Other This may have been a really bad idea, but **** it

So apparently waiting until you're mentally stable enough to deal with what happened to you is not reason enough for arbitrary deadlines to be reconsidered, so I did something I may regret, but I'm in a yippie kiyay ************ kind of mood

 

Oooo update. Identity of the individual sending removed of course.

 

As a Journo™, I (am forced to) know a thing or two about defamation laws in the UK. The whole Part 3 of McNae's is dedicated to it.

Assuming English law (and not Scottish or Northern Irish), truth was not an adequate defence against a charge of libel. If the statement was harmful, then you could still lose the case - even if the statement was true.

However, that changed with the introduction of the Defamation Act (2013), which offers several defences against a charge of libel: public interest (replacing the Reynolds defence), honest opinion (replacing the honest comment defence), and truth, which replaces the defence of justification.

If you reckon you can prove the truthiness of the "most damaging imputation" on the balance of probabilities, and wouldn't mind having to do so in court should the company or individuals push the matter, more power to your elbow - they can go whistle until you hear from their solicitor.

 

No such animal as "Welsh law" - there's English, Scottish, and Northern Irish. English law applies in Wales, but the legal term for "the common law legal system of England and Wales" is "English law."

Complaints should be forwarded to... err, William, the Duke of Normandy and later William I (or William the Bastard, if you prefer) circa 1066, I guess.

 

I did think i probably shouldn't confirm it was defamatory so I said "maybe". I have a whole load of evidence to back it up, which the HR director confirmed was harassment and bullying as per their own definition in their policy. They then in their decision went back on what was confirmed in the appeal hearing and said there was no evidence of harassment and bullying.

It should be noted that I know I have nothing to gain, but I also don't want the same thing to happen to anyone else, which is why I tagged a whole boat load of mental health charities in there. I lived in fear of that person and in fear of myself. Now they can fear what these organisations might bring down upon them.

Also you'd assume they'd be smart enough not to sue someone they drove to suicidal thoughts, not a great PR look, but they've been pretty frickin stupid this far. It'll be fun finding out

 

English law. Literally, that's what it's called. It's why that particular law has "Wales" in brackets at the end of it - to make it clear that it applies specifically to Wales, despite being entered into English law.

Welsh law is a thing, and your example is... err, an example of it, but it exists as an autonomous part of the English law system - not a distinct legal system in its own right. Scottish law, by contrast, is a distinct legal system.

 

Ooo I just got some fan mail. And no, not from their solicitors, but another employee. It's hand written and not signed, obviously wanting to remain anonymous so I won't post a picture of it, but it reads:

Andrew, I saw your post on linkedin and want to try and help, as clearly UK HR department won't listen to you. Som useful contacts:
Insert contact information for kuka head office
Good luck. Kuka is toxic and HR is poisonous.

So I know I'm not alone and there are serious issues afoot. Was going to wait till mental health week but think this deserves a little nudge.

 

Latest post, some fairly incendiary things in there, especially the nepotism and misuse of company funds (CEO got his wedding reception at his rugby club paid for as "corporate sponsorship" and had his brother in-law build a website for the friction welding side (there are internal departments for this) by his brother in law. Oh and he married the marketing director. But I didn't name anyone, not sure if that's enough vagueness or if that should maybe get yoiked. Probably too late now.


https://www.linkedin.com/posts/andr...I1?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_android

 

Samaritans have entered the chat....

 

Oh I got fired in December, already in another job. Dickheads just gonna get reamed now.

 

I personally have nothing to gain. I was hoping to sue them or whatever, but I had to wait till I was mentally ready, which was so long that I can take no legal action against them. But that person still works there, that joke of a HR department are still there, and I know there have been other instances like mine swept under the rug. They made people redundant while paying a fortune for coffee, wasting money left right and centre, directors treat the company like their piggy bank, the whole place is rotten to the core. Hopefully I can force some changes so that this doesn't happen to someone else.

 

No no no. I fully appreciate what you're saying and that you're making sure I don't lose myself or sanity in this, and that is very much appreciated. Took a fair bit out of me emotionally when I got told by a rather rude solicitor that I could "stop wasting his time", which then put me in revenge mode and prompted all this.

I waited a a while before I did anything and thought long and hard about whether to do anything at all, with the original post written as a private message originally. In the end decided that I would likely gain nothing from it because they would have no legal obligation and could ignore me, but then I thought about the people I'd spoken with who had similar experiences, the fact that they had gone through 3 treasury accountants in the 9 months prior to my appointment, I had to try and do something to invoke change to prevent it happening to anyone else. I will probably post again during mental health week, maybe try a couple of other places, but i've made peace with what happened to me, I feel better than I have since pre-hernia days and I'm conscious not to lose that again.

I really appreciate you, for the want of a better phrase, "reality checking" me. I don't know whether I will ever know if anything comes from this, but to not do anything at all and leave that place as it was, for someone else to suffer as I did, would forever weigh heavy on my conscious. The framework and policies are already there within the wider company, they're just ignored. A German colleague I worked closely with was horrified at how I had been treated and said that would never be tolerated at hq, and has seen people dismissed for less. Just need someone to shake them up.