From the Get West London website LINK Reporter: Hannah Bewley
A FORMER Brent Council manager claims she was discriminated against
by superiors and “bullied and undermined” despite her years of
experience.
Rosemarie Clarke, 50, resigned in April last year after four years as head of learning and development, and launched an employment tribunal claim against the authority and Cara Davani, now HR director but previously on a temporary contract, for constructive dismissal, racial discrimination, sexual discrimination, victimisation, bullying and harassment and psychiatric injury.
Lawyers for the Christchurch Avenue, Harrow, inhabitent wrote in her claim: “Ms Davani’s conduct made her feel like her managerial prerogative was being continuously and seriously undermined and that her professional integrity was also being undermined.
“The claimant asserts that the respondent treated black, female managers less favourably due to their race.”
Ms Clarke cited several incidents as part of her case, for which hearings began on Monday last week at Watford Employment Tribunal.
Her claim said she and Ms Davani had a disagreement about the termination of a contract of a temporary worker, Ms M, at the council.
Ms Davani instructed Ms Clarke to tell the Ms M her contract had ended while Ms M was on holiday because there was an issue with her performance.
Ms Clarke attempted to persuade her boss to allow a few days for Ms M to hand over to someone else after her vacation.
The claimant told the tribunal Ms Devani said: “She Ms M didn’t say hello to me in the corridor the other week, which I thought was unprofessional.”
Ms Clarke added: “It was obvious Ms Davani didn’t like [Ms M].”
Ms Clarke’s claim form said: “Despite the claimant being of the view that Ms M had done nothing wrong, Cara Davani was insistent she had to go.”
Ms Clarke also said she received an e-mail from Ms Devani instructing her to contact learning and development expert Dr Yvonne Foster, who had previously worked with Ms Davani.
Ms Clarke said in reply she had adequate staffing levels and claims Ms Davani told her she should “find her [Dr Foster] something to do”.
Ms Clarke said: “I was being pressured to contact Yvonne Foster and offer her a job in my team.”
The claimant said she “wasn’t happy” about being shouted at by Ms Davani during an Investors in People accreditation meeting.
Ms Clarke resigned after being suspended in February over allegations of gross misconduct for alleged failure to follow reasonable management instructions.
Rosemarie Clarke, 50, resigned in April last year after four years as head of learning and development, and launched an employment tribunal claim against the authority and Cara Davani, now HR director but previously on a temporary contract, for constructive dismissal, racial discrimination, sexual discrimination, victimisation, bullying and harassment and psychiatric injury.
Lawyers for the Christchurch Avenue, Harrow, inhabitent wrote in her claim: “Ms Davani’s conduct made her feel like her managerial prerogative was being continuously and seriously undermined and that her professional integrity was also being undermined.
“The claimant asserts that the respondent treated black, female managers less favourably due to their race.”
Ms Clarke cited several incidents as part of her case, for which hearings began on Monday last week at Watford Employment Tribunal.
Her claim said she and Ms Davani had a disagreement about the termination of a contract of a temporary worker, Ms M, at the council.
Ms Davani instructed Ms Clarke to tell the Ms M her contract had ended while Ms M was on holiday because there was an issue with her performance.
Ms Clarke attempted to persuade her boss to allow a few days for Ms M to hand over to someone else after her vacation.
The claimant told the tribunal Ms Devani said: “She Ms M didn’t say hello to me in the corridor the other week, which I thought was unprofessional.”
Ms Clarke added: “It was obvious Ms Davani didn’t like [Ms M].”
Ms Clarke’s claim form said: “Despite the claimant being of the view that Ms M had done nothing wrong, Cara Davani was insistent she had to go.”
Ms Clarke also said she received an e-mail from Ms Devani instructing her to contact learning and development expert Dr Yvonne Foster, who had previously worked with Ms Davani.
Ms Clarke said in reply she had adequate staffing levels and claims Ms Davani told her she should “find her [Dr Foster] something to do”.
Ms Clarke said: “I was being pressured to contact Yvonne Foster and offer her a job in my team.”
