PeteBrant

Ah, apologies, didnt see that.

dharbige

I'm not an expert, but I think I remember reading somewhere that under the Freedom Of Information Act, you are entitled to request a copy of all emails that mention you.
If such a request were made, probably best from a lawyer under the auspices of a harrassment complaint, the company would be legally obliged to search for all such mails and forward them to you.
If they conveniently didn't include the offensive mails they would be on dodgy legal ground and would be unlikely to get very far in complaining about how the mails were originally obtained.

Stephb1986

just found this for you hope this helps

Bullying at work
You can't make a legal claim directly about bullying, but if you're forced to resign due to bullying you can make a constructive dismissal claim. If you are being picked on at work and it has made your time at work so unbearable that you cannot stay any longer, you should get legal advice before leaving your job as it's often very hard to prove that your employer's behaviour was so bad as to make you leave.
If things are so bad that you want to quit, first speak to your manager and see if you can resolve the problem with them. If the problem is with your manager, talk to their manager, your company's HR department or an employee representative (e.g. a trade union official), if you have one.
You can also sort out the problem with your employer through your company's standard grievance procedure. In many cases you will be required to have raised the issue through a grievance procedure before taking legal action. If this doesn't work, and your employer agrees to it, you could try mediation through Acas, where a specialist will try to help you and your employer sort out the problem.
If talking to your employer or mediation doesn't work, and you feel that you need to resign, you should first get legal advice to see if you'll have a case for constructive dismissal. Ideally, you should then leave immediately otherwise your employer may argue that, by staying, you've accepted the conduct or treatment. Also, avoid resigning before the actual breach of contract occurs, as your employer may then claim that there's been no dismissal.
In both racism and bullying circumstances, it's a difficult and painful process to take your employer to an employment tribunal. It's therefore in your best interests to speak informally to your employer before taking any other action. If it helps, keep a diary logging the offensive behaviour, if there is any, and if you need to talk, call the Acas helpline on 08457 47 47 47. They will be able to give you help and advice.

///\oo/\\\

Not sure about England, but in Scotland if you come across information which is not intended for you, but defames you (its Libel in England DCI) you may rely upon it in subsequent proceedings.

Provided that you obtain it by legitimate means (whether erroneoulsy or not)

A solicitor will confirm or otherwise.

What do you hope to achieve though?

If her boss is no good, and colleagues are no good, do you honestly believe a slap on their collective wrists (or more) is going to improve the situation when she gets back?

And if she goes down the tribunal route, and word gets out (and believe me, it will) most employers will be very wary of hiring her, regardless of the outcome or who's fault it is.

Sad fact.....

bootsy

i've used C.A.P and ACAS for bulling/harrasment in the work place. very good service

little-ginge

Get your wife to check her contract. Misuse of company computers and email facility may be mentioned, if it does she may be able to have them for violating email policies .

Employers are responsible for the actions of their staff, as well as staff being individually responsible for their behaviour towards their colleagues.

Def speak to CAB,ACAS and/or a solicitor for advice. Your wide doesn't need crap like this, espeically in her condition.

little-ginge

The directgov website may help..

Bullying in the workplace : Directgov - Employment

Brendan Hughes

In all companies, or just in the public sector?

weslad

get the email as suggested , keep a copy of everything , go and see a solicitor , the emails certainly amount to some sort of harrassment even if they were not meant to be seen , the courts seem to take any form of harrassment at work very seriously.......whatever happens i certainly wouldn,t leave it , make them pay then look for a new job i recon ..........

paulr

I've been involved in this sort of thing through my work. Here's my advice.

Firstly keep a record/copy of all the emails you can and everything thats said.
Secondly get a copy of the companys "conduct and capability" manual. It may be called something different but its basically lays out what employees can and cant do,the companies attitude to bullying and harrasment,the procedures for disciplinary and complaints and information about the different levels of disciplinaries from a verbal warning to the sack.
Thirdly i would say abusive emails should be against company policy in 99% of companies.
Fourthly if you are in a union get them on your side.
Finally,as long as you are up to it because it can be very stressful even though you are in the right,put in a greivance against everyone involved for bullying and harrasment.
Any decent firm will take this very seriously and launch a full investigation and from what you say should find in your favour.

Good luck.

paulr

I'd say this is a very old fashioned view. Bullying and harrasment is taken very seriously nowadays especially by large companies with images to protect.

I work for TNT and they are excellent in this area.

Wish

iTrader: (2)

You say two of the people are sleeping together ???
Do they have wives or husbands ??

Might be worth little mention, wont help your wifes cause, but will make her feel a little better !!

Suresh

Some of the best advice on the thread.

