Am I being discriminated against?

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You go gettem girl! We're all sending good vibes your way. Hold that head up and be strong, try not to be emotive. Tell the whole story and be calm.

Go for it!

ruear

Good luck juicy.

Try and stay calm, unemotive and friendly - people often say things they shouldn't when they feel relaxed - make sure you get notes of what is said by whom - this is often important for later.

and remenmber:
Non illigitamus carborundum

ifonlyitwaseasier

good luck juicy!! we're all rooting for you!

juicy83

Hi everyone!

Thank you all for the kind messages!

Well where do I start?! It didn't go too well at first. They basically told me that due to the credit crunch my work will decrease because we will not be getting so much money and they have to share out my work between my colleagues as mine is the only role who everyone could do some of. This is so very not true! I let them have their say first though. They said the other woman operates at a higher level than I do because she is more qualified and some of her work I could not do. I did argue at this point because the work she does I have taken an exam on and passed!! Even if I'm not up to the same level as her I can do what she does! Obviously I would need help at first but she did as well! They said that due to my workload decreasing everyone else's would as well. My argument is if that's the case than surely my Manager's workload would definitely decrease and she could take back the work all the previous Manager's managed to do?
They tried to tell me it's not personal and my Manager had nothing to do with it. They said she's supportive of me and doesn't want to lose me. They had no answer though when I asked why she had said it wasn't bad news and why she hasn't spoken to me since Thursday?! She is definitely not supportive of me. I told them how it's become clear the other woman knows about my position and I mentioned all the little hints that been dropped by my Manager. Both of them just sat there and asked if they could take a 5min break! It ended up being a 10 min break and one of them apologised to me!!! I cannot believe he said that the comments should not have been made and they felt they should apologise. He's basically admitted he knows what my Manager is like. He hadn't even spoken to my Manager, how does he know I'm telling the truth yet????? I am but he doesn't know it!

I've only just found out though some other people have made complaints against her before. I'm positive they know what she has done. I told them its bullying and obviously I find all of this very distressing. They agreed and said it was not nice for me. I asked them if they would like it happening to them and for the last ten minutes I was the only person speaking! They just sat there! I told them I wanted to take out a grievance so I now have a meeting on Thursday morning. I told them I knew for a fact it was going to be me from all the comments. They kept looking at each other and neither knew what to do.

I still feel I am leaving. They told me no decisions have been made yet but I said it's obvious I am going, it's been made clear to me. They were so uncomfortable.

You know what? I'm not even worried now, at the end of the day I do not want to work for people like that anymore. They tried to make out they had it all worked out but in the end they had no answers for me. They even said that if I had more questions to ask I should e-mail them before Thursday with them. No way! I'm not giving them chance to find out an answer. If they are making me redundant they should know answers to the questions.

They even admitted it'd be hard to spread my work out especially as the others don't really know how to do my work and I said to them if you were in my shoes you would definitely know it was you who was going to be made redundant too.

I don't know how I did it but I managed to get them off the subject of redundancy and onto this. They were letting me lead as neither knew what to say or do.

I feel so much better now, we will see what happens. It won't be good but I'm going to rise above this, I can and will do better!

Thanks everyone!

anniecave

juicy - I really feel for you.

On the other hand, if someone (like a manager) wants you out, then you know it's not fair, but maybe you'll be better off elsewhere!

Someone who is good at their job will always be welcome somewhere else, so hopefully, you should not have too much of a problem getting another job.

If I was you I would try to keep calm and accept whatever they decide now.

Hopefully they will reconsider and see sense, but that's up to them!

If they do decide you are to go, try your best to hand over your work as best you can (so people will remember you well) and be professional over it all.

Also aim to get a good reference that reflects the job you did. If you are studying for exams and your work experience is important for this, then it will help if you drafted out as carefully as you can what tasks exacly you have been doing and ask your employer to sign to confirm this is accuarate. Useful for you to this anyway if you have to update your CV!

All the best...

kiddy_guy

Hi Juicy

Just wanted to add to your thread and hopefully add some help if I can.

First of all - very sorry for your situation - I have been in the exact, and I mean exact same position. My old boss favoured a particular member of staff and when it came down to a reshuffle, I got made redundant. He was also a nasty piece of work, and I detailed every little thing he said to me, time, and who witnessed it.

Secondly and can I be honest? You are likely to be losing your job here. Your name has been put on the chopping block and it is 99.9% going to happen. Been there, seen it, both to myself and other colleagues. You can argue that you are being scapegoated, and you're right, but if they want to get rid of you, then it will happen.

What you need to do now is to basically ensure you get the best result out of the situation. And that is purely financial. (You might argue you want to bring down your boss too, but it will only make you feel better, but I assure you they'll get their comeuppence sooner or later - In my case, they got made redundant/pushed out the door some 10 months later ! )

You need to arm yourself with as much documentary evidence before you go into your next meeting - times/dates/witnesses to your manager being abusive to you. You also need to provide documention to the effect you are more than capable of doing the job/and the other job, so that they have to offer you her position (then choose the best candidate), plus also the friendship on which she was brought in, and the unfairness of this situation, plus the relationship between the 2 which suggests at telling her confidential info. I think you've done the right thing by bringing in the subject of grievances - HR will now have to be involved and you will have the right to reply, and get it fully investigated.

