Suspended - help please

RiverStar

Hi all, any help is appreciated.
I was suspended from work on 18th February on allegations of gross misconduct with regards to misuse of the email facility.

I was called into the temporary manager's office and asked questions relating to email/IT use. The were re confidentially, bringing company into disrepute and use of email facility for personal use.

I answered l obviously wouldnt bring company into disrepute and l do not discuss anything confidential with external companies either.

To get to the point. I was asked if l use email facility for personal use. I said yes, l email my partner on the odd occasion but not often and am certainly not derogatory or talk about anything confidential.

I was told that on that note, l am suspended on full pay, collect my things and leave. I asked what exactly have l done to be suspended on gross misconduct, to be told 'you are suspended for allegations of misuse of the email facility'

So, three days later, l received a letter telling me I'm suspended pending investigation. Also, included were minutes of the 'meeting' described above where l was suspended.

These minutes had discrepancies as in a missing paragraph of my response. Responses were quoted wrongly which read as if l had an attitude.

I was requested to sign these and return. I didnt, l wrote back with corrections.

On Fri 27th, l received a response saying the manager would incorporate my changes as it doesn't change anything (the allegation).

There is more to this, I'll share soon re policies etc

these minutes were headed up 'Investigation Meeting Minutes'.
I wasnt told it was an investigation meeting, as l was asked 3 questions then suspended, and it was pending investigation.

Q: how can it be called an investigation meeting when it was pending investigation?

Also, with suspension letter, l was sent a copy of the Disciplinary policy where it states 'excessive' personal use of email constitutes gm.

I certainly dont email my partner that often. Usually l respond to him and can go about 3 weeks without emailing at all.

I understand everyone may have a different perception of what excessive means but in the 4 1/2 years I've worked there I've never been spoken to about personal use (l click on a 'this system is monitored, please agree before logging in' icon)

Two weeks on, l dont know what email she is referring to, and l think she is waiting on my signed edited minutes before proceeding.

I know other managers can log in on there own passwords to anyone system. As she is a temp, l gave her my password for access to a file l had. She obviously pulled up outlook and of course saw a personal email coming in.

Sorry, for waffling a bit. I'd like to know:
1. Should the minutes be called investigation when this was pending?
Is it normal to take minuts at this stage or was she just being efficient?

2.is it normal to be suspended for 2 weeks for sending an email?

3. Would suspension for sending an email consitute gm?

Thanks for reading and any advice appreciated.

jobbingmusician

Firstly, I stress that I am no expert, simply an employer. However, in my view there are two possible ways to infringe the company's policy

- quantity of personal emails
- content of personal emails.

You've stated that you seldom use the facility, and have never said anything derogatory.

If all your emails were to your partner, presumably you will be able to get copies, so your employer will find it difficult to manufacture evidence against you (should they be so minded!)

In direct response to your questions

1. I think this is a red herring, and unimportant. How are they supposed to know whether an investigation SHOULD be carried out, without doing some prelim digging? They can call these initial digs a pre-investigation, or an investigation, it doesn't change anything.

2. No, not normal. But I don't think you've been suspended for this. I think you have probably been suspended either because they want an excuse to get rid of you, or because someone has alleged that you have misused the system. Suspension is supposed to be a neutral act, and the BEST interpretation of the situation is that they are behaving totally fairly, investigating an allegation which will of course be proved false by the investigation. One email COULD constitute GM if you had said something which brought the company into disrepute. Multiple emails COULD be GM if they constituted theft of company time, but a single (non disrepute type) email couldn't be theft of company time or breaching the policy if the policy specifically says that EXCESSIVE use of email is GM, as the 'excessive' implies that SOME use is acceptable.

PHILANTHROPIST

River Star - Jobbing Musician makes some poignant comments.

From a legal perspective based on what you say my own response to your 3 queries would be as follows :

1. Should the minutes be called investigation when this was pending?
Is it normal to take minuts at this stage or was she just being efficient? -

This is a mere consideration re good practice. It has little, if anything, to do with the law. I would not be concerned regarding that specific issue ; you need to focus on others.

2.is it normal to be suspended for 2 weeks for sending an email? -

There is no set timeframe. I have seen anything between 6 hours ...and 6 months. Essentially, all things being equal the period of suspension must be as short as practicable whilst at the same time being of sufficient duration to (theoretically) conduct a fair and thorough investigation, and , if applicable, disciplinary process. Two weeks is OK, but if the investigation alone carries on for another week I would consider raising a grievance.

3. Would suspension for sending an email consitute gm? -

Depends on the facts and circumstances and most importantly the evidence. Based on what you say it would be a brave employer that eventually concludes that you have committed an act of GM. Have you a recent history of any disciplinary issues (e.g. informal warnings, formal warnings etc ?). GM, or worse still dismissal, for a first offence (if upheld) may well be overly harsh and unfair. Does or could anybody else gain access to your work email ?

RiverStar

Hi jobbing musician, thanks for your reply.

I agree, l think I'm suspended for more than this as for 4 years I've used email to my partner as l cant get a signal on my mobile. I asked a previous manager if this was ok and he said yes as long as not emailing a lot, so l presumed it was ok.

Also, l have appraisals and this issue has never been brought up at all.

I did ask my partner to print off any emails we have sent and tbh we cant see anything there that would warrant misconduct in any way.

It looks like its for using the company email for personal use, but the policy does state excessive use so, like you said, l took that to mean some use is acceptable.

Personally, l believe the temp manager (been filling in eince end Nov until new manager starts)is using this for to tick a box on her cv as she told me she didnt get a permanent managerial job because of lack of experience.
(I know this is conjecture on my part, but l am stressed out over this and would hate to think this is all because of an email sent...if this is the case, could l raise a grievance?)

RiverStar

PHILANTHROPIST wrote: »

River Star - Jobbing Musician makes some poignant comments.

From a legal perspective based on what you say my own response to your 3 queries would be as follows :

1. Should the minutes be called investigation when this was pending?
Is it normal to take minuts at this stage or was she just being efficient? -

This is a mere consideration re good practice. It has little, if anything, to do with the