Physical assault at work

[funkyrobot]

Over the weekend, I was physically assaulted by a female colleague at work. I've been called into work early to discuss the situation as I made a complaint. Anyone know what this will entail?

What sort of punishment will she receive and is there anything specific I need to be aware of? Anything I can ask about?

The assault was witnessed by a member of the management team. It came completely out of nowhere. There was no banter beforehand, no comments, nothing that could be taken as offensive by my colleague. She basically walked up to me and assaulted me in-front of customers.

I have been asked if I'm ok working with my colleague. I said yes. To be fair, I can't not work with her as we have a small team.

In retaliation, I did nothing. Just moved away from her and spoke to the manager who witnessed it straight after.

Thanks all.

[funkyrobot]

Is it really worth reporting to the police?

It did cross my mind, but I thought it wasn't enough for that.

I received a hard slap across the face. No lasting injuries, just a red face for the remainder of the shift.

[funkyrobot]

mickyh7 said:

She will get fired.
Gross misconduct.
Thats the end of it.
You may have to watch your back for retaliation/damage to your car from her partner outside of work.
Very rare to be Smoke without Fire ?
Can of worms.

Nothing on my part that could cause this. She is a very unhappy woman at work. To be fair, I'm one of the few that talks to her as others have been put off by her behaviour.

I'm working with her later. She hasn't gone anywhere yet.

She has already fallen out with management and done other things that would have resulted in punishment if it were anyone else. Yet she has been allowed to continue fine.

She doesn't have a partner.

[funkyrobot]

CAPP0 said:

That's it? No pre-amble? No history? No provocation? No reason?

I'd suggest she probably needs mental health intervention if she randomly walks up to someone for no reason whatsoever and clouts them.

Nope. See my post above. I'm one of the few that talks to her as she has annoyed everyone else.

She said afterwards she didn't know why she did it.

She has mental health issues.

Oh yes, she had been denied a break by our manager, but that was nothing to do with me. Maybe just thought she would take it out on the nearest object that happened to be me.

Edited by funkyrobot on Monday 27th January 14:05

[funkyrobot]

superlightr said:

did she apologise?

She cant go around slapping people in the face as a normal behaviour and be compatible with work.

Mental illness does not mean its ok for you to take it either. what next stick a knife into someone for no reason?

No apology that I can recall. She just said she didn't know why she did it.

Thing is, if she does this, what is to stop her escalating the next event.

As mentioned above, she has got away with so much. I'm expecting to be told off later for being in the way of her hand, or hurting her hand.

Edited by funkyrobot on Monday 27th January 14:10

[funkyrobot]

croissant said:

funkyrobot said:

Nope. See my post above. I'm one of the few that talks to her as she has annoyed everyone else.

She said afterwards she didn't know why she did it.

She has mental health issues.

Oh yes, she had been denied a break by our manager, but that was nothing to do with me. Maybe just thought she would take it out on the nearest object that happened to be me.

Edited by funkyrobot on Monday 27th January 14:05

Seriously, nothing at all that he caused her to attack you? I'm really struggling to believe that, but if that really is the case she needs to be removed immediately from the workplace.

No. Nothing happened.

Before that point we talked as normal at the beginning of the shift.

She was denied a break by our manager. That is what seems to have sparked it as she hit me straight after that.

Oh yes, she had been annoyed by a colleague of ours earlier in the evening. However, that was nothing to do with me and I really don't know why she did it. If she was annoyed, she shouldn't have taken it out on me.

On reflection, she was probably annoyed because of others. But, it was absolutely nothing to do with me. Hence why the whole thing has dumbfounded me.

Edited by funkyrobot on Monday 27th January 14:15

[funkyrobot]

the cueball said:

I'll bet £1 you get the blame for something, somehow... and she'll get away with hitting you.

Probably.

[funkyrobot]

coldel said:

'Mental Health' is a broad brush. Is she depressed or does she have learning difficulties for instance?

Do what you have done, report it, its not your place to decide what the business do next but they are responsible for your safety and wellbeing at work and it shouldn't just be waved away - as others have said if a guy slapped a much smaller woman the perception would be different but the process should be the same.

She verbally abused a female colleague and was spoken to about that a few days before my incident with her. This is just another example of her behaviour.

I think she suffers from depression and anxiety issues. I have general anxiety disorder so have something in common with her in that sense. I don't act the way she does though.

It's looking a lot like management have no control over her and it's probably wise to question why she is allowed to continue to behave this way. Although I cannot specifically comment on the verbal abuse incident as that wasn't directed at me. I just witnessed it.

[funkyrobot]

vaud said:

https://www.gov.uk/dismiss-staff/dismissals-on-cap...

Gross misconduct.

Given the witness, should be easy for management to process.

Thanks. Will see what happens later.

Unless we have to wait for a process to happen, I doubt they will go down this route as they have already asked me if I'm ok to work with her tonight.

[funkyrobot]

ReallyReallyGood said:

funkyrobot said:

Probably.

Well if that does happen IANAL but shirely you must have a pretty strong case against your employer for not upholding their duty of care to you. If you don't like your job that is.

Thanks.

I will question this because this is an escalation of a long line of bad behaviour. It's been verbal abuse in the past, but it got physical the other day.

