Bullying in South Tyneside Council

Waiting for an internal review by South Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council of their handling of this request.

Dear South Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council,

This request is being made to make the public at large and people in each authority aware of which councils are the worst offenders or the better examples when it comes to bullying in the workplace. All councils have very similar anti-bullying / dignity at work policies, but there seems to be a difference in the level of bullying. This is intended to statistically show those differences.

1) How many employees of your authority have
made an
official complaint of harassment and bullying at work since the 1st April 2009?

2) How many of these complaints were upheld in favour of the
complainant?

3) How many of those which were not upheld in favour of the
complainant went on to Appeal?

4) How many of those that went to Appeal were found to favour the
complainant?

5) How many complaints went on to an Employment Tribunal?

6) How many of these were found to uphold the complaint?

7) Out of how many of those allegations (the number given to question 1) did the complainant of
bullying claim that the bullies were telling lies?

8) How many staff does your authority have and what is the current population within your authority's area?

Yours faithfully

Mr Lewis

yabootoyou

foi, South Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council

This email has been classified as: NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED

Dear Mr Lewis

Your FOI Request was received by South Tyneside Council on 4th December
2015

 

I write to confirm that a decision about your request will be made within
20 working days from the date we received your request.  Should there be
any delays or discrepancies with your request then this will be
communicated to you in due course.

 

If you have any further queries regarding this matter then please do not
hesitate to contact the FOI team on [1][South Tyneside Council request email] or 0191
424 6539 and quote the reference number FOI 15.16110

 

Regards

 

Information Governance

South Tyneside Council

 

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foi, South Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council

1 Attachment

This email has been classified as: NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED

Dear Sir or Madam

 

Please find attached the Council’s response to your Freedom of Information
Request.

 

Regards

 

 

Information Governance

South Tyneside Council

 

show quoted sections

John left an annotation ()

This response is blatant dishonesty, my son was an employee ( apprentice ) of this Council, and we took the Council to the ET for Disability Discrimination / bullying.

A six day hearing took place at the ET, against South Tyneside Council and ASDA as my son worked on a placement at ASDA South Shields.

John Robertson

nufcjj@hotmail.co.uk

Dear foi,

I would like to add the following question to my request.

Q9) Out of the number in the response to question 1, how many of
the complainants said that they had been called "a loner"?

Yours sincerely,

Yabootoyou

Yabootoyou left an annotation ()

To John

I am going to send you this message to your email address provided also.

It is obviously interesting to me if the figures are not correct and I might question them with the council. Before I do so, could you just check and confirm with me that your son's case is relevant as far as the dates in my enquiry go, that he was classed as an employee (as you mention apprentice) and the other details as well if possible. If so, would you be able to provide a name or reference number so I could question this with the council?

Many thanks

Mr Lewis

foi, South Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council

This email has been classified as: NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED

Dear Sir or Madam

Can you please provide your name to enable Information Governance to
proceed with your FOI request

Please see the following link in relation to Section 8 of the FOI Act

[1]https://ico.org.uk/media/for-organisatio...

 

Regards

 

Information Governance

South Tyneside Council

Town Hall & Civic Offices

Westoe Road

South Shields

Tyne & Wear

NE33 2RL

 

Tel. (0191) 424 6538

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Dear foi,

Please see copy of original email below, to which you replied, which contained my name as you requested. Put two and two together.....it's not difficult...

"Dear South Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council,

This request is being made to make the public at large and people
in each authority aware of which councils are the worst offenders
or the better examples when it comes to bullying in the workplace.
All councils have very similar anti-bullying / dignity at work
policies, but there seems to be a difference in the level of
bullying. This is intended to statistically show those differences.

1) How many employees of your authority have
made an
official complaint of harassment and bullying at work since the
1st April 2009?

2) How many of these complaints were upheld in favour of the
complainant?

3) How many of those which were not upheld in favour of the
complainant went on to Appeal?

4) How many of those that went to Appeal were found to favour the
complainant?

5) How many complaints went on to an Employment Tribunal?

6) How many of these were found to uphold the complaint?

7) Out of how many of those allegations (the number given to
question 1) did the complainant of
bullying claim that the bullies were telling lies?

8) How many staff does your authority have and what is the current
population within your authority's area?

Yours faithfully

Mr Lewis

yabootoyou"

Yours sincerely,

Yabootoyou

foi, South Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council

This email has been classified as: NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED

Dear Sir or Madam

 

Your FOI Request was received by South Tyneside Council on 18th February
2016

 

I write to confirm that a decision about your request will be made within
20 working days from the date we received your request.  Should there be
any delays or discrepancies with your request then this will be
communicated to you in due course.

 

If you have any further queries regarding this matter then please do not
hesitate to contact the FOI team on [1][South Tyneside Council request email] or 0191
424 6539 and quote the reference number FOI 16.16412

 

Regards

 

Information Governance

South Tyneside Council

 

show quoted sections

Dear foi,

You ask for my name, which I had already provided, I provided it again and you refer to me "Dear Sir or Madam". Amazing!

