I have equipped a Tactical officer of mine with boosts to melee dmg with a Bat'leth but he wont use it. He just stands around and throws a grenade every now and then. If they weren't supposed to use them why was i allowed to equip it? Is this just an oversight?

Martial Arts and Bat'leth attacks use a combo system which is apparently not available to BOs.

The only melee attack BO's can use is palm strike. So if you give them a Bat'leth and someone comes too close, they will shove them with the Bat'leth's equivalent of palm strike. Then they'll just stand around doing nothing but using their special abilities.

So, yeah, don't give'em Bat'leths.

So you can give them close combat abilities but they won't fight in close combat ?
Smart...

My BO Klingon tac off uses his bat'leth all the time.

That's weird... I had a Klingon Tac BO, gave hem a bat'leth, and nothing too.

I really want them to change this, because the melee BO powers available are crap but letting them use bat'leth/martial arts would make their melee bonus stats actually relevant.

I too had a Klingon Tac BO with a bat'leth, AND leg sweep. He basically kneel down and watched the fights from the sidelines. No bat'leth or leg sweep attacks at all. He was fired shortly after.

Exactly the same with my BO i have almost fired her!!! :-D

Hmm, I assume you're talking about a fed klingon?
Otherwise I'm gonna ask where you get to do those missions.

So i guess the question now is it intentional or is should we (I) submit it as a bug and hope they fix it, if you can't give BO's a Bat'leth every BO with reptilian strength is pretty much a waste.

I've /bugged it myself. If it's 'working as intended' right now, the intention needs changed anyway.