providing little or no detail with a complaint or presenting information in 'dribs and drabs' refusing to follow or accept our instructions, suggestions, or advice without a clear or justifiable reason for doing so arguing frequently and/or with extreme intensity that a particular solution is the correct one in the face of valid contrary arguments and explanations displaying unhelpful behaviour—such as withholding information, acting dishonestly, misquoting others, and so forth. Unreasonable argument Unreasonable argument includes any argument not based in reason or logic that is incomprehensible, false or inflammatory, trivial or delirious and that disproportionately and unreasonably impacts upon the organisation, staff, services, time, and/or resources. Arguments are unreasonable when they: fail to follow a logical sequence are not supported by any evidence and/or are on conspiracy theories lead a complainant to reject all other valid and contrary arguments are trivial when compared to the amount of time, resources and attention that the complainant demands are false, inflammatory or defamatory. Unreasonable behaviour Unreasonable behaviour is conduct that is unreasonable in all of how stressed, angry or frustrated that a complainant is—because it unreasonably compromises the health, safety and security of our staff, other service users or the complainant himself/herself. Some examples of unreasonable behaviour includes: Acts of aggression, verbal abuse, derogatory, racist, or grossly defamatory remarks Harassment, intimidation or physical violence Rude, confronting and threatening correspondence Threats of harm to self or third parties, threats with a weapon or threats to damage property including bomb threats Stalking (in person or online) Emotional manipulation. Dealing with unreasonable complainant conduct The Executive Officer may decide to deal with unreasonable complainant conduct in one or more of the following ways: In writing, setting out a code of commitment and responsibilities for the parties involved if council is to continue processing a complaint. If these terms are contravened, consideration will then be given to implementing other action as indicated below. Decline contact with the complainant, either in person, by telephone, fax, letter, email or any combination of these, provided that one form of contact is maintained. This may also mean that only one Council officer will be nominated to maintain contact (and a named officer in their absence). The complainant will be notified of the nominated contact person(s).
providing little or no detail with a complaint or presenting information in 'dribs and drabs' refusing to follow or accept our instructions, suggestions, or advice without a clear or justifiable reason for doing so arguing frequently and/or with extreme intensity that a particular solution is the correct one in the face of valid contrary arguments and explanations displaying unhelpful behaviour—such as withholding information, acting dishonestly, misquoting others, and so forth. Unreasonable argument Unreasonable argument includes any argument not based in reason or logic that is incomprehensible, false or inflammatory, trivial or delirious and that disproportionately and unreasonably impacts upon the organisation, staff, services, time, and/or resources. Arguments are unreasonable when they: fail to follow a logical sequence are not supported by any evidence and/or are on conspiracy theories lead a complainant to reject all other valid and contrary arguments are trivial when compared to the amount of time, resources and attention that the complainant demands are false, inflammatory or defamatory. Unreasonable behaviour Unreasonable behaviour is conduct that is unreasonable in all of how stressed, angry or frustrated that a complainant is—because it unreasonably compromises the health, safety and security of our staff, other service users or the complainant himself/herself. Some examples of unreasonable behaviour includes: Acts of aggression, verbal abuse, derogatory, racist, or grossly defamatory remarks Harassment, intimidation or physical violence Rude, confronting and threatening correspondence Threats of harm to self or third parties, threats with a weapon or threats to damage property including bomb threats Stalking (in person or online) Emotional manipulation. Dealing with unreasonable complainant conduct The Executive Officer may decide to deal with unreasonable complainant conduct in one or more of the following ways: In writing, setting out a code of commitment and responsibilities for the parties involved if council is to continue processing a complaint. If these terms are contravened, consideration will then be given to implementing other action as indicated below. Decline contact with the complainant, either in person, by telephone, fax, letter, email or any combination of these, provided that one form of contact is maintained. This may also mean that only one Council officer will be nominated to maintain contact (and a named officer in their absence). The complainant will be notified of the nominated contact person(s).
complaints-handling-policy-2018.docx