The claimant said she “wasn’t happy” about being shouted at by Ms Davani during an Investors in People accreditation meeting.
Ms Clarke resigned after being suspended in February over allegations of gross misconduct for alleged failure to follow reasonable management instructions.
This Ms Davani is the gift that keeps on giving! Shouting at underlings during an Investors in People meeting .Priceless! (And well done Hannah Bewley for getting on the case).
ReplyDeleteOn a more serious note, a much more serious note, It might be worth examining the interconnected machinations of this little coterie of spivs and chancers in relation to the law on conspiracy.
The gift that keeps giving....it's like Christmas, Eid, Diwali and Hanukkah rolled into one!
DeleteIt's been a long time coming...........
Thank you Hannah. The more people who read about it the better. We need the exposure.
ReplyDeleteMore cronyism here with Davani ordering the appointment of her pal Dr Foster.
ReplyDeleteStill silence from Mr Butt and his pals
This is totally unacceptable.
ReplyDeleteI can believe now outside people have been hired into Brent Council.
I thought the whole idea of restructuring was to Down Size and Not as it Seems, get rid of staff and replace them with ones selected by Ms Davani ?
How horrible it must be for many long term staff to find Ms Davani has simply replaced a post with someone else and simply changed the job title and description.
For a good while I have thought posts have been switched around far too frequently.
This is not the type of restructure I had in mind when Brent announced a restructure.
If you ask me I would not rate Ms Cara Davani highly if she can only manage people by firing ones and then only selecting those she knows she can work with.
ReplyDeleteThis to me seems very weak management.
A good HR manager would be able to understand the motivational factors behind each employee and adjust how Ms Cara Davani would interact with each employee. It is Ms Davani who should be adjusting, as every person works different. Firing everyone who does not fit her preferred work profile is very poor management
It would be very interesting to read the reports provided by the Top firms as now I think they have been overpaid for their advice.
You think people like this worry about things like that? Such concerns are for 'the little people'. After an MBA and a few years selective mutt-spawning, one's obvious entitlement takes over from any need to be any good at anything.
DeleteExactly anon 15 May 2014 21:35. People like her could not give a toss. An HR Director without an ounce of humanity.
DeleteCan Labour survive the Cara Davani/Christine Gilbert conspiracy? Butt needs to distance himself very very quickly. Does he have the cojones to take the necessary swift action now or will he go for the living-to-regret-it option? I know what I think ........
ReplyDeleteYou honestly think it's happening without his knowledge, come on!!
DeleteGILBERT must also GO !
DeleteShe has stood around and done nothing
She has been like and old style school headteacher, turning a blind eye to abuse in school
Mo Butt is such a nice guy, he does not have the heart to be brutal and suspend both Ms Cara Davani and Ms Gilbert.
DeleteBoth of them have had him around their little fingers !
If Ms Gilbert is pushed out, the Copland teachers can then get their Judicial Review and stop Ark Academization.
DeleteSo many things hinge on the outcome of Ms Davani and could it then trigger the downfall of Ms Gilbert ?
Ms Gilbert should have simply retired gracefully and or offered her services for "FREE", rather than be greedy and since her appointment will have drawn nearly £350,000 from Brent. This at a time when Brent people themselves are being asked to make sacrifices and DO WITHOUT.
Given her previous appointment as OFSTED head, surely she did not need this money !
Has there ever been a Class Action of Abuse in the workplace. ?
ReplyDeleteThere really needs to be class action to prevent such widespread abuse in the workplace by senior management.
Such Class Action could also help undercover failings in Local Authority Code of Conduct, where it seems, it is near impossible to hold senior management to account.
Ms Cara Davani has exploited the Code of Conduct to her advantage and has become almost Untouchable !
This can not happen ever again.
As Ms Gilbert is the election Returning Officer, can the election be run fairly next week ?
ReplyDeleteGiven the allegations levelled at one of her most senior officers and Ms Gilbert must have been complicit in supporting the positions taken by Ms Cara Davani, can the voting public trust Ms Gilbert to supervise the election ?
