Sorry long thread...
A complaint was made against me where I was accused of making statements to another colleague which were false. My boss (well boss' boss, 'operations manager') came up to my desk and informed me that a complaint has been made by another employee against me for misconduct. Everyone of my colleagues around me heard this, she repeated this as she gestured me to leave my desk and bring a support person if I wished. I was shocked as I couldn't believe it and still could not believe she would announce this to everyone. I was later informed its done this way rather than whisking me elsewhere to tell me so I don't feel 'ambushed'. My colleague was busy and I didn't want to inconvenience him so I just went on my own.
There was no evidence of the statements, yet I was suspended for a day and a half (albeit with pay, apparently.). Upon return for the second interview I was informed I could return to work if I wished. The accuser in question eventually returned and had apparently asked to be seated as far away from me as possible. During the interview I was asked if there was anything I'd like to add or make any further comments and they basically said that the result of the investigation was no further action was necessary. He suggested if I wanted an apology from 'her' and the last thing I wanted was a fake apology. He asked me if I would feel comfortable going back to work even if 'she' was there. I was pretty confused to be honest so just said I could give it a try and since we don't work together anyway it may work out.
She has now been transferred (whether voluntary or not I don't know) to one floor above where she works in a similar role. What I find surprising is that despite her not wanting to work with me or being asked to transfer to a different department, she now drops by almost every day and doesn't seem to mind being metre's from me or even glancing at me, quite strange as based on her allegations she were not far off sexual assault. Honestly this feels very uncomfortable despite me belief it may work out.. not being in these situations before I did not know what to expect.
While I cannot prove this, I am convinced she has told at least a handful of people as there was sure to be lots of questions, seems inevitable. I am being treated noticeably different, particularly amongst some female employees. For example if there is a social conversation and I make a comment, they will reply: "umm yeah ok, sure... " and cut me out. Never noticed this before as I was very much liked and respected with everyone, at least I thought I was. Guess this is how it goes anyway in these situations.
One interesting thing the HR "Urban Culture" who handled the complaint mentioned was that when the person who made the complaint was given additional options to a full investigation she completely rebuked those and insisted she wanted a "full investigation". Those other options were 1.) For me to be informed that someone has found my behavior inappropriate and 2.) For a mediated discussion/intervention. Not sure what she was gunning for? Dismissal? Payout of some kind? Could someone else have encouraged her to go ahead with the complaint? It did take her several days, almost a week in fact, to lodge the complaint.
It should be mentioned on the night in questions, supposedly after all the ghastly comments where made she came over to my desk to borrow my "iphone charger", this was after borrowing my swipe card several times throughout the evening. Also relevant I think was that I was seated literally as far away from her as possible. Not on purpose just due to where I was sitting on the days previous. To the point where I would virtually have to yell over to her (we were the only two people on the floor). I later noticed a dome cctv camera which is one of the few on the floor that probably confirmed where I was sitting and her coming on over to my desk voluntarily and with a smile on her face.
My Team leader has also put me back on night shifts which have now been moved to the floor above where she is working as there are always staff and managers there. I suggested to the ops manager infront of the Hr person that I don't do anymore night shifts as to avoid situations like this and she approves all rosters so clearly this wasn't taken seriously?
I also requested a day off as annual leave which was rejected. It took longer than usual to receive a response from the op's manager and her answer simply was- "roster is already out, we are short staffed, please negotiate another day". Despite it being a family emergency/situation. This is rubbish since Fridays I work the Corporate desk for at least half the day which is usually dead and my colleague does anything that comes through and they just move me around as they see fit. We are retail so May is never busy and in fact quite slow. There are a lot of friendships around here and often people will want to have long weekends and such and I have credible suspicions to believe me requests (which I believe are fair and just) are not being taken seriously.
My team leader also takes regular swipes at me for which I believe are racial or religiously motivated.. we use the term 'BOM' here when referring to bundles of merchandise.. and in a recent email instead of writing.. "can you deconstruct this BOM".. "or break down this BOM"... he wrote "can you bomb this out" with the product code. Our email system does not use auto spell check... He has made these kinds of comments in the past...
Finding another job is starting to become an attractive option. Feeling increasingly depressed is certainly one way of putting it. I have worked very hard at this role (zero sick days, never late, often stayed behind for free for even hours, no time off). I was out of work for a while so getting this job since Nov 2015 was a god send but I feel like I am being taken advantage of.
