget Analyst

Essex County Council | telephone: 01245 436229| extension: 30229 |
email: [email address]

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Dear Vicky

I am pleased to include the following information, which I believe
satisfies your request.

I would like to know how many employees of the city council have

been absent from work due to either stress, anxiety, depression or

any combination of those ailments between 1st August 2004 and 31st

October 2008. 2,008

Please also confirm how many complaints of bullying have been made

by employees of the council against managers or colleagues during

the same period. 26 logged complaints between September 2006 and
31st October 2008. We are not able to give accurate information before
that date as that is when the database system for logging cases came
into operation.

Please confirm how many employees have claimed constructive

dismissal within the same period for bullying/harassment. 1 case

Please confirm how many claims have been filed against the city

council at the Employment Tribunal within the same period for

bullying/harassment. 5 cases.

Please note that the data also includes all unresolved Bullying and
Harassment claims as at 31st October 2008.

If you are not satisfied with my response to your request, please let me
know. If I am unable to resolve the issue immediately, I will explain
our complaints procedure.

If, after following our complaints procedure, you are still not
satisfied, you are entitled to ask the Information Commissioner to
review our decision. You can contact him at Wycliffe House, Water Lane,
Wilmslow, Cheshire, Sk9 5AF, telephone 01625 545700.

Please contact me if you would like further advice or assistance about
your request or your right to access information held by Essex County
Council.

Yours sincerely

Yvonne Norman

HR Corporate Services

Finance and Budget Analyst

Essex County Council | telephone: 01245 436229| extension: 30229 |
email: [email address]

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Dear Sir or Madam

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of
Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Essex County
Council's handling of my FOI request 'Bullying and Harassment'.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is
available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/bu...
The response provided has no relation to the information I asked
for. I didn't ask if they had a system for recording statistical
information, I asked for the figures. They have not denied that any
complaints were made nor have they cited any exemptions against
disclosing the data. The fact that they do not have a system for
recording them is meaningless. They have a duty under FOI to
confirm or deny if the information is held, then to determine if it
is exempt from disclosure and if it is not, they must disclose it.

Yours sincerely

Vicky Gray

Dear Vicky

Thank you for your request for an internal review, which was received at
Essex County Council on 31st December 2008.

Your request is now being treated as a complaint and has been passed to
Ellen Hammersley in our Advice and Support team for an answer. A
response will be sent to you within 10 working days from the receipt of
your complaint.

We will determine and let you know whether we hold the information you
have requested and consider whether it is exempt from disclosure. Under
certain circumstances we may charge for providing information, but we
will let you know before we do any work that would incur a charge.

Please contact me if you would like further advice or assistance about
your request or your right to access information held by Essex County
Council.

Yours sincerely

Yvonne Norman

HR Corporate Services

Finance and Budget Analyst

Essex County Council | telephone: 01245 436229| extension: 30229 |
email: [email address]

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Vicky,

Please find the ECC response to your FOI request and a copy of the ECC charging policy.

Regards

Margaret

Margaret Tant

Head of Advice and Support

Essex County Council | telephone: 01245 437007 | extension: 51007 | email: [email address]

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Dear Vicky

Review of complaint under the Freedom of Information Act

Following your request that your complaint be referred to our internal review process, I am writing to advise you of the outcome.

The service area (we) have now reviewed your complaint that information has not been disclosed to you. In your original request for information which was received by Essex County Council on 4th December 2008, you requested:

1. How many employees of the city council have been absent from work due to either stress, anxiety, depression or any combination of those ailments between 1st August 2004 and 31st October 2008.

2. Please also confirm how many complaints of bullying have been made by employees of the council against managers or colleagues during the same period.

3. Please confirm how many employees have claimed constructive dismissal within the same period for bullying/harassment.

4. Please confirm how many claims have been filed against the city council at the Employment Tribunal within the same period for bullying/harassment.

With regard to points one, three and four in our response to you on 24th December 2008 we believe that the information supplied satisfies these parts of your request.

With regard to point two, we responded with the following:

* 26 logged complaints between September 2006 and 31st October 2008. We are not able to give accurate information before that date as that is when the database system for logging cases came into operation.

We noted that you had not received a formal response for information requested between 1st August 2004 and September 2006.

Therefore, we have reviewed this and provide the following response to point two of your original request:

* There have been 26 logged complaints between September 2006 and 31st October 2008. With regards to information requested between 1st August and September 2006, we have calculated that it would cost Essex County Council (ECC) more than £450 to locate, retrieve and provide the information that you have requested so I am exercising ECC's right not to fulfil this part of your request.

This cost has been calculated due to the way in which the information is held by ECC, as the requested information was not centrally logged before September 2006. We currently have 7,026 employees whose files would have to be checked as they worked for ECC prior to September 2006, plus another 1,200 people who started within the period. We would also have to recall approximately 4,561 files from our off site storage records management site, as these employees left during the period in question but may still have grievance data on file. Based on a recent audit that estimated an individual can look at a maximum of 20 files per hour, it would take over 639 hours to locate, retrieve and provide this information.

With regards to point two, we accept that your request has not been properly handled under the Freedom of Information Act and we apologise for this. We hope this response will satisfy your request, but we encourage you to request an ECC appeals panel if this is not the case.

Please contact Yvonne Norman if you would like further advice or assistance about your request, our appeals panel process or your right to access information held by Essex County Council. I have also attached a copy of our Charging Policy for your information.

However, if you are still not satisfied, you are entitled to ask the Information Commissioner to review our decision. You can contact him at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF, telephone 01625 545700.

Yours sincerely