The only way that things will change is if people take a stand and this is what is happening - us the tax paying electorate and people like Rosemarie Clarke.
ReplyDeleteNo response from the council. No response from Butt. People take a stand. They do not care what we think. They are a law to themselves.
Get them all out. How can she be trusted to supervise an important event such as the elections. She has got to go. With these allegations of racism in a diverse borough, Butt at the helm, it is not in her interest to see him go. She cannot be trusted.
It's a cess pool of lies, deceit and corruption all headed up by Butt. I used to support Labour - I'm now lovin the colour Green. Well done Rosemarie Clarke!
Gilbert was complicit in supporting positions taken by Davani. She will however attempt to wriggle out of it by saying that she took legal advice. Some of that advice will have come from Potts, the senior employment lawyer (partner of Davani) and some from Ledden the legal director.
ReplyDeleteOf course Gilbert has held other senior roles so cannot entirely rely on blaming everyone else. So it will be interesting to see who breaks ranks first in the scramble to distance (and save) themselves.
We can add ANDY POTTS to the list of people who MUST GO.
DeleteThe list is growing day by day.
BBC news item on endemic bullying in the Police Force, we can add Brent Council to the list of organization where Top Brass have created a culture of bullying and intimidation.
We can see this first hand via Fiona Ledden's last week attempts to silence any talk against Ms Cara Davani.
This culture goes right to the Top with the buck stopping directly at Ms Gilbert's door.
She can't wriggle out of this.
Either Ms Gilbert was complicit or alternative she is incompetent.
You can't have it any other way Ms Gilbert
'Gilbert was complicit in supporting positions taken by Davani. She will however attempt to wriggle out of it by saying that she took legal advice. Some of that advice will have come from Potts, the senior employment lawyer (partner of Davani) and some from Ledden the legal director'.Surely you can only cite legal advice that is objective and untainted by any suspicion of conflicts of interest, partiality etc etc.To do otherwise is either evidence of incompetence, unprofessional conduct or something much worse. It's surely implicit that if you seek objective legal counsel you don't go and ask your brother's mate or your latest squeeze.
DeleteFiona Ledden's attempts to silence any talk about Ms Cara Davani last week just goes to show how deep this really goes.
ReplyDeleteSurely Ms Ledden had a duty at the very least, to inform all members of Brent Council and the public at large about the recent allegations that have surfaced against Ms Davani ?
It would be my view Ms Ledden has breached the Brent Code of Conduct, if she at the very least she has not informed Councillors about allegations against Ms Davani and Brent Council for constructive dismissal, racial discrimination, sexual discrimination, victimisation, bullying and harassment and psychiatric injury.
Ms Ledden should be held to public account, if she has tried to cover up all the issues against Ms Davani.
Thanks to all those who have sought to speak out and supported the call that the conduct of Ms Davani is in the PUBLIC INTEREST, as the real truth is unlikely to have been uncovered, if Ms Ledden's attempts to shut it does last week had been successful
FIONA LEDDEN SHOULD ALSO GO
Does anyone have restructure headcount numbers ?
ReplyDeleteWhat would be interesting to review is the numbers who have lost jobs at Brent, but the number of new hires.
It would be particularly interesting to see a breakdown of
1 Ethnic origin of all those fired over the past year.
2. All new hires and ethnic origin over the past year
It does not seem like there has been a freeze on hiring and Ms Davani has been able to exploit this restructure to her own advantage.
Dr Yvonne Foster works via Lotus Human Resource Consultancy Ltd
ReplyDeleteYet another private consultant working and being paid via a private company without any "Public Tender Process."
http://www.lotushr.co.uk/clients/testimonials/
On their Web Site Testimonial
London Borough of Southwark
Anne Doyle, Client Officer for Client Agency for Training & Development
My knowledge of Yvonne’s work is through the TDA London Regional Centre where she worked as a TDA Regional Trainer for Local Authority, school and third sector colleagues. This involved working as part of a team in the planning and delivering of training events to support the ‘Every Child Matters’ agenda. She is a great team member and has excellent presentation and communication skills. Following on from events, we were able to use her coaching and mentoring skills to support colleagues in effective implementation planning.
