Kafka in Jersey

A suspended Chief Executive Officer has defended her style of management. Karen Huchet, CEO for Family Nursing and Home Care, says she's a firm but fair boss. She was speaking after an extraordinary general meeting of the charity at the Town Hall Speaking publicly for the first time since her suspension last August, Miss Huchet said she felt punished and stressed by the ordeal.

http://iliffe.portalconstructor.co.uk/channelonline/displayarticle.asp?id=381193

The Trial is a novel by Franz Kafka about a character named Josef K., who awakens one morning and, for reasons never revealed, is arrested and prosecuted for an unspecified crime.

We seem to have our own version in Jersey, where a character called K. awakens one morning and, for reasons never revealed, is suspended pending an inquiry for an unspecified allegation.

This has happened since August last year. There is still no resolution.

K visits the advocate and finds him to be a capricious and unhelpful character.

Listening to the Radio Jersey report, about meeting on the suspension of K., the lawyer present for the trustees certainly seemed unhelpful. Capriciousness is a matter of opinion, but it sounded very much as if most of the people present would have judged the lawyer to be capricious.

K returns to his bank but finds that his colleagues are trying to undermine him.

As far as we can tell, the allegations may be something about people at Family Nursing which concerns K's colleagues.

The Trial is both a chilling tale that maintains a constant, relentless atmosphere of disorientation right up to the surreal ending. Superficially the subject matter is bureaucracy: an illustration of a truly twisted yet realistic brand of law and church.

In Jersey, trying to make any sense of what is going on with this suspension from the BBC report, and the various authority figures such as the trustees and the lawyers, a constant, relentless atmosphere of disorientation was very strongly in evidence.

I hope that this clearly Kafkaesque situation does not continue for much longer. In her statement, Karen Huchet said this suspension could not be regarded as a neutral act. Considering the length of it - apparently because of unforeseen complications, but we have no idea what they are - this is a grotesque travesty of justice, of the legal procedures seemingly being used, as in Kafka's Trial, to befuddle and confuse.

That is not to say that there might not be problems at Family Nursing. Mrs. Brennan in 2006 was awarded compensation pursuant to the Employment (Awards) (Jersey) Order 2005 in respect of her unfair dismissal claim, and Family Home nursing seem not to have followed best procedure in her dismissal.

Yet at least with a dismissal claim, there is a law in place, tribunals to assess the evidence, and publically published findings. There seems to be nothing of this with a suspension, instead the timetable disappears into a black hole, out of which no light can escape so that anyone can see what is happening. It is not transparent, it seems to have no statutory guidelines, not much oversight, and can go on for as long as necessary, although use of the word "necessary" in such ill defined circumstances borders on Stalinesque.

Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trial
http://iliffe.portalconstructor.co.uk/channelonline/displayarticle.asp?id=381193
http://www.jerseyemploymenttribunal.org/judgments/2006%20judgments.doc