Bullying and Harassment

Vicky Gray made this Freedom of Information request to Dover District Council

The request was successful.

From: Vicky Gray

4 December 2008

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

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From: AutomatedResponse
Dover District Council

4 December 2008

Dear Sir/Madam,

This is an automated response from [Dover District Council request email] to
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Thank You.

Dover District Council.
Whitecliffs Business Park,
Whitfield, Dover, Kent.
CT16 3PJ
Tel: 01304 821199

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From: Mandy Weir
Dover District Council

4 December 2008

Dear Ms Gray

Thank you for your request for information about people absent from work
and internal complaints. Your request was received on 4 December 2008
and I am dealing with it under the terms of the Freedom of Information
Act 2000.

In some circumstances a fee may be payable and if that is the case, I
will let you know. A fees notice will be issued to you, and you will be
required to pay before we will proceed to deal with your request.

If you have any queries about this email, please contact me.

Yours sincerely

Mandy Weir
Performance Officer
Dover District Council
Council Offices, White Cliffs Business Park, Whitfield, Dover CT16 3PJ

Tel: 01304 872318
Fax: 01304 872300
Email: [email address]
Web: www.dover.gov.uk

P Please consider the Environment before printing this email

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From: Vicky Gray

6 December 2008

Dear Ms Weir

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

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From: Mail Delivery System

6 December 2008

Attachment attachment.delivery status
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Attachment Re Freedom of Information request Bullying and Harassment.txt
2K Download View as HTML

This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification.

THIS IS A WARNING MESSAGE ONLY.

YOU DO NOT NEED TO RESEND YOUR MESSAGE.

Delivery to the following recipients has been delayed.

<[email address]>

The reason for the problem:
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From: Vicky Gray

8 January 2009

To Mail Delivery System

You have not replied to my FOI request within the 20 working days
you are allowed by law.

Kindly address yourselves to this matter immediately and explain
your lack of response.

Yours sincerely

Vicky Gray

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From: Mail Delivery System

8 January 2009

This message was created automatically by mail delivery software.

A message that you sent could not be delivered to one or more of its
recipients. This is a permanent error. The following address(es) failed:

[email address]
SMTP error from remote mail server after RCPT TO:<[email address]>:
host smtp-ca.kcn.org.uk [194.80.21.33]: 550 #5.1.0 Address rejected.

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From: Mandy Weir
Dover District Council

19 January 2009

Dear Ms Gray

I am writing in respect of your enquiry for information held by this
Authority received on 4 December 2008 and to confirm that we have
completed the search for the information that you requested. A copy of
the information is enclosed in the format you requested.

1. 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.

The total number of staff is 95. This includes 21 staff who are no
longer employed by the Council. This number is on a count of staff
names only and does not include separate occurences. It should be noted
that staff can select the "stress" category on the self-certification
form and this includes stress, depression, anxiety, mental health and
fatigure and therefore does not always mean that they have a medical
certificate from a GP.

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 complaints

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

None

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

None

The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. You are free to use it for your
own purposes, including any non-commercial research you are doing and
for the purposes of news reporting. Any other reuse, for example
commercial publication, would require the permission of the copyright
holder. Most documents supplied by Dover District Council will have
been produced by government officials and will be Crown Copyright. You
can find details on the arrangements for re-using Crown Copyright on
HMSOnline at:
http://www.hmso.gov.uk/copyright/licence...

Information you receive which is not subject to Crown Copyright
continues to be protected by the copyright of the person, or
organisation, from which the information originated. You must ensure
that you gain their permission before reproducing any third party (non
Crown Copyright) information.

If you have any queries about this email, please contact me. I hope you
find the information enclosed useful but if, for whatever reason, you
are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your
request and wish to make a complaint or request a review of our
decision, you are entitled to pursue any dissatisfaction through the
Council's Complaints Procedure.

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply
directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the
ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints
procedure provided by the Council. The Information Commissioner can be
contacted at: The Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House,
Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

Yours sincerely

Mandy Weir
Performance Officer
Dover District Council
Council Offices, White Cliffs Business Park, Whitfield, Dover CT16 3PJ

Tel: 01304 872318
Fax: 01304 872300
Email: [email address]
Web: www.dover.gov.uk

P Please consider the Environment before printing this email

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From: Vicky Gray

19 January 2009

Dear Mandy Weir

Thank you for your prompt response.

When the figures were collated for constructive dismissal, did this
include the employee directly? 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, can you confirm how many employees have claimed on
these ground for either constructive dismissal or one(or more) of
the various discrimination claim and/or under the Protection from
Harassment Act?

Please confirm how many employees have claimed constructive
dismissal within the same period 1st August 2004 and 31st October
2008 for bullying/harassment, unfair dismissal or one (or more) of
the various discrimination claims and/or under the Protection from
Harassment Act.

You said: NONE. Did this include the aforementioned?

Please confirm how many claims have been filed against the council
at the Employment Tribunal within the same period for
bullying/harassment or one (or more) of the various discrimination
and/or under the Protection from Harassment Act.

You said: NONE. Did this include the aforementioned.

Thank you for your assistance and full co-operation

Yours sincerely

Vicky Gray

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From: Mandy Weir
Dover District Council

23 January 2009

Dear Ms Gray

Thank you for your further email regarding your recent Freedom of
Information request.

I can confirm that I have liaised with our Human Resources section
regarding your additional comments and they have advised that in both
instances we have included the criteria specified.

I hope I have been able to provide you with the information that you are
seeking, but should you have any further questions please contact me.

Yours sincerely

Mandy Weir
Performance Officer
Dover District Council
Council Offices, White Cliffs Business Park, Whitfield, Dover CT16 3PJ

Tel: 01304 872318
Fax: 01304 872300
Email: [email address]
Web: www.dover.gov.uk

P Please consider the Environment before printing this email

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From: Vicky Gray

23 January 2009

Dear Mandy

Thank you for providing the correct information and for your full
co-operation.

Have a lovely New Year. Even if it is a bit late.

Kindest Regards

Vicky

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