I like the idea of confronting the management with copies of what has been going on, or just resigning and claiming constructive dismissal if she doesn't feel comfortable going back.

In any case, my missus is 6 months pregnant and I'd be 'somewhat peeved' if anyone messed her around like that.

Smiler

You don't just stumble across emails. You have to go looking for them. You may think different but your Wife opened an email, or six, that she knew wasn't meant for her, and that's wrong Very wrong. OK so she didn't like the contents.

So the emails are between three people, two of them Managers, and the other person is after her job. Can we assume the person that wants her job is currently one of the other receptionists? If so does that part really matter. You will find that a lot of staff want their Managers job, and no doubt think they can do it better. Your Wife is a Manager, and to be honest, this is quite simply best ignored.

The other two Managers are sleeping together.... AND? WTF difference does that make?

DCI... TF you ain't an employment lawyer.

OP... My advice. Tell you Wife to chill.... She only has another week. When she leaves if any of the three say best of luck/take care/look after yourself then I would personally whisper to them that you heard different and heard they couldn't wait for me to go.

Keep the emails and see what happens when it comes time to return to work. Although if she made any complaint she would have to explain how she got hold of the emails, and that will need quite a bit of explaining.

DCI Gene Hunt

Blah, blah, blah a completely nothing post....... do nothing, wait, see what happens......

Glad you ain't........ well actually your post ain't saying anything so keep up the stirling work

Gutmann pug

1......It is illegal to read someones personal E-mails. Your wife could be in very hot water for doing so.

2......E-mails are generally for business use only and therefore the people using it for personal use could be in hot water.

///\oo/\\\

Agreed, to a point Paul.

For perception's sake - of course large corporates will take it seriously.

But that doesn't mean that someone with a "history" will not face difficulties when moving jobs.

To the OP

The best thing you and your wife can do is move on from it, chill, accept the fact that there are complete ******* in every walk of life and nothing you can do or say is likely to change that.

I know how you feel - we were in a very similar position a few years back (although not with a baby on the way). You want "revenge" for your wife's upset.

No point mate - move on.

Enjoy the maternity leave, look forward to the birth of a happy, healthy baby and then either she gets another job or, better still, get your own act in gear and start earning enough so that she doesn't have to work unless she wants to

And then, a few months later, expose the affair and send the emails to the MD/chairman/HR dept anonymously

And rest easy in the knowledge that someone else will be feeling the pain for a while

DCI Gene Hunt

Now that's good advice

HI SOOB

Thanks for all the points so far.
Many of them seem logical and valid and some not so much!
Difficult for others to fully comment when they dont have all the facts in front of them, however feel free to do so as you already have.

I will post up the final outcome, even if its in six moths or a years time.

There's not a problem with her returning to work as she wont have to.
She only took the job as a part time position to give her something to do while I was doing my "part time" job.
She was asked back to the company as she used to be duty manager.
This is part of the reason she receives a hard time from one of the members in question, the one who started this all off. Jealousy is part of the problem.

Anyway, I dont expect outsiders to understand.

I will take the snippets of useful information and put it to good use.

Thanks again.

DCI Gene Hunt

Are you in a cult ............

KiwiGTI

Exactly - she needs to make a subject access request as she has a right of access to any 3rd party emails that are about her.

She should be able to get a form from HR.

Smiler

OP's Wife is a week off from going on maternity. Does she really need the stress of all this? IMHO no.

Fuzz

///\oo/\\\ 's got it spot on..

Leave work, have baby, relax, enjoy.

Leave the miserable ******* to stew.
If she doesn't need to go back after the baby then don't.

Why is everyone always full of revenge and retribution..


Andy

CrisPDuk

That's not right

Most email applications I've used show you a great long list of recieved mails when you open the inbox. It's not exactly snooping to read something thats in plain sight.

RUDDY

slightly imature i know but get down there give them a good telling off and make them feel ashamed of them selfs
get your wife a new job and nitromorse there cars!

EddScott

From scanning your posts I was coming to this very conclusion.

TBH make a decision. If you want to take it further get in touch with a solicitor (or maybe CAB initially) to get their professional opinion.

OR.

If shes not going to go back. Go to the doctor. Tell him whats going on. Get him to sign her off work (distress etc) so its all above board and never set foot in the place again.

You've got a nipper on the way and (if its your first) you really don't want to be buggering around fighting with people who don't like you. Take a deep breath and enjoy parenthood - its bloody great IMO (Got a 5 year old daughter) The three of you have some awesome times together so don't let jealous people who can't think of anything better to do than snipe at fellow colleagues put a damper on things!

Good luck whatever happens and let us know how you get on.

paulr

It all depends on the person doing the investigation. I'm lucky that we have a manager who takes this very seriously,and not just for "perception".