We were also pleased to be able to use Yvonne’s skills in research and analysis to prepare a document for use by schools to help self- evaluation in relationship to the deployment and development of their workforce. Yvonne’s experience as a researcher and her familiarity with Ofsted criteria ensured that she produced a well-received, high quality guidance document. I am very happy to recommend Yvonne’s work and willing to be contacted for further information if required.
ANOTHER Ofsted connection - Mss Davani and Gilbert's old stomping-ground. Thanks for posting above, btw. You've saved me a job. Meantime here's the header on her Linkedin page:
Deletehttp://www.linkedin.com/in/yvonnefoster1
Ms Davani recommending a former Ofsted contact?
How much was she on per day?
DeleteJobs for only those well connected !!!!!!!
DeleteWhat would be now interesting is to review the candidate selection process When Ms Davani hired Ms Foster.
This whole matter really stinks as it clearly demonstrates a systematic process of weeding out Brent employees and replacing them with selected candidates.
Gilbert, leden, devani, issacs all must GO
ReplyDeleteAfter Rosemarie Clarke's suspension, Dr Yvonne Foster was put into a closed room for several days and ordered by Davani told to go through all of Clarke's e-mails with a fine-tooth comb to 'find' evidence of wrong doing. The things you have to do for money, eh?
ReplyDeleteAmazing how going through Ms Davani's invoices and expenses is not allowed and even when issues have been raised, the powers that be quickly shut things down.
DeleteDoctor Foster went to....oh never mind.
DeleteTestimonial above (Anon 10.12) shows that working for Southwark honed these skills.
ReplyDelete'We were able to use Yvonne’s skills in research and analysis to prepare a document for use by schools to help self- evaluation in relationship to the deployment and development of their workforce'.
No doubt she also presented her chum Cara with 'a well-received, high quality guidance document.'
You just don't appreciate the glories of a high-level executive skill-set, Nan.
In any case, she wouldn't have been doing if for the money but rather because she was 'passionate about making a difference'.
There might be a legal silver lining at the end if Rosemarie Clarke's claim is successful.
ReplyDeleteAs both Gilbert and Davani work via a legal entity, Brent Council could counter sue each of their legal entities to recover any possible award, plus costs associated with this claim or another other claims for that matter.
As they are working via a company they should have adequate insurance to cover any such claim, so the tab does not have to be picked up by Brent Council.
Obviously such a claim would not be possible with Gilbert, Davani, Ledden, Potts and co at the helm, as they would be highly unlikely to recommend legal action be taken against their companies.
Also from a legal point of view it might just end the practice of senior staff working via a company, if a Court were actually to set legal precedent and accept the company as the legal entity was responsible for the actions of the person in question and not Brent Council.
This is a very technical legal issue that has to be considered by the Courts and Cara Davani Ltd could be a very good test case.
Any Lawyer wanting to make a name for themselves speak up as this could make your career.
....... STOP PRESS ....... STOP PRESS ....... STOP PRESS ....... Continuing from Nan Tewari 16 May 2014 1200
ReplyDeleteLatest from the Watford Employment Tribunal
Lawyers for Rosemarie Clarke established that a disciplinary hearing had been held hear allegations brought against their client AFTER she has resigned on grounds of constructive dismissal.
Under questioning of Davani, Mildred Phillips (expensive-interim-turned-permanent deputy to Davani) and Ledden, each denied being the instigator of the hearing and none could say who had actually called the hearing. Under pressure, Ledden tried to blame it on a junior officer.
A point of interest surely must be that Clarke was sent the hearing letter on 19th July 2013, i.e. the closing date for the council to respond to her Tribunal claim.
Now we have another expensive deputy to Ms Davani in Mildred Philips.
DeleteHow much money is Brent Council wasting on all of these matters ?
The top management have to be called to account.
Can't see Councillor BUTT behaving like a true leader and getting to the bottom of all this quickly.
