I suspect he had a point, especially in the notoriously bitchy profession that nursing can be. I’ve certainly had occasions where I’ve made what I thought to be an obviously joking remark to a colleague who appeared totally unoffended by it, only to discover later that she had promptly made a complaint to the ward manager about me for saying it.
A colleague of mine, however, was recently subjected to what has to be the absolute mother of complaints-as-bullying.
The colleague, a healthcare assistant working with children, suddenly found herself suspended after it was alleged by her colleague that that she had “touched a child in a sexual way”.
What had she done? Once the investigation was over, it turned out that she had tickled his foot. The allegation, funnily enough, came from a colleague with a grudge against her.
To the credit of her managers, they quickly realised the allegation was ridiculous, and therefore quickly expedited the investigation so that she was suspended for “only” a week before the matter was resolved and she could return to work. So that was “only” a week that she had to spend sitting at home wondering if her career and her reputation were about to be destroyed, and whether she might go to prison and/or wind up on the sex offenders register.
After the matter was finally resolved, another colleague had the cheek to ask, “These investigations normally take months. Did you speed things up for her because she’s black?” To which the manager exploded, “No, I sped it up for her because the allegation was bollocks!”
So yes, I’d definitely agree that making complaints can be an act of bullying. Procedurally-sanctioned bullying, but bullying nonetheless.
Tags: employment, nursing
5 comments
December 12, 2007 at 3:07 pm
Pingback from Mental Nurse / Mental Health Legislation as a form of Social Control
December 7, 2007 at 11:26 am
Jan
Interesting, and made me think. I’ve come across bullying masquerading as complaints before, but it’s always been characterised by its serial nature - repeated acts that have ground people down over along period. Seems it doesn’t have to be that way to be bullying, then.
December 7, 2007 at 12:16 pm
Mr Ian
The difficulty with malicious complaints is that management have to respond. mostly because the malicious person is likely to take on management too for failing to act, regardless of the veracity of the complaint. I might tell you one day how exactly this kind of scenario and pseudo-disciplinary bullying by my manager cost me my job (which I got back and then suddenly he left… oops!).
It has always been the way that a false complaint has been permitted to be made to encourage more people to come forward without fear of reprisal for making a true complaint. Unfortunately, this only seemed to encourage more false complaints than true ones and a whole mess of anti-something-or-other policy being drafted that serves little more purpose than protecting the establishment from litigation.
There seems little protection for those falsely accused and repercussions for those who do make false complaint are sadly absent (mostly to protect those who complain and just cannot prove the complaint, tho morally right).
I guess in this instance, the management should have seen fit on the primae facie evidence to have let the staff continue working as they knew from the off that it was bollox and the client was clearly not in any danger. Investigations should have established the ‘behaviour of concern’ at the start and determined if suspension was necessary. Trouble is bureaucracy takes precedence over common sense.
I hope management have now recognised the clear lack of knowledge on the part of the complainant on the difference between tickling the feet and “touching in a sexual way”. I also hope management recognise the complainants lack of knowledge on how and when to lodge a complaint and how to raise concerns of clinical interactions.
Times I come across those kind of “misunderstandings” I might suggest the complainant undergo some performance appraisal and clinical supervision on a regular basis as they’re obviously needing some guidance - the benefits of close ’supportive’ mentoring and a thorough work up on their skills and knowledge are tremendous in assisting to improve his/her knowledge and skills, and perhaps a little attitude adjustment.
I trust your colleague may take some comfort from the fact that her “colleague” is now marked by management as being a trouble maker, a vindictive bastard and a bit on the stupid side.
December 8, 2007 at 11:46 am
E
To be accused of a sexual offence, particularly towards a child, is to be accused of the modern day equivalent of witchcraft. That is to say you are presumed guilty until proven innocent.
There is another similarity. Contrary to popular belief the early laws dealing with witchcraft, Malleus Maleficarum ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malleus_Maleficarum ) , were not an early form of mental health legislation, designed to help those suffering from what we would now call mental illness, but was often a convenient way of eliminating political opponents when all other methods had failed.
Today accusing someone of child abuse, racism, sexism or being “unprofessional” in some ill-defined way can serve much the same purpose and is often a good way of settling an old score. Ask any teacher whose career has been ruined by the malicious accusations of a disgruntled pupil who has, in their opinion, been “unfairly” disciplined by that same teacher.
December 8, 2007 at 2:42 pm
Mr Ian
An interesting link, thanks E.
I believe the Malleus Maleficarium has now been renamed the ICD-10.
Szasz writes extensively about the (a)morality of psychiatry and how it has been used in the past as a form of political or social control. Although I have never personally come across such deviance, the accounts I have read are something shocking.
I would suggest that, although the MM was not considered mental health legislation per se, it certainly smacks of the same ignorant pious of ‘psychiatric knowledge’.
There is a huge blanket of morality that exists almost subliminally within our legislation that seems to pass by unquestionably. I think I’ll write a post on it.