A former News of the World reporter has won more than three quarters of a million pounds in damages from his former employer.

Sports reporter Matt Driscoll was sacked in April 2007 while on long-term sick leave for stress-related depression, having suffered from ‘a consistent pattern of bullying behaviour’ according to the tribunal.

The bullying was led by then News of the World editor and the tribunal noted that senior managers were also involved.   Driscoll was awarded almost £792,736 for unfair dismissal and disability discrimination.

The News of the World had said that he was fired because of poor punctuality and inaccuracies in his reporting.

The News of the World, which defended the case, said the main reason for Driscoll’s dismissal was his capability or qualifications for performing his work.

Before going on sick leave in July 2006, Driscoll was subject to disciplinary proceedings and issued with formal warnings starting from November 2005 over alleged inaccuracies in his reporting and for failing to turn up punctually on one occasion.

The tribunal found that was merely a pretext and the real reason for the disciplinary proceedings was simply that Coulson wanted to “get shot” of him. In July 2006, Coulson wrote in an email to the deputy editor, Neil Wallis, that he wanted Driscoll “out as quickly and cheaply as possible”.

The judgment singled out Coulson for making “bullying” remarks in an email to Driscoll after the first formal warning, letting him know that he thought he should have been sacked.

According to the tribunal, the bullying continued after Driscoll went on sick leave. Senior management at the paper sent Driscoll a barrage of emails, phone calls and visited his home to demand that he see a company doctor, despite Driscoll’s GP advising him to “distance” himself from the source of his stress.

Can you afford to pay this kind of award?

How do I prevent bullying in my workplace?

It is important that managers are trained properly on how to manage people.  This is a service we offer, and ensures managers are aware of their responsibilities and also provides a basic knowledge of employment legislation.

You should have clear policies and procedures in place on how staff can raise any concerns.  Your employees should have visibility of these, and you need to take appropriate steps to ensure these are communicated.  If you don’t, Employ Easily can help develop one for your organisation.  The policy should clearly state what type of behaviour is unacceptable, and provide advice on how an employee should raise such an issue.

Remember, bullying is normally persistent behaviour which takes the form of offensive, intimidating, abusive, or malicious behaviour.  It’s important to have steps in place to deal with this type of conduct, and employees should feel they can raise an issue in good faith and have this dealt with.

What if the issue is about a manager?

Your policy should clearly state how to handle this.  We recommend that if an employee is being bullied by their manager, that in the first instance they ask the manager to stop.  In most cases, the manager might not know that their actions are having a detrimental impact on the employee.  If this doesn’t work, or the employee doesn’t feel comfortable raising with their manager, they should either raise with another manager or with their manager’s immediate boss.

It’s preferrable to have steps in place to deal with these issues informally – if you can demonstrate this and act on complaints raised it will minimise any potential claim at an employment tribunal.

What if the manager does nothing?

You not only need to demonstrate you have effective procedures in place, but you must be able to provide evidence on what steps you have taken to make employees and managers aware of these procedures.

Although you are responsible, there will always be instances where employees make inappriorate comments which you cannot control.  How you deal with this and how you demonstrate what steps you have in place for dealing with these issues is what a tribunal will look at.

If an employee has went to a manager with a bullying claim and does nothing, then you are potentially liable for this.  Educating your managers is key here.

What if we dismiss someone without knowing they were bullied?

If you have appropriate policies and procedures in place, and actively communicate these, employees will know what is and not acceptable.  They will also feel confident in raising an issue, reducing the chances of this happening.

We offer advice on how to conduct disciplinary hearings as part of our service, and if you do this following a fair process there should be an opprtunity for an employee to raise concerns about their treatment.  This would need to be fully invesitgated before progressing the disciplinary hearing and reduces the risk.

Still unsure?

If you require further HR Advice, explanation or support in this or any other HR related area, please call us today on 0800 612 4772 or get a Free Quote for HR Services via our website.