Dignity and Respect at Work New Policy 

Effective from 01.03.2022

 (Previously called the Managing Bullying and Harassment Policy)

The Dignity and Respect at Work policy is effective from 1.3.22 and requires to be used for all new bullying and/or harassment cases going forward from that date. The policy and the accompanying procedural guidance can be found under the link below.

Dignity and Respect: Policy

Dignity and Respect: Procedure and Guidance

Follow this link for full details: Policies for People (sharepoint.com)

Appealing the Outcome of the Investigation

The complainant has the right to appeal the outcome of the investigation.  The details of how to lodge an appeal are explained in their outcome letter.  Please find below a guide on Appeals and conducting the Appeal Hearing:

B&H appeal guidance

If you are Chairing the Appeal Hearing, you will need to notify the Accused employee in writing that an Appeal has been lodged. The template letter for this can be found below:

Letter advising accused of appeal

You will need to invite the Complainant to the Appeal hearing as well as the investigating officer.  The Complainant has the right to be accompanied by a trade union representative or a colleague.  Please find the template for inviting the Complainant to the Appeal Hearing below:

Invite to appeal hearing – complainant

You will also need to contact People and Organisation at this stage in order for a representative to be assigned to support you at the Appeal.

If the Complainant cannot attend the date you have proposed, they will have to let you know as soon as possible and then suggest a suitable alternative day and time within 5 days of your original meeting request. 

Should the Complainant or their representative be on annual leave, then you should allow them to take this and arrange their meeting for when they have returned to work.

Making Your Decision

Please read the guidance attached above to learn about how to arrive at your decision in detail.  There are three possible outcomes of the Appeal Hearing:

• Uphold the Appeal
• Partially Uphold the Appeal
• Reject the Appeal

Communicating Your Decision

You should reconvene the Appeal Hearing and advise the Complainant of the outcome.  This should be followed up in writing.  The template letter can be found below:

Outcome of appeal hearing – complainant

There is also a template letter for advising the Accused of the outcome of the Appeal Hearing:

Outcome of appeal hearing – accused

Click here to return to the main Bullying and Harassment page

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