Harassed while off sick/My Demon job

Joann23

Hi folks, looking for some advice here...I work for quite a small family run business, where I do some web work for them. It barely pays above minimum wage, and the amount of work I do compared to the ridiculously low amount my boss charges is crazy, he sells sites far too cheaply. This increases my workload tremendously, yet i'm still expected to do more in the same hours and he wont hire anyone else.

His girlfriend, is also 'Office manager', which means she spends all day on amazon or ebay, doing what she wants. She has recently started having digs and jibes about me to my face, demanding to know what i'm working on, trying to change designs etc. Last week, I was working on something and she started screaming at me that it was lunchtime, when i told her I was working on something, in front of clients, she made the comment of 'When i tell you it's lunchtime, that's the school bell ringing. You take your lunch when I tell you!'. She hovers above my shoulders when i'm with clients and in front of them, makes statements like 'I pay your wages' (she doesn't). Boss isn't interested in her behaviour, or what she does as long as the works getting done.

Since Tuesday, I have been off with a chest/throat infection. Everyday, since I have been off, i've been phoned or texted by this woman demanding things related to work. I keep the passwords for all our sites on my personal hard drive, along with all of my Joomla/CMS themes/various bits of software which I have paid for myself.

Yesterday, i get a text from her at 8 in the morning, saying she is coming round to take my hard drive , and will copy everything from it onto a new one at work, and will return it that evening. I explain to her that no, i'm in bed, in pain and not very well. I'm off sick and that I don't want her turning up at my home. She replies that while she appreciates i'm off sick, that she wants to take my hard drive and copy it as there are things on it that she needs for work (she's not a web designer, so she can't use any of this stuff herself). I yet again, tell her, i'm off sick, i'm in bed, and i'm not getting up. She yet again demands that I give her my hard drive. I then tell her that i'm not being bullied into getting up, im off sick trying to feel better, and this isn't helping, and that I wouldn't be giving her my hard drive anyway, as it's my personal one and I wouldn't be giving her my personal files.

Today, I got a message, from her demanding I give her specific usernames and passwords, which she needs 'NOW'. I then get more texts saying she needs 'data' and that clients are phoning up for changes to websites, that she can't do and she needs all this info now. (they wouldn't have been phoning, they would always email me for changes, and she's incapable of doing them anyway). I just ignored her texts today.

It looks like she's got paranoid about me taking a sick day off, and is using it as an excuse to get passwords etc off me, or she's planning on firing me, and wants me to get this stuff to her before she does.

Anyways, i've got all this to look forward to dealing with on Monday morning when I return to work.
Any advice?

KiKi

Yes. Get out of there.

If the passwords etc are for the company, and they ask for them, you should share them unless there are good business reasons for doing so. Otherwise I think you were right to not respond.

How long have you worked there?

dseventy

Joann23 wrote: »

Hi folks, looking for some advice here...I work for quite a small family run business, where I do some web work for them. It barely pays above minimum wage, and the amount of work I do compared to the ridiculously low amount my boss charges is crazy, he sells sites far too cheaply. This increases my workload tremendously, yet i'm still expected to do more in the same hours and he wont hire anyone else.

His girlfriend, is also 'Office manager', which means she spends all day on amazon or ebay, doing what she wants. She has recently started having digs and jibes about me to my face, demanding to know what i'm working on, trying to change designs etc. Last week, I was working on something and she started screaming at me that it was lunchtime, when i told her I was working on something, in front of clients, she made the comment of 'When i tell you it's lunchtime, that's the school bell ringing. You take your lunch when I tell you!'. She hovers above my shoulders when i'm with clients and in front of them, makes statements like 'I pay your wages' (she doesn't). Boss isn't interested in her behaviour, or what she does as long as the works getting done.

Since Tuesday, I have been off with a chest/throat infection. Everyday, since I have been off, i've been phoned or texted by this woman demanding things related to work. I keep the passwords for all our sites on my personal hard drive, along with all of my Joomla/CMS themes/various bits of software which I have paid for myself.

Yesterday, i get a text from her at 8 in the morning, saying she is coming round to take my hard drive , and will copy everything from it onto a new one at work, and will return it that evening. I explain to her that no, i'm in bed, in pain and not very well. I'm off sick and that I don't want her turning up at my home. She replies that while she appreciates i'm off sick, that she wants to take my hard drive and copy it as there are things on it that she needs for work (she's not a web designer, so she can't use any of this stuff herself). I yet again, tell her, i'm off sick, i'm in bed, and i'm not getting up. She yet again demands that I give her my hard drive. I then tell her that i'm not being bullied into getting up, im off sick trying to feel better, and this isn't helping, and that I wouldn't be giving her my hard drive anyway, as it's my personal one and I wouldn't be giving her my personal files.