In relation to the job, I am looking for something else.

[funkyrobot]

V8mate said:

funkyrobot said:

Thanks. Will see what happens later.

Unless we have to wait for a process to happen, I doubt they will go down this route as they have already asked me if I'm ok to work with her.

I think you should call them now and say that, on reflection, you're not ok working with her. Her unpredictability means that you can no longer be sure that she is a safe colleague.

I can't do that. If I don't go in, I don't get paid. I also had to finish the shift with her on Saturday anyway. I did continue working with her straight after the incident.

[funkyrobot]

markiii said:

you can, tbh they should have suspended her pending investigation so rather than you not going in, she shouldn't be

To be fair, the management at my place of work are awfully incompetent. If I turn up at work tonight and she is there, that's another example of just how bad they are.

I'll go to the meeting later and see what they say.

[funkyrobot]

garyhun said:

V8mate said:

funkyrobot said:

Thanks. Will see what happens later.

Unless we have to wait for a process to happen, I doubt they will go down this route as they have already asked me if I'm ok to work with her.

I think you should call them now and say that, on reflection, you're not ok working with her. Her unpredictability means that you can no longer be sure that she is a safe colleague.

That’s exactly what I would do too. How can anyone be OK working with someone who may hit them out of the blue for no reason. Madness!

We've had to work with her for a while now being like this. The hitting is new, but the verbal assaults have been happening for some months. She even got into a full-blown shouting match with our manager a month ago. Nothing seems to have come from that.

We were recently told that customers avoid her too now. The word 'teflon' springs to mind.

I won't be near her tonight at work anyway. She will be in a separate part of the building.

[funkyrobot]

vaud said:

They should have suspended her pending the investigation.

You could declare that you no longer feel safe and suggest they take professional advice.

You could also report to the police and ask the company where they would like the crime number sending to.

You have a right to be safe and feel safe at work. They have a duty of care.

You could call ACAS for free advice. They can be helpful.

IANAL.

Thanks.

I'm just on the phone with ACAS now.

[funkyrobot]

rlg43p said:

If they don't do anything about her behaviour and refuse to pay you for not going in to work on a shift when you would need to work alongside her I suspect they are on VERY dodgy legal ground. You would be being treated very unfairly.

I'd be inclined to take proper legal advice on this matter.

If you decided to walk out I could see this constituting constructive dismissal - but you SHOULD take properly qualified advice.

Thanks.

In a phone queue for ACAS advice now.

[funkyrobot]

Thanks for the advice all.

I have had the meeting with work and they have told me not to go in tonight, but will pay me.

They are launching the investigation tomorrow with the woman who slapped me. They asked me what I want from it. I said I don't want it to happen to me or anyone else again, I don't want any further fallout from this and I want her to get the help she needs to sort out whatever drove her to do it. I didn't say I want her sacked as that just doesn't feel right.

My manager said she can't say what HR will do about this. So, we will see what happens. She did say it is unacceptable though and shouldn't have happened.

The perpetrator will know tomorrow and I'm not in work with her for a few days.

I called ACAS and they just said to let the company know what I want from this. If I do wish to report this as assault to the police, I can do so.

[funkyrobot]

CAPP0 said:

The bit about "are you ok to work with her tonight" - wtf is wrong with your management? She should absolutely, without question, have been suspended for this immediately. Whether with pay or not isn't your issue, it's management's, but she should NOT be in that workplace until this is resolved.

This is not meant to be a "standard PH" type response but you absolutely have to stand up to mgmt and say No, this isn't happening, get her away from here. Otherwise what next; false accusations against you, worse assaults, a weapon. What if she fires a powder extinguisher in your face tonight?

Genuine Q - does she have something over the management? Is there a relationship going on which should't be? Because the mgmt behaviour is inexcusable.

If for whatever reason you're not able to stand up to mgmt then I would seriously suggest either a call to ACAS, or yes, the police for the assault bit.

ACAS Contact details

It's out of my hands now.

Let's see how their HR process holds up.

I will be kept updated, apparently.

[funkyrobot]

V8mate said:

Sense prevails. Any advice other than 'talk to your employer first' is so wrongheaded.

Surprised that they've given you the shift off. Your colleague should be the one suspended pending the investigation.

Every cloud, I guess... you get paid to stay at home!

Yep.

Maybe I'm too nice. Maybe I should have said to my manager that she needs to be gone. Thing is, she (the woman who hit me) has issues and she needs some help.

[funkyrobot]

21TonyK said:

At the first whiff of your employer trying to bury the issue I would log it with the Police. In fact I would probably do that now just to cover yourself. I'd also start getting everything recorded via email or in writing.

Yes. I think I will get it logged.

Everything done so far is in writing as I wrote out my statement for them.

[funkyrobot]

deckster said:

Hang on. Why is it up to you to decide what happens to her? That's ridiculous.

All you want is to work in an environment where you're not going to be assaulted. The rest is up to your employer.

As I said above, let's see what happens. I will be telling them at my next meeting that upon reflection, I doubt I can work with her anymore. Just too risky.

I don't get to decide what happens to her, HR do. They just wanted to know what my thoughts were on what happens.