It wouldn’t be typical to go to police without the women’s consent. It would be unusual
Leading employment lawyer Kevin Poulter
The decision by Scotland’s most senior civil servant to report complaints about Alex Salmond’s behaviour to police without the permission of the women involved has been questioned by human resource experts.
Leslie Evans, the Scottish Government’s permanent secretary, has told MSPS that she decided to ask the Crown Office to call in the police against the wishes of the complainers. The senior civil servant added: “I was very mindful about
their concerns and anxieties – but there may be occasions in which those have to be weighed up against the potential of criminality.”
However, some leading human resources (HR) professionals have said best practice would mean any staff member suffering potentially criminal behaviour should be encouraged to go to the police themselves.
Leading employment lawyer Kevin Poulter, who has no knowledge of the Salmond investigation and could not comment on specifics, said it would be unusual to ignore a complainant’s wishes.
He said: “It wouldn’t be typical for the employer to go to the police, certainly without the consent and the agreement of the women who were coming to them. This would be unusual, unless there was some imminent and serious threat to that person or others.
“It may be appropriate to gently encourage and support employees in escalating complaints to the police, but an employer taking that choice away from an employee complainant and acting unilaterally should be resisted so far as possible. It is not a low bar and should not be considered good employment practice.”
Last week, the inquiry into the Scottish Government’s investigation into sexual harassment claims against the former FM heard officials sought then ignored police advice.
In evidence to the inquiry, Fiona Taylor, deputy chief constable of Police Scotland, said civil servants had been warned they were not trained to investigate potentially criminal conduct or engage with complainers.
DCC Taylor said officials were repeatedly told to involve external agencies if there was suspected evidence of criminality.”
The Scottish Government said: “The Scottish Government has confirmed to the committee that Police Scotland was consulted on generic issues relating to the handling of complaints and sources of support for complainers, in the context of the procedure agreed in December 2017.
“At this time the Scottish Government was dealing with internal employment matters, not a criminal investigation, and our HR staff are experienced in carrying out investigations on sensitive issues within an employment setting.
“As set out in our evidence to the committee, we referred the allegations to the Crown Office for onward transmission to the police.”