Nick
A complaint was made against me where I was accused of making statements to another colleague which were false. My boss (well boss' boss, 'operations manager') came up to my desk and informed me that a complaint has been made by another employee against me for misconduct. Everyone of my colleagues around me heard this, she repeated this as she gestured me to leave my desk and bring a support person if I wished. I was shocked as I couldn't believe it and still could not believe she would announce this to everyone. I was later informed its done this way rather than whisking me elsewhere to tell me so I don't feel 'ambushed'. My colleague was busy and I didn't want to inconvenience him so I just went on my own.
There was no evidence of the statements, yet I was suspended for a day and a half (albeit with pay, apparently.). Upon return for the second interview I was informed I could return to work if I wished. The accuser in question eventually returned and had apparently asked to be seated as far away from me as possible. During the interview I was asked if there was anything I'd like to add or make any further comments and they basically said that the result of the investigation was no further action was necessary. He suggested if I wanted an apology from 'her' and the last thing I wanted was a fake apology. He asked me if I would feel comfortable going back to work even if 'she' was there. I was pretty confused to be honest so just said I could give it a try and since we don't work together anyway it may work out.
She has now been transferred (whether voluntary or not I don't know) to one floor above where she works in a similar role. What I find surprising is that despite her not wanting to work with me or being asked to transfer to a different department, she now drops by almost every day and doesn't seem to mind being metre's from me or even glancing at me, quite strange as based on her allegations she were not far off sexual assault. Honestly this feels very uncomfortable despite me belief it may work out.. not being in these situations before I did not know what to expect.
While I cannot prove this, I am convinced she has told at least a handful of people as there was sure to be lots of questions, seems inevitable. I am being treated noticeably different, particularly amongst some female employees. For example if there is a social conversation and I make a comment, they will reply: "umm yeah ok, sure... " and cut me out. Never noticed this before as I was very much liked and respected with everyone, at least I thought I was. Guess this is how it goes anyway in these situations.
One interesting thing the HR "Urban Culture" who handled the complaint mentioned was that when the person who made the complaint was given additional options to a full investigation she completely rebuked those and insisted she wanted a "full investigation". Those other options were 1.) For me to be informed that someone has found my behavior inappropriate and 2.) For a mediated discussion/intervention. Not sure what she was gunning for? Dismissal? Payout of some kind? Could someone else have encouraged her to go ahead with the complaint? It did take her several days, almost a week in fact, to lodge the complaint.
It should be mentioned on the night in questions, supposedly after all the ghastly comments where made she came over to my desk to borrow my "iphone charger", this was after borrowing my swipe card several times throughout the evening. Also relevant I think was that I was seated literally as far away from her as possible. Not on purpose just due to where I was sitting on the days previous. To the point where I would virtually have to yell over to her (we were the only two people on the floor). I later noticed a dome cctv camera which is one of the few on the floor that probably confirmed where I was sitting and her coming on over to my desk voluntarily and with a smile on her face.
My Team leader has also put me back on night shifts which have now been moved to the floor above where she is working as there are always staff and managers there. I suggested to the ops manager infront of the Hr person that I don't do anymore night shifts as to avoid situations like this and she approves all rosters so clearly this wasn't taken seriously?
I also requested a day off as annual leave which was rejected. It took longer than usual to receive a response from the op's manager and her answer simply was- "roster is already out, we are short staffed, please negotiate another day". Despite it being a family emergency/situation. This is rubbish since Fridays I work the Corporate desk for at least half the day which is usually dead and my colleague does anything that comes through and they just move me around as they see fit. We are retail so May is never busy and in fact quite slow. There are a lot of friendships around here and often people will want to have long weekends and such and I have credible suspicions to believe me requests (which I believe are fair and just) are not being taken seriously.
My team leader also takes regular swipes at me for which I believe are racial or religiously motivated.. we use the term 'BOM' here when referring to bundles of merchandise.. and in a recent email instead of writing.. "can you deconstruct this BOM".. "or break down this BOM"... he wrote "can you bomb this out" with the product code. Our email system does not use auto spell check... He has made these kinds of comments in the past...
Finding another job is starting to become an attractive option. Feeling increasingly depressed is certainly one way of putting it. I have worked very hard at this role (zero sick days, never late, often stayed behind for free for even hours, no time off). I was out of work for a while so getting this job since Nov 2015 was a god send but I feel like I am being taken advantage of.
Nick
