Details of upheld bullying grievances across the Government

Summary

The request sought details on preventive actions and the number of upheld bullying grievances in the Isle of Man Government between January 2021 and May 2025. The Cabinet Office disclosed that only four cases were recorded as 'upheld' in their central HR system, noting that not all data is held centrally and some cases are resolved informally.

Key Facts

• The Cabinet Office does not centrally collate all bullying grievance information, as some records may be held locally by individual managers.
• Cases resolved informally or via mediation prior to a hearing are not recorded as 'upheld' or 'unfounded'.
• The Office of Human Resources (OHR) recorded only 4 cases with an 'Upheld' outcome between January 2021 and May 2025.
• Remedial actions for the four upheld cases included disciplinary action, training, and mentoring.
• The total number of cases categorized as 'Fairness at Work' in the OHR records for the period was 197.

Data Disclosed

• January 2021
• May 2025
• 4
• 197
• 3
• 15
• 11
• 21
• 9
• 6
• 96
• 26
• 2025-05-21
• 2025-06-20
• 4680133

Original Request

what preventive actions were taken as a result of upheld bullying grievances, in particular when a manager has bullied an employee. how many bullying grievances have been upheld, between January 2021 to May 2025.

Data Tables (1)

Full Response Text

Government Office Douglas Isle of Man IM1 3PN Telephone: (+44) 01624 686244
Website: www.gov.im/co

Our ref: 4680133 20 June 2025

Dear ###

We write further to your request, received 21 May 2025, which states:

"what preventive actions were taken as a result of upheld bullying grievances, in particular when a manager has bullied an employee.
how many bullying grievances have been upheld, between January 2021 to May 2025."

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Cabinet Office does not hold some of the information that you have requested. Not all information is collated and recorded centrally by Office of Human Resources, Cabinet Office and it could be held elsewhere in the organisation. It could be held locally by individual managers. You may wish to contact other individual Departments, Boards and Office separately, or submit a freedom of information request directly: https://www.gov.im/about-the-government/freedom-ofinformation/make-a-freedom- of-information-request/.

The Office of Human Resources (OHR) holds information on casework undertaken by the HR Advisory Teams. This includes records of Fairness at Work related enquires and anonymous complaints which would not have an outcome as such. It may also not be a complete record of all cases which could be classified as Fairness at Work complaints, only those which the Advisory Team have recorded as such. Cases including a Fairness at Work element may be dealt with under a different category, for example discipline, capability or grievance.

Where a matter is resolved prior to a hearing, by mediation for example, this would not result in a case being either upheld, either wholly or in part, or there being a finding of no case to answer.

In accordance with the Fairness at Work procedures, it will always be OHR’s aim to resolve matters informally, where possible however, complaints resolved informally may be less likely to have come to the HR Advisory Teams attention. It should also be noted that more than one action may have been taken to resolve a complaint however the casework spreadsheet only enables one outcome to be recorded.

The OHR records show the following outcomes for cases categorised as Fairness at Work in the time period 1 January 2021 to 31 May 2025.

Outcome Count Appeal Unsuccessful 3 Facilitated Meeting/Mediation/Informal/Early Action 15 No Case to Answer 11 No Further Action 21 Other 9 One of employees left/moved 6 Unfounded 6 Field left blank 96 Upheld 4 In progress 26 Total 197

For the four cases where the outcome was recorded as ‘upheld’ remedial action included disciplinary action, training and mentoring.

Please quote the reference number 4680133 in any future communications.

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I will now close your request as of this date.

Yours sincerely