Persistence pays off!
Hurray!
Being bullied for six years. Filing a complaint when there are witnesses of serious intimidation. Then getting the sack on, as has now been established in appeal, improper grounds… That is not allowed!
Even though no actual bullying incidents have been condemned, dismissal following the filing of a complaint on improper conduct (a specific case of intimidation following six years of escalating bullying/mobbing) can rightfully be seen as the climax of Workplace Bullying. What a victory now that that has been reversed. The anxiety for being punished when you stand up for yourself and file a complaint is tremendous, and rightfully so, I can testify.
The judgment of the Administrative High Court now states : “that the appellant made use of the possibility to file a complaint against a supervisor neither presents an attitude and behaviour that make her unfit for her position. This means that the employer was not authorised to dismiss appellant because of incompetence or unsuitability.” (‘neither’ as in : firing her because of so-called non-functioning, without any evidence, no improvement trajectory or warning, nor investigating replacement possibilities; is not allowed either.)
Hopefully this victory now will substantially lower that threshold to submitting a complaint for others!
At least as important is that there thus is a solution to cope with Workplace Bullying! Learning to understand the whole situation, from all sides, which will help you stand your ground, survive and, even, triumph and vanquish! This is fantastic news for the one million Dutch employees that are being bullied at work (as well as for those of different nationalities of course)!
Admittedly, it is an “endurance/perseverance!”-solution and a “loads (loads!) of money!”-solution, but it works!! Persistence pays off! And not only victims of Workplace Bullying gain from it. This also provides a proven effective way of tackling this huge problem for management, organisations and government.
“Imperfections”
Because no actual bullying incidents have been condemned, despite written proof, it remains very cumbersome, in juridical sense, to tackle actual bullying. That is definitely lamentable. What is more is that in this way no one is called to account for improper behaviour and held responsible, let alone reprimanded or punished. Bullies remain in their position (or have been promoted). Nothing is learned from the actual bullying in this way! That definitely represents a missed opportunity! It could have provided tools for targeted improvements in organisation and organisation culture. Improvements that are indispensable to tackling this huge social problem which destroys lives and costs organisations and government almost a billion Euro’s a year.
Compensation payment thus is also excluded, which is rather bitter as well. Having to go that far, in order to ultimately obtain justice, at last and at the very last moment. But the many, many costs involved in order to get there, including the costs of your own recovery, are for your own account. Also in this regard there remains quite some progress to be made. Because having to refrain from protecting yourself because it simply is far too expensive, that should not be allowed. But for a very large group this is, I am afraid, the case.
The same holds true for the fact that some three years have to go by between notice of dismissal and it being annulled again… This definitely constitutes another argument for refraining from taking action in this kind of horribly pressing stress situations. This should not be allowed either.
BUT! The fact remains that this judgment presents a giant juridical leap forward for victims of Workplace Bullying! Equally hopeful is that there exists an effective way for coping with Workplace Bullying, rising strong and triumph as well! It is almost impossible to describe what it does to you…! After all that you had to go through. Working so hard, for so long, on your recovery as well as fighting for yourself. And then getting confirmed that you handled it the right way and finally receiving recognition…
You best believe that it is probably the best thing that you could ever do for yourself! “My life is my responsibility, it is my responsibility to protect it, and I did that the right way!”
How wonderful is that?!
Maartje Rutten, The Hague, August 19th, 2019