Yours sincerely,

MR LEWIS

Yabootoyou

foi, South Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council

This email has been classified as: NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED

I’m sorry Mr Lewis that we seem to have some confusion here, is your
forename Yabootoyou?

Regards

Beverley

Beverley Robinson
Information Governance Manager
Information Governance
Strategy and Performance
Business and Resources
South Tyneside Council, Town Hall & Civic Offices Westoe Road, South
Shields, NE33 2RL

DDI: 0191 424 6539

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Dear foi,

I can't believe you have asked if this is my forename - what on Earth have council's come to?! This warrants being sent to the press on its own. No, its an email address relating to Cheshire County Council's management's reaction to complaints made about bullying by employees on employees in the Public Rights of Way Unit, which I had witness and reported. Nice eh!

I am not required to provide a forename.

Yours sincerely,

Yabootoyou

Dear foi,

I would like to question something. Someone has left the following annotation to your FOI Act reply. I would like, therefore, to ask if this person is correct or not. Obviously, you have the name Robertson, an apprentice, the length of the hearing and ASDA as clues, so you should be easily able to find it and clarify.

"John left an annotation (18 December 2015)

This response is blatant dishonesty, my son was an employee ( apprentice ) of this Council, and we took the Council to the ET for Disability Discrimination / bullying.

A six day hearing took place at the ET, against South Tyneside Council and ASDA as my son worked on a placement at ASDA South Shields.

John Robertson "

[email address]

Yours sincerely,

Mr Lewis

Yabootoyou

foi, South Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council

1 Attachment

  • Attachment

    FOI 16.16412 Response to M Lewis Bullying in South Tyneside Council.pdf

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This email has been classified as: NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED

Dear Sir

 

Please find attached the Council’s response to your Freedom of Information
Request.

 

Regards

 

 

Information Governance

South Tyneside Council

 

show quoted sections

Dear South Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of South Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council's handling of my FOI request 'Bullying in South Tyneside Council'.

You provided the figures however a member of the public questioned these figures on the WDTK website and I therefore wrote to you on the 26th February 2016 to question and confirm this. If the member of the public is correct, his comment would call into question your figures. The member of the public refers to being party to the figures, having a son who took you to ET whereas you say no ET happened.

It is in the interest of everyone to know whether this comment is correct of not and whether the person is mistaken or whether you are in fact dishonest. It is in everyone's interest to have your confirmation on this. Your lack of response (or ignoring the issue) may be interpreted by some in a negative way for you.

I am therefore applying for a review as this person, clearly saying that your figures are suspect and clearly based on his son's stated experiences, merit a response from you. Please note that if I rest unsatisfied, I can go to the ICO. I'm sure they would be interested in cases where there are allegations of inaccurate FOI responses.

Below is the email of the 26th February.

"From: Yabootoyou

26 February 2016

Dear foi,

I would like to question something. Someone has left the following annotation to your FOI Act reply. I would like, therefore, to ask if this person is correct or not. Obviously, you have the name Robertson, an apprentice, the length of the hearing and ASDA as clues, so you should be easily able to find it and clarify.

"John left an annotation (18 December 2015)

This response is blatant dishonesty, my son was an employee ( apprentice ) of this Council, and we took the Council to the ET for Disability Discrimination / bullying.

A six day hearing took place at the ET, against South Tyneside Council and ASDA as my son worked on a placement at ASDA South Shields.

John Robertson "

[email address]

Yours sincerely,

Mr Lewis

Yabootoyou"

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/b...

Yours faithfully,

Mr Lewis
Yabootoyou

John left an annotation ()

This bullying did take place over an 18 month period.

This Council employed the services of a Barrister called Hari Menon of Parklane Plowden Chambers Newcastle Upon Tyne, who humiliated my son throughout cross examination in front of 6 ASDA female staff who were present.

This Barrister and Council also made serious unfounded allegations of fraud, to my son, during this cross examination, which was proven false, but no apology was ever forthcoming.

Regards

John Robertson Snr

Regards

John Robertson

foi, South Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council

This email has been classified as: NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED

Dear Mr Lewis

We acknowledge your request for an internal review and will now arrange
for the Head of Legal Services to review your request.

Regards

 

 

Information Governance

South Tyneside Council

 

show quoted sections

Dear foi,

As part of the review, please add the following annotation left by John Robertson and say how it relates to the figures you have provided. As an aside, it sounds a bit what like I had to go through in another county when I took my ex-employer to tribunal.

John left an annotation ( 7 April 2016)

"This bullying did take place over an 18 month period.

This Council employed the services of a Barrister called Hari Menon of Parklane Plowden Chambers Newcastle Upon Tyne, who humiliated my son throughout cross examination in front of 6 ASDA female staff who were present.

This Barrister and Council also made serious unfounded allegations of fraud, to my son, during this cross examination, which was proven false, but no apology was ever forthcoming.

Regards

John Robertson Snr

Regards

John Robertson"

Yours sincerely,

Yabootoyou

Dear foi,

Actually, looking at the dates, isn't your review out of time?

Yours sincerely,

Yabootoyou