Defusing the situation
Jane worked as a Day Care Assistant at a private rest home. She had been there for eight months, and worked happily with twenty other staff looking after elderly residents. The only downside to the job was one of her colleagues, Mary, who was abusive to the residents and bullied the staff.
Mary was particularly unpleasant to two residents: she would startle them from behind and push them around. On one occasion Jane saw Mary bend one of their thumbs back. When Jane asked Mary what she was doing, Mary said she had been given permission to do this. Jane raised the matter with the home's owner; he said he would sort it out and told Jane to keep on smiling.
A few weeks later, some of Jane's colleagues told her that they had seen Mary hit one of the residents and that they had reported the matter to the owner. Nevertheless Mary carried on working normally, and nothing seemed to happen. While Jane liked the owner of the home, she therefore thought it would be futile to raise the matter with him again. Jane knew that the local authority inspectors would be visiting the home soon and decided to mention her concerns to them.
When the inspector came Jane mentioned the matter. The inspector asked if the colleagues who had seen Mary hit the resident would give statements. Jane discussed this with them, and the colleagues contacted the inspector. When the inspector had all the evidence, he wrote to the home, and said that the matter was so serious that he was referring the incident to the police.
Mary was suspended. But Jane was suspended too, in case her presence at work hindered the investigation. Jane was told she should not talk to anyone about the suspected misconduct or about her suspension. She was very upset because she thought she had done nothing wrong. Two weeks later, she got a letter at home telling her she was to return to work the following week. The letter also said that she was to receive a written warning: she had disclosed confidential information and had damaged the reputation of the home. Jane thought this was a prelude to her being sacked, and contacted Public Concern at Work.
We discussed the matter with Jane over the telephone and assured her she had done nothing wrong. As it was clear she liked the home and did not want to lose her job, we advised her to try to defuse the situation rather than assert her legal rights or have us write a lawyer's letter. We drafted a letter for Jane to send to the owner in which Jane apologised for any inconvenience she had caused. Jane also explained that she had tried to do the right thing and hoped that in time the owner would recognise that Jane had been protecting rather than undermining the reputation of the home. She also pointed out that she herself had not called in the police and stressed how much she liked working at the home.
Jane sent the letter, and it worked. The written warning was withdrawn and the owner, residents and colleagues welcomed Jane back into the home.
This case study has been agreed with our client - the only changes are to protect the identity of those involved.