You need to do a few things - string it along as long as poss, to earn the max amount of money, ensure that they follow procedures - if they don't you can have them on this. If needs be bring representation to the meetings - make sure they know you are 100% serious - and if worst comes to the worst, unfair dismissal may really make them panic. This could be very costly, and they need to understand that what they thought would be a quick consultation, then redundancy, is actually a whole different ball game.

Equally - start looking around - you're clearly talented, hard working - they're bloody lucky to have you. Get working on that CV - even if you don't lose your job - do you really want to work for these idiots?

I got my redundancy pay, plus bonus for staying until the handover, plus my stat redundancy, plus I got to leave 3 months early on full pay. I got everything I wanted, plus my boss who screwed me over got screwed over himself - he decided to keep his mates rather than the experienced people who actually managed the place properly, and then wondered why it all went pear shaped!

Just to add - make sure you get them to write a top notch reference before you leave as part of the package.

TotallyBroke

juicy83 wrote: »

Hi everyone!

Thank you all for the kind messages!

Well where do I start?! It didn't go too well at first. They basically told me that due to the credit crunch my work will decrease because we will not be getting so much money and they have to share out my work between my colleagues as mine is the only role who everyone could do some of. This is so very not true! I let them have their say first though. They said the other woman operates at a higher level than I do because she is more qualified and some of her work I could not do. I did argue at this point because the work she does I have taken an exam on and passed!! Even if I'm not up to the same level as her I can do what she does! Obviously I would need help at first but she did as well! They said that due to my workload decreasing everyone else's would as well. My argument is if that's the case than surely my Manager's workload would definitely decrease and she could take back the work all the previous Manager's managed to do?
They tried to tell me it's not personal and my Manager had nothing to do with it. They said she's supportive of me and doesn't want to lose me. They had no answer though when I asked why she had said it wasn't bad news and why she hasn't spoken to me since Thursday?! She is definitely not supportive of me. I told them how it's become clear the other woman knows about my position and I mentioned all the little hints that been dropped by my Manager. Both of them just sat there and asked if they could take a 5min break! It ended up being a 10 min break and one of them apologised to me!!! I cannot believe he said that the comments should not have been made and they felt they should apologise. He's basically admitted he knows what my Manager is like. He hadn't even spoken to my Manager, how does he know I'm telling the truth yet????? I am but he doesn't know it!

I've only just found out though some other people have made complaints against her before. I'm positive they know what she has done. I told them its bullying and obviously I find all of this very distressing. They agreed and said it was not nice for me. I asked them if they would like it happening to them and for the last ten minutes I was the only person speaking! They just sat there! I told them I wanted to take out a grievance so I now have a meeting on Thursday morning. I told them I knew for a fact it was going to be me from all the comments. They kept looking at each other and neither knew what to do.

I still feel I am leaving. They told me no decisions have been made yet but I said it's obvious I am going, it's been made clear to me. They were so uncomfortable.

You know what? I'm not even worried now, at the end of the day I do not want to work for people like that anymore. They tried to make out they had it all worked out but in the end they had no answers for me. They even said that if I had more questions to ask I should e-mail them before Thursday with them. No way! I'm not giving them chance to find out an answer. If they are making me redundant they should know answers to the questions.

They even admitted it'd be hard to spread my work out especially as the others don't really know how to do my work and I said to them if you were in my shoes you would definitely know it was you who was going to be made redundant too.

I don't know how I did it but I managed to get them off the subject of redundancy and onto this. They were letting me lead as neither knew what to say or do.

I feel so much better now, we will see what happens. It won't be good but I'm going to rise above this, I can and will do better!

Thanks everyone!

Ask them today to have the minutes of the meeting typed and readily available to you by the end of the day. So that you can ask questions before Thursday.
Once they have done this correctly, you can then ask the questions as to why they will make you redundant. Especially when they have admitted that to move your work to other collegues would be hard because they would need training to do that at the expense of the company.
I think the focus needs to be on you to prove that although your workload will decrease you are still needed by the company. Prove to them that you have the skills to do X,Y and Z but currently only do X and Y. Ask them to re-evaulate other skills from other members of staff and their current work loads and make a more informed decision and selection. Ask to see the selection and their findings.

Then if you are able to keep the job then make the grievance about your Manager after the event.
The thing here is to keep your job

suekjw

Juicy, yes you are pobably on the way out but you can make sure you get the best package you can. Also, you can make sure you make things as uncomfortable as you can for her in the process. All the best.

Lucias_mum

I too am following this thread with interest - I am in a very similar position to you at the moment. Don't give up - you're doing so well !!!!:j

HelzBelz

All the best for Thursday