The future of the employee is for the disciplinary process to determine, I
think. The individual has solicitors involved, and I think a disciplinary
hearing is unavoidable.
If the defence is as you say then the outcome of the hearing should reflect
it. But the complaint is heavyweight. And the only course of action for
the employer is to assemble its defence by showing the actions it has taken.
If asked to advise the employee my advice would be from their standpoint.
The employee should assemble all evidence possible in their favour and
prepare for a disciplinary process. If they are a member of a trade union
they should consult that union for help and advice. They should seek other
legal advice as a matter of importance, because a disciplinary hearing is
heavily weighted in favour of the employer. Provided all is done lawfully
it need not actually be as fair as a court of law.
-----Original Message-----
From: Simon Howarth (RGC) Interim Information Governance Manager
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 09 February 2006 10:11
To: 'Tim Trent'; [log in to unmask]
Subject: RE: [data-protection] Letter of complaint and DP
>While I feel desperately sorry for the staff member as a human being
because
>this is likely to lead to the end of their current employment I cannot
>see how they felt they had the need or the authority to send the email
>in the first place.
I wouldn't be so hasty on this. I think there has to be some serious thought
about this person's future. For example, have they been properly trained and
did they understand what they should or should not disclose? Whilst the
individual is at fault it is possible that the organisation is actually to
blame, and the best course of action may be to educate the staff member in
future rather than use them as a scape goat and dispense with their
services. After all they may quite legitimately come back and say "The
guidelines I have are these, and I interpreted them in this way, not that
way".
Of course, this presumes that they really weren't properly trained and no
malice was intended etc, etc.
Duncan is right in what he says regarding the use (or not) of policies and
procdures. My own view is that if a policy exists that is not in general
circulation with at least some attempt to ensure that staff understand why
it's there, then the policy is invalid.
The NHS have in place Information Governance Managers to ensure this sort of
thing is done properly, their role twofold - to ensure policies and
processes are in place, and also to facilitate the education of staff and
management as to their obligations. The educational role is the important
part. The sooner that organisations look to implementing this sort of role,
the better; and whilst it may be a cost, the potential benefits are
enormous.
Simon Howarth.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
All archives of messages are stored permanently and are
available to the world wide web community at large at
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/data-protection.html
If you wish to leave this list please send the command
leave data-protection to [log in to unmask]
All user commands can be found at : -
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/help/commandref.htm
Any queries about sending or receiving message please send to the list owner
[log in to unmask]
(all commands go to [log in to unmask] not the list please)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|