clerk complaints

Question

we have a clerk who hates been asked to provide evidence she has made a complaint against a councillor stating abuse  no email are abusive  so to deal with such emplyment matters doe the council get a HR firm / lawyer or is it the counciorsls job to defend them selves  as councillors  it seem to me its the councils reponsibility rather than one individual ie councillor to pay costs of this

Answer 1

First things first, the Clerk has a contract of employment and the council should have a disciplinary policy. These documents establish a framework for dealing with employment issues without external support. If you are unable to agree a resolution, contact your insurers, as they will normally provide free HR support, but you must address the matter internally first.

Comments

The Clerk's grievance should be handled under your grievance policy, of course.

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thank you a star

Answer 2

The details you supply are a bit sketchy for example is the complaint in writing detailing exactly what the problem is ?
Has the Councillor seen or been made aware of the complaint?
Also reading between the lines it appears to be common knowledge what’s happened
How  does your complaint procedure say it should be dealt with ?

It seems you feel the complaint is unjustified if so it’s an employment issue between the Council as the employer and the Clerk as the employee so it’s nothing to do with the individual Councillor

Personally If I were the Councillor and I felt the complaint was unjustified I’d self report it to the Monitoring Officer as that’s exactly what I did in similar circumstances

Comments

this sound like very good advice i will do just this

Answer 3

As a result of the Ledbury case, complaints against councillors cannot be dealt with by the council, it must go to the Monitoring Officer.