Harrassment of clerk

Question

We have a Parish councillor who continually harasses the clerk out of hours, at home and by email about pretty well all the clerk does.

The clerk is respectful,knowledgable and more than capable but this individual said to the Chairman; " I can question the clerk  because I am a parish councillor"!

We have lost three clerks in less than 3 years because of this dreadful man and fear we are going to lose this one.

Can a councillor do this without the knowledge of other councillors?

PS: we know about monitoring officers and the complaint procedure and have put in a vexation policy + Equality and Diversity rule but he just ignores it

Answer 1

I understand that the SSLC are concerned at the increase in bullying of Clerks.

Councils have a duty of care towards all their workers and liability under common law arising out of the Employment Rights Act 1996 and the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. If an employer fails to act reasonably with regard to this duty of care by allowing bullying or harassment to continue unchallenged an employee may decide to resign and claim ‘constructive dismissal’ at an Employment Tribunal.

This could get expensive - see "Sturry Parish Council clerk wins £80,000 after being bullied by new Lord Mayor of Canterbury Heather Taylor"

The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 and Protection from Harassment Act 1997 created a criminal offence of harassment with a fine and/or prison sentence as a penalty and a right to damages for the victim. A harasser may be personally liable to pay damages if a victim complains to an Employment Tribunal on the grounds of discrimination.

What support is being given to the Clerk by the Chairman?

Has the Clerk raised a Grievance with the HR committee?

If so what was the outcome?

A referral to the Police under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 may also be appropriate in the more extreme cases. 

Comments

that is very interesting, thank you. I asked our county council regarding employment and was told the county does not (even though his pay comes via precept {from Northumberland County) to the parish council) come under the umbrella of them but the parish council. Frankly they were not really interested. The new chair is supportive as are the PC's but this man is fiendish as he gets support and has the kneck of a bull.  . We have no HR; our village is less than 300 residents due to holiday homes and has never been needed unti lthese "sort" of people come in. I was bullied off by this person, had my complaint ready  but didn't put it forward as all the decent people (as well as my wife ) would have been complicit in my opinion and caused all sorts of problems. He really is a dreadful man and we have never had this in the history of our PC which I can trace back to my family from the beginning.  Standards really have dropped but there doesn't seem to be anything one can do. The monitoring officer is OK but toothless in the face of this arrogant and disrespectful man.
Thanks

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Good grief - sounds terrible.

I am not surprised that County were not much help. It is the PC who are the employer of the Clerk and with no HR (or equivalent) committee, then the duty rests squarely with the whole council.

Are you a members of your county ALC? The CEO of our ALC says that much of his time is spent resolving these sort of issues, so it might be worth talking to them.

I hope someone is making a record of all these complaints/issues, as evidence will be required if it ever comes to a legal fight.

I agree that the monitoring officer is effectively toothless, as they all are. The pendulum on disciplinary issues has swung too far the other way, although changes are in the wind - but don't hold your breath.

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They have been in touch with NALC but they can only provide advice which this chap just ignores. We've just found out he has crept onto the  Standards Committee; talk about Pot kettle black.  How do you deal with someone whose actions are so unashamed? County Council know all about him but do nothing as so far no one has put a "written" complaint in so not to compromise the decent parish councillors .
Is there any hope??

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It is amazingly difficult to dislodge a sitting councillor. I think government attitude is that the electorate have a chance to choose another candidate at an election. Of course that means there has to be sufficient candidates standing in order to force an real voting election. It's difficult enough to get people to stand as it is, so it's not always a real solution. Local papers can help, but most local papers don't even bother covering council meetings anymore.

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Maybe of interest or maybe not but this individual criticised  the clerk at the last meeting regarding his accounting and he just wouldn't let the man alone until another councillor said, "enough is enough". He walked out and was told in no uncertain terms that he did not have the authority to challenge in such a horrible and disrespectful manner. I wouldn't mind the internal auditor had just completed and passed the accounts.  The person in question has now resigned and put his house on hte market. It ahs been horrendous what we have had to put up with with this dreadful person. Hopefully now our PC will get back to waht it has always done best and that is to serve the public. Thanks for your support.