Bullied Nursing Home Personal Care Attendant

by Mable
(Melbourne)

I have recently been a target of workplace 'mobbing'. This isn't the first time I've experienced bullying and I'm at the end of the road.

I'm a Personal Care Attendant in a nursing home and on the 2/6/10 was called into my managers office and accused of vague anti social behaviors and my managers claimed an anonymous letter was submitted stating I'd verbally threatened patients with physical violence. This was the accumulation of allegations against me over the past few months each one becoming more severe. It's the worst they could accuse me of. My grandmother was murdered 16 years ago and it's taken me years to come to terms with it. I don't know if anyone at work found out about it but they couldn't have accused me of a more terrible crime. I loved my patients with all my heart.

I left the meeting straight away. I was afraid I'd have a panic attack plus I didn't think it was a good idea to stay without an independent witness. I just lost my parents within 2 weeks of each other and since then the mobbing began. Actually I think it was because I disagreed with a managers derogatory work assessment of me at about the same time. I attend an interview at a job agency on the 29/5/10. Unbeknown to me the agency was run by a good friend of the manager. Her mother was also in the nursing home I worked. Four days later I was called into the office and the false allegations were made. I contacted the union and they told me because I was a casual employee I had no rights to fight the allegations or my co workers behavior. I put my heart and soul into my job and feel bereft without it but I'm too scared to work in another nursing home because that place was actually one of the better ones in the industry.

I'm very lost, depressed and alone. I have had to let my ex partner look after my children because I don't want them to see me so depressed. I wrote a letter to the owner of the nursing home but haven't sent it yet and don't know if I will. I know he won't care but I don't know what else to do as I don't appear to have any legal or union recourse.

This shattered me more than my parents death. It showed how 2 faced, mean and cruel people can be. I don't trust anyone anymore least of all myself because no matter how hardworking, careful and polite I was I was still targeted. I've read all the mobbing/bullying literature and identified with a lot of it but it's a small comfort that traits that are my essential personality will always land me in trouble, ie integrity, cheerfulness, hardworking.