HR/Legal issue

Savvy_Sue

SueC wrote: »

I think I would wait for my boss to ask me to look up something in his Inbox, and then casually say "Oh yes, here it is, right next to the one about the size of my a$$".

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Sorry OP, I know the situation you are in is not funny, but this made me laugh

yes, me too.

However, were the emails you had seen ones which you should reasonably have been expected to access?

My (new) manager has said that it's fine to go into her emails if I need to, and knows that I can get access. We were looking for a particular email together the other day, and I saw that she has had an exchange of emails with her manager about me, because my name's in the subject. However, I can't think of any reason why I'd need to access that one. And I know what it's about, just don't know what the decision is yet, which means it hasn't been made yet.

So if the subject line was fairly generic and you could argue a 'need to know', then opening those particular emails wouldn't be unreasonable.

Opening an email which said "Confidential: SJ's application for the new vacancy" might been seen as unreasonable.

Of course if the subject line included your name and a comment about your figure, that really is dim of your manager ...

SJ_Jones

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Sorry OP, I know the situation you are in is not funny, but this made me laugh

Don't worry, it made me laugh too!!

There's no record of the authorisation for my access (that I know of anyway), but our IT wouldn't have given me access without his approval, it's not something I could have done myself.

A friend I confided in said to keep it in mind if I ever get in trouble for anything (not meeting objectives for example) and then bring it up as the reason behind it.... emotional stress!


Thanks for all the comments. At the moment, I think I'm going to leave it for now, and keep an eye out for other things... At least I now know he's an utter scumbag!

GrannyKate

Lots of people in organisations give email access to other people for business continuity reasons (ie we never know when we will get run over) Your boss will have agreed but presumably only expects you to look when there is a business need. Looking at things you have deleted is not a good reason except in emergencies. You appear to be using boss' in box as a storage facility and emergency back up for yourself.

This does not excuse his behaviour or the things he is saying but you do not have the moral high ground here. Two wrongs do not make a right. He may however be well aware of what you are doing and is deliberately winding you up.

I would suggest:

Take a copy of those you know of as insurance
Set up you own archive for emails you may need
Stop looking at his inbox unless a more senior person asks you to look at it
Check who has access to your own inbox
Look for another job

bigpound

If there is no record of you being granted access, then they will just say it was a mistake and you shouldn't have had access in the first place.

Sambucus_Nigra

bigpound wrote: »

If there is no record of you being granted access, then they will just say it was a mistake and you shouldn't have had access in the first place.

Of course there will be a record - it will have been a request by the manager. It's just that the OP won't ever have seen it.

LillythePink

Why not apply for the job anyway just even to see what happens/what is said and keep an eye on the inbox of your manager to see if there are any emails which appear making fun of your app etc or even to see how they can make it difficult for you - then you can address those issues in your application so that they have no choice but to either promote you or if they give the job to someone else, you can ask formally why etc but as you have the inside info on what they did, you could then raise a grievance given that you have played their game and still lost.

m_13

IT don't need to give you access to somebody's mailbox. They can do it themselves via delegation on Outlook. I have access to my boss' emails for emergencies but really wouldn't open anything that has nothing to do with me. As GrannyKate says, it's not why you get given access. I'd be tempted if the mail were about me but it's not worth my job. Why did you open them?

SueC_2

m_13 wrote: »

IT don't need to give you access to somebody's mailbox. They can do it themselves via delegation on Outlook. I have access to my boss' emails for emergencies but really wouldn't open anything that has nothing to do with me. As GrannyKate says, it's not why you get given access. I'd be tempted if the mail were about me but it's not worth my job. Why did you open them?

Hang on, before we start beating up the OP too much, let's remind ourselves that we don't actually know why she has been given access to his emails.

I have access to my boss' emails so that I can sift through them, deal with the dross, and only bother him with the important stuff. I wouldn't be doing my job well if I didn't read them all.

Luckily I have a boss who is decent and sensible enough not to say anything he shouldn't via the email system, so I don't stumble across anything that causes me any angst.

SJ_Jones

m_13 wrote: »

IT don't need to give you access to somebody's mailbox. They can do it themselves via delegation on Outlook.

We have a very large IT department (over half our company is IT), any options like that are disabled, and can ONLY be done by someone with special permissions.

sho_me_da_money

If you want a payout, build up the evidence and when you have enough, take sick leave.

Use the stress claim, use the fact you have had your self-esteem knocked, you feel depressed. People rip on you personally about the size of your big mamma booty and you feel very uncomfortable going into work.

Hopefully they will try and fire you after some time off, at which point, you file an unfair dismissal claim.