The
bullying - how you were treated, how you reacted, what
direct action you took and whether it was effective to
stop the bullying.
Internal
Action - experiences of your employers grievance process,
what happened, the outcome and whether it was satisfactory
including whether sanctions were taken against the bully,
the issue of witnesses being prepared to come forward,
the role and support by HR, management and unions and
any appeal that you submitted.
What
happened next - experiences of going back to the same
job or employer after a period of sick leave due to workplace
bullying, having to leave your job including leaving
voluntarily, unfair dismissal, constructive dismissal,
terminated through frustration of contract or ill-health
retirement.
Moving
on - experiences of looking and finding a new job after
suffering workplace bullying that may have included sick
leave and taking action, internal or legally, the issue
of gaps in your cv, employer references, explaining and/or
disclosing illnesses and/or sick leave to new employers,
being unable to continue in your old career and possible
changes of direction in your career.
Health
At
work - this may include how you coped with working with
depression or other health issues, when and what the
reaction was from your employer if you disclosed it.
The
system - this may include how you were treated by medical
professionals, complaints against them, waiting lists,
available of suitable treatment.
Diagnosis
- this may include being unable to come forward to ask
for help and later consequences of that, the psychological
issues of being diagnosed with a 'mental' health problem
and the stigma attached to it, getting a wrong diagnosis,
unsuitable treatment due to the wrong diagnosis and any
future knock on effect on litigation that this may have
had.
Medication
- this may include the benefits, side effects and withdrawal
symptoms of medication including alternatives, the support
of medical professionals in finding the right medication
for you or how you dealt with Treatment Resistant Depression.
Other
treatment - this may include psychological interventions
such as psychotherapy, CBT or counselling, trauma related
treatments such as EMDR or TIR and complementary therapy
such as acupuncture, aromatherapy or reflexology.
Relationships
- you may wish to let others know what the impact of
the bullying and fighting your case has had on your relationships
and how you and your partner, family or friends coped.
Support
Support
group etc - this may include being a support group organiser,
volunteer, forum moderator or buddy and what you got
out of it, belonging to a support group, forum or buddy
type system and how it helped.
People
involved, support received - the people involved in bullying
experiences is sometimes extensive and many can offer
support. This section may include the experience of being
supported by a witness, manager, union rep, HR person,
solicitor or barrister.
People
involved, support given - the experiences section may
also include those people above sharing their experience
of giving support.
Relationships
- this may include the experience of support from a partner,
family or friends or from their point of view of them
giving support. (There is also a dedicated family and
friends discussion area on jfo:i for use by friends/family
of the Online Target Support Group members)
Litigation
The
employer - this may include their response to your legal
claim, how they treated you, whether you were further
victimised because of it, how this affected your employment
and or working environment if you were still at work,
whether this had any impact on any reference.
Employment
Tribunals - this may cover (UK) unfair or constructive
dismissal, discriminatory issues such as race, sex or
disability or whistleblowing. You may also wish to lodge
details with InTouch about any specific tribunal panel/location
that you feel made a flawed decision.
Civil
cases - this may cover (UK) personal injury, breach of
contract or Health & Safety legislation.
Criminal
cases - although rare, this may include (UK) prosecutions
under the Protection from Harassment Act and Health & Safety
legislation.
Outcomes
- this may include compromise agreements, gagging/confidentiality
clauses and how you dealt with them, decisions that were
flawed and what you did, such as appeals.
When
things go wrong - How you were treated by union reps,
unions, solicitors, barristers, and official complaints
against any of the aforementioned.
Financial
At
work - this may include sick pay and exceptions made
by the company to their policy, holiday pay, employer
salary replacement schemes.
Off
sick and not paid - this may include applying for and
difficulties getting benefits such as (UK) incapacity
benefit, industrial injury, income support, free health
care (HC1), mortgage insurance schemes.
Legal
- this may include how you funded your case, insurance
policies to cover legal fees, no win no fee deals, alternatives
to paying disbursements, free legal representation and
getting access to pro bono lawyers and finally the financial
outcome and impact of any legal action, win or lose.
Leaving
your job/moving on - this may include termination payments,
compromise agreements, funding retraining.
Campaigning
Individual
action - this may include your experience of supporting
an issue individually, such as the Dignity at Work Bill
or writing to your MP or elected official and their response
and interest in workplace bullying. For interest, there
are some submissions available on jfo that were presented
in the House of Lords for the Dignity at Work Bill and
others are welcome.
Collective
action - this may be through the actions of a support
group or an umbrella organisation such as the Support
Group Network.
In
the media - there are usually lots of media opportunities
and whilst there is a place on jfo:i for them to be posted,
it is also important for others to learn from the experience
of what happened, how you were treated and whether the
outcome was what you expected.
Medical
and other research - there is quite often research taking
place into depression, ME, trauma etc and there is a
place on jfo:i for them to be posted. It is important
that targets get involved in this so that the link between
bullying and illnesses become more well known. It would
help for anyone interested to learn from the experience
of others about what happened, how you were treated and
whether the outcome was what you expected.