Today, I got a message, from her demanding I give her specific usernames and passwords, which she needs 'NOW'. I then get more texts saying she needs 'data' and that clients are phoning up for changes to websites, that she can't do and she needs all this info now. (they wouldn't have been phoning, they would always email me for changes, and she's incapable of doing them anyway). I just ignored her texts today.

It looks like she's got paranoid about me taking a sick day off, and is using it as an excuse to get passwords etc off me, or she's planning on firing me, and wants me to get this stuff to her before she does.

Anyways, i've got all this to look forward to dealing with on Monday morning when I return to work.
Any advice?

Lots of issues here, I'll try and address the main ones.

• If you are working on clients sites through work, the passwords etc is NOT YOURS and work asking for them is justified.
• Ignoring all the "girlfriend" issues, she is the office manager. I imagine her role is to deal with customers who want changes. Its NOT unreasonable for her to want password/logins to change client sites.
• She has NO RIGHT to ask for your hard disk, but she does have every right for any passwords or keys to access or change the content of client sites.

I woulf furnish her with all the passwords/logins/information she needs (not your HD) and leave it at that.

You can give her all this without her taking your HD.

D70

Joann23

Thanks folks, D70 - I have never told her I would keep any passwords, as they're on a file on my H/D, I told her that I was in bed, off sick, not up to dealing with all of this at the moment, never mind staring using a pc and would see to this when I got back on Monday.

Errata

Give her what she asks for, it's company property which you've taken off-site apparently without instruction or permission

KiKi

Errata wrote: »

Give her what she asks for, it's company property which you've taken off-site apparently without instruction or permission

Hang on - you have no idea whether a hard drive has been taken without instruction or permission, the OP hasn't said.

Not only that, the hard drive referred to in the post is the OP's personal hard drive. So nothing taken off company property with *or* without permission that we know of.

KiKi

blossomhill_2

OP
The company is at fault for not having a contingency plan for if/when you are off - this should be something like the passwords kept in a sealed envelope on site. This may even have been your responsibility

However they haven't got contingency in place so have reasonably contacted you - obviously the clients have rung her due to their emails to you going unanswered

So you either have to ignore contact from the company while ill (ie if you are well enough to respond to texts they will see you as being well enough to send them passwords) or respond reasonably to help them out in this situation

Once back at work then discuss contingency plans for if it ever crops up again

It isn't your place to decide how they cope in your absence - you may think that she isn't a web designer so has no need for passwords, but that is the company's business and they may be taking on temp web design cover for your absence

If you think that your work may be compromised/changed, then your back ups will allow it to be reinstated on return

She is not "this woman" - she is the office manager at your place of work

Is it possible that your illness is affecting your judgement? If so, take care what you say to your employers during your absence, as frankly she is not the one coming across as paranoid

agrinnall

KiKi wrote: »

Hang on - you have no idea whether a hard drive has been taken without instruction or permission, the OP hasn't said.

Not only that, the hard drive referred to in the post is the OP's personal hard drive. So nothing taken off company property with *or* without permission that we know of.

KiKi

But surely you would agree that there is a high likelihood of data protection issues with the OP keeping sensitive data on a personal hard drive, even if it is with the permission of the company?

laurz121

In my opinion the hard drive isn't the issue here. What is an issue is that the OP has taken home the (apparently) only copy of important work things. They've taken home passwords, usernames and other work documents and work has asked for them back. A reasonable request in my opinion.

If the OP didn't want to be bothered at home while off sick then perhaps it wasnt the best idea to take home vital passwords on a personal hard drive.

If I decided to take home the keys to the till at work and I was off sick the next day I'd say it is completely reasonable for my employer to ask to come and take the keys back to work as they would need them. It's also reasonable for them to say they were going to make a copy of the keys so that the same problem cannot occur in the future.

laurz121

KiKi wrote: »

Hang on - you have no idea whether a hard drive has been taken without instruction or permission, the OP hasn't said.

Not only that, the hard drive referred to in the post is the OP's personal hard drive. So nothing taken off company property with *or* without permission that we know of.

KiKi

I would say that work passwords, usernames and data is company property which the OP took home. Property doesn't only mean physical things like the hard-drive, it includes the stuff on it if that belongs to the employer.

KiKi

agrinnall wrote: »

But surely you would agree that there is a high likelihood of data protection issues with the OP keeping sensitive data on a personal hard drive, even if it is with the permission of the company?

That's *possible* - but that would be the company's problem if they gave permission, not the OP's. And they do obviously know about it.

Regardless, that's got absolutely nothing to do with my reply, which was in response to another poster admonishing the OP for 'taking company property without instruction or permission' of which there is no evidence!!