DeleteHe has had his turn
Next !!!
I don't know what's more hilarious....the fact that they held a disciplinary hearing after a person had resigned....and/or senior managers of a council couldnt say who had actually called the hearing.
DeleteMy question to Rosemarie Clarke's lawyer is did these people not know they were going to be questioned? Aren't they under oath?
Just when you think that it can't get any more ludicrous you hear something else. I cannot believe their answer.
In addition Ledden had the audacity and bare faced cheek to blame this on a junior officer. Hold your head down in shame. All criminals have to take responsibility. They sold the electorate down the river...Brent junior officers, you're not safe....they're coming for you! I can't get anyone on my senior board to do anything without sending them a briefing document as a minimum a week in advance.
The buck stops with Butt!
It's a joint entreprise people....every disciplinary, every redundancy, every appointment. every decision every contract made and undertaken by this trio and all senior managers past and present of the council and those elected MUST be investigated. None of them should remain.
Their reason for holding a disciplinary hearing after the resignation in this way, would have been to enable them to say that if Clarke had not resigned, she would have been sacked anyway. And this is why they had to rush the hearing letter to her on the closing date for them getting their response in to the Tribunal.
DeleteI can reveal that Davani, Ledden and Phillips prepared their own respective witness statements for the Tribunal. After each one took the stand and was sworn in, they promptly altered their statements line by line, in open court with Davani taking an hour to make her alterations.
The reason being that their statements contained (what I will describe here as) conflicting inconsistencies. (Hope that passes the Martin Francis censorship test!) In other words they were desperate to avoid being accused of perjury.
What is Paul Lorber Doing ?
DeleteSurely as shadow opposition he should be calingl for Ms Davani's head
Does not seem like Lorber is a strong leader to me.
Covering their Backs, Typical
DeleteThe type of behaviour shown by those at the top when they will do absolutely anything for their own power trip is exactly what is all wrong with society today.
Before the 2008 financial crisis, we all accepted the mantra from those at the top.
Well those at the bottom no longer accept this mantra. The top managers have been able to get away with punishing those at the bottom for far too long.
This has to now end.
Not sure how it might end, as those at the top cling on to Power and will using everything to hold onto the power.
We can all exercise our own power on 22 May and only VOTE for candidates that truly stand for Social Justice and Equality.
OK. All of the senior leadership have got to go - from Butt downwards. I'm no lawyer but at the least it's loss of confidence of the electorate, corruption, intimidation, incompetence etc, etc. etc....the list goes on...
DeleteA full and independent investigation is needed. Answering the allegations put forward...and the ones that we probably even don't know about.
There should be no negotiations or hush, hush payouts.
All compromise agreements should be lifted - we the electorate need to know what has been going on past and present.
By applying the council's own procedures - if these so called leaders resign...- a disciplinary hearing should also be held after the fact, so that we the electorate can say that if they hadn't resigned - we would have sacked them anyway!
...you can use existing technology to book the hearing....you can then track whodunnit!!
One rule for all...
Is Mildred Phillips working via her company or was she at the time working via her company ?
ReplyDeleteMildred Phillips Ltd has been dissolved since 17 Sept 2013
Oh what a wonderful day as the sun shone over Watford Employment Tribunal........
ReplyDeleteI can't believe the blame game of Fiona Ledden.
ReplyDeleteSurely the most senior manager just can't blame it on the junior ranks.
What kind of manager is she ?
This in my book well and truely passes "Public Interest" test
ReplyDeleteWhat is particularly sickening is Fiona Ledden has been at the centre of all legal issues surrounding not just Ms Davani, but library judicial review, Kensal Rise EmailGate, approving appeal to planning inspectorate in relation to Barham Park Trust and how Barham Trust will operate, the refusal to consider the best interests of Brent Council in relation to Copland land and Ark takeover and seek a Judicial Review over the recommendation that is in favour of Ark, rather than Brent Council.
