12 August 2009
The States Employment Board has received a formal communication from the Health and Safety Inspectorate, concerning a complaint that certain States employees are being harassed by a States Member during the course of their duties.
The
HSI
points out that every employer has a duty to ensure the health, safety and welfare of its employees while at work. This extends to ensuring that employees are not subjected to unacceptable behaviour, like bullying, which can affect their well-being.
The Inspectorate also makes it clear that where the root cause of the problem is external to the organisation and so cannot be dealt with directly, the employer must still take appropriate action to minimise the effects on its employees.
The States Employment Board has therefore commissioned an independent investigation into this complaint. It will be carried out by Christopher Chapman, who is an Employment Tribunal Chairman in the
UK
and Deputy Chairman of the Central Arbitration Committee.
Mr Chapman has been asked to consider the extent of the alleged harassment, its effect on the welfare of staff, the means through which the alleged harassment is happening and its effect on other staff. He will then make recommendations to
SEB
on how to address any issues identified.
This work is expected to take up to two months, and costs will be kept to a minimum.
It is the States of Jersey’s practice not to discuss matters relating to individual employees, and we would like to extend that courtesy to this individual at this stage of the investigatory process. Accordingly the matter will not be discussed any further.
gov.je