ReplyDeleteFiona Ledden was appointed to Legal procurement Directorship in 2010 after Labour regained control of Brent Council. We have witnessed first hand of deals done behind closed doors to protect senior people in Brent with Copland / Davies. It should also be noted Ms Gilbert was interim Chief during Davies trial.
Any progress in the pursuit of Davies for trial costs through the civil courts, Ms Gilbert? (This was how Brent 'explained' the decision not to apply for costs at the time of the trial, a decision which 'surprised' the judge, to say the least).
DeleteWhile we're on the subject of past Super Heads and their OBE endowed lodge-mate Deputies, could Brent Council tell us what happened to the Mary Fedden paintings (£5k to £20k each) which Copland Deputy Head Richard Evans used his students (unknowingly) and his position as Deputy Head (knowingly) to 'acquire for the school' from the aged Mary Fedden? The school never got them, some were flogged off through Christies/Sothebys for Evans and some were widely believed to be in the possession of the council after Evans realised the game was up.
DeleteStraight question, Brent: where are the Mary Fedden paintings?
Re 'Kensal Rise EmailGate' - it would be useful to know when the police were first contacted about the fraudulent emails.
DeleteCara Davani quoted in Guardian
ReplyDelete"Top tips: how to introduce flexible working in local government."
It must have been an April Fools as it was printed on 1 April 2013. (Makes you wonder how she gets away with saying one thing, but in practice with her staff doing totally the opposite. Although she obviously gets the benefit of flexible work in attending "Doggy Shows" and not having to log work completed. LUCK FOR HER)
http://www.theguardian.com/local-government-network/2013/apr/01/flexible-working-local-government
"Cara Davani is interim assistant director for people and development at Brent council
It is already working in Brent: We have long supported flexible working arrangements but we have recently refreshed our approach. This was motivated by flexible working becoming the norm for our staff, our move to the new civic centre later this year, becoming a modern organisation and delivering great value for money services. We have taken the bold decision to move away from time recording systems and place greater emphasis on performance outcomes, which we consider to be a far more innovative approach to managing our workforce."
My internal bullshit detector buzzed at least 5 times as I scanned the words in this paragraph. Can you spot them too?
Delete(Answers p.73)
Tower Hamlets were apparently please to see the backside of Ms Davani
ReplyDeletehttp://www.towerpower.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2012/09/TowerPower-310-Dec-2012.pdf
where are they now?
over in Brent, no sooner was ex Tower Hamlets
and ofsted Chief executive Christine
Gilbert appointed interim Chief executive
than a new interim head of Hr appeared -
Cara davani, also by total coincidence ex
Tower Hamlets and ofsted. Cara is fondly
remembered for leaving Tower Hamlets.
Does anyone know anything about the relationship that Davani has with the unions - Unison and GMB at Brent?...I suspect she's used the same modus operandi....
DeleteWell we all know she does not like Unison never has which is evident in a previous comment. But she sure loves GMB!!
DeleteCollective Collaboration in seeking the truth.
ReplyDeleteWe have all come together to seek the truth and what this whole episode has found is many people coming together using resources to try and stamp out the wide scale fear that has gripped Brent Council.
The evidence is really now pointing towards Ms Davani being incredibly manipulative and abusing her power, particularly when peoples lively hoods and future can be damaged through redundancy.
What is incredibly sickening is that those at Brent Council who lost their jobs have been replaced with new staff members, doing virtually the same jobs, but with new titles and job descriptions hand picked by Ms Davani.
What would be interesting to know.
ReplyDeleteHas Ms Davani been involved in assessing who should stay at Copland and who should go ?
The same type of systematic weeding out of staff seems to also have taken place at Copland.
It is highly likely Ms Davani has been involved.
She doesn't need to be personally involved. Those who take their morality and their methods from those who are conspicuously 'getting on' above them will absorb the management style osmotically. So being an obnoxious self-seeking ********** (delete asterisks to match your individual abuse-choices) becomes not just normalised but an aspirational model for the wannabes. (Cf Rebekah Brooks).
DeleteAnd so it spreads. Which is how we got where we are now.
Hubris means they'll slip up in the end (cf Brooks, and Davies).Whatever we do to hasten that day is time well spent in resisting the spivification of public life in our country. It looks like Davani's time is almost up. What worries me is who's going to look after the dogs ........
What money buys for overpaid people like Ms Davani
ReplyDeleteShe has 6 acres of Land in Suffolk
http://www.personneltoday.com/hr/unusual-hobbies-how-do-human-resources-professionals-occupy-their-spare-time/
"According to Davani, showing dogs involves a huge amount of preparation and training. “You need the correct facilities for the dogs and lots of space. Fortunately, I live in Suffolk and have six acres of land for the dogs.”
All courtesy of the tax payer.
Is it any wonder Brent Council is skint !!!
Cara Davani was actually HR Manager at OFSTED in 2010
ReplyDeletehttp://www.careers.ofsted.gov.uk/admin/uploaded/Final_Job_Spec_Director_Finance_FIN_SCS_2431.pdf
Applicants could email their application to Cara Davani the application specification requests.
People given jobs without interviews , but they are friends of Cara Davani so that's ok ......not
ReplyDeleteBrent can waste more money on hiring a New Communications Head
ReplyDeleteSalary range: £70,956-£87,330 p.a. inc
http://www.bloomsburyresourcing.co.uk/downloads/Brent%20Head%20of%20Communications.pdf
Surprise Surprise !! Bloomsbury Resourcing understood to be associated with Bernard Collier is this recruiting agency
The previous head of Communications Cheryl Curling was made redundant
http://www.prweek.com/article/1226164/brent-council-comms-head-cheryl-curling-departs-amid-verbal-comms-shake-up
For those appointed at the top, the restructure seems to have INCREASED SALARIES, not reduced them.
All the "Spin," keeps "Spinning," until one one day the proverbial will hit the fan.
All the costs of re-hiring, increased salaries etc etc born by Brent residents and courtesy of Ms Davani in her big Brent Shake-Up
PR Week - Brent Council’s interim senior comms adviser Richard Stokoe, hired last year as part of the review, said the restructure would see a shift in focus towards making the council’s 2,500 staff its spokespeople.
Delete"The most trusted form of comms is verbal, and the most trusted form of verbal comms is from friends and relatives, so this is about getting staff out there. If you have each member of staff talking to five people about the council and what it's doing, you can start to bring about big behaviour change."
Never a truer word said....all staff have to talk to five people about what it's doing (and this blog) you can start to bring about behaviour change.
Q. What happened to Cheryl Curling again....ahhhh yes another one for the chop....
Guess he did not cut the grade with Davani otherwise as interim he would have stayed
DeleteAs an aside he worked as 2003 Press officer, Sarah Teather Brent East by-election
Ben Spinks has been appointed to "Mutalize Brent Council"
ReplyDeleteMutualize is just another word for "Privatize"
Prior to joining Brent he was part of
"Local Authority Mutuals Commissioner Group" at Oldham Council.
The plot gets even thicker with some key people recently appointed to sliced and dice Brent Council after the election.
I hope this Rosemarie Clarke person (former Head of Learning and Development) gets the justice she deserves at her ET. It sounds like the HR Director is renowned for bullying harassment, undermining and racial discrimination according to all of the comments on each of the 5 blogs going against her.
ReplyDeleteAn illustration of just how bad things are for staff and how they have absolutely nowhere to turn.
DeleteRosemarie Clarke raised a grievance with manager Phil Newby about Davani's bullying and intimidation of her. No one had dared to do such a thing before. It is not surprising in the light of the revelations emerging here, that Newby selected an investigator from another department, who was herself the current subject of of a grievance accusing her of bullying behaviour. It has been said before but bears repeating: you simply could not make this up.
Being a member of the HR management team, Clarke was aware of the situation surrounding the investigator and raised it with Newby. Any REASONABLE person would imagine this to be enough to effect a change of investigator.
Only, what happens instead is, Newby runs to Davani (the subject of Clarke's grievance) and asks HER to investigate how Clarke knows about the grievance relating to the investigator. Newby and Davani have so little grip on the running of the department (that happens when you're too busy with more important things) they forget that senior departmental managers like Clarke receive regular updates on the progress of these matters across the council.
Clarke then receives several threatening e-mails from Davani demanding to know where Clarke came by her information!
Clarke protests to Newby that he has breached her confidentiality by going to Davani.
No one has yet dared complain about Davani and this is the beginning of the end for Clarke.
@ the person who commented about collective collaboration above. This is very interesting to read that roles were made redundant and replaced with new members of staff virtually doing to same job. Is that not another example of wasting council tax payers money as well the HR director endorsing poor HR practice across the council and probably in her own department. Those individuals that have been made redundant under this despicable regime surely must have been treated unfairly directly or indirectly. What purpose does the union serve in these circumstances, how is this allowed? Is the Union part of the collaboration and corrupt network too? Something is not right! Surely consultation must have taken place in these circumstances, perhaps formal consultation serves no purpose or has no weight in the Brent council under this regime. The more I read the more I feel terribly disappointed by what is going on behind closed doors in the council. I cannot believe that all these terrible things are happening! If this blog was not available, we would not be exposed to this information. What happens in the dark surely does come to light.......
ReplyDeleteAndy Potts (partner of Cara Davani HR Director) needs to go to he is not impartial. I agree with the comments raised about him above. This is an inappropriate unprofessional relationship.
ReplyDeleteOnly one person has a positive profile in the whole trail of email Yvonne Foster, okay great. That is the most positive comment I have read since the old king died!. Back to business, why are the majority of staff experiencing victimization, a culture of bullying and unfair treatment at Brent Council and how is this going to be addressed so that it fails to continue in the future?
ReplyDeleteYou know how dogs and their owners are supposed to grow increasingly to resemble each other. Well has anyone measured the length of those prize-winning terriers’ noses lately? No more Best in Show for those mutts until Ms Davani starts telling some truths methinks.
ReplyDeleteRumour has it miss Clarke has won her case ,all claims agains Brent council and cara devani have been proven ,
ReplyDeleteYes, but I understand that Brent has indicated it will appeal.
DeleteThat's if they have any grounds to appeal on !
DeleteCase over Victory to Miss Clarke for constructive dismissal, racial discrimination, victimisation, bullying and harassment
ReplyDeleteSpread the word everyone, let your network know. Put the article up everywhere, LinkedIn, Facebook, willesden chronicle newspaper, bill boards you name it. If you have ever experienced this woman, you would know what it feels like to hear such great news. Christmas has come early. Next action is that Cara should be removed from post and the leadership team in Brent council should be disbanded. The whole lot of them are corrupt, bring back the former director of HR. None of this shambles was happening when she was leading the hr service.
ReplyDeleteBrent has a tarnished reputation at the hands of Cara davani
ReplyDeleteMy word things were really bad in that HR function led by Cara Davani. Is Cara still working there? Seriously?
ReplyDeleteAll the dark works done against members of staff in hr in secret have been exposed and nullified. This includes management and non management staff. When one is glad all is glad! Victory for this case means victory for everyone that has suffered directly or indirectly by Cara
ReplyDeleteIt's great to hear and read that a final solution and outcome had been found to a stubborn situation.
ReplyDeleteI really could shake the employment tribunal judges hand right now.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure why this blog from nearly ten years ago is suddenly receiving a lot of attention now, but the story did not end in September 2014 (last comment above).
ReplyDeleteDavani should have been sacked by Brent for gross misconduct. Instead the Council Leader and Chief Executive kept her on, and then gave Davani a payoff (kept secret for a year) of over £150k when she finally left Brent's employment in June 2015.
An attempt to get Cllr. Butt and Gilbert held to account for their actions (by five local residents challenging Brent's 2015/16 accounts over the alleged illegal payment to Davani) unfortunately came to nothing.
If you are interested, you can read my final guest post about Brent Council and Cara Davani, published 31 December 2017, at:
https://wembleymatters.blogspot.com/2017/12/brent-council-and-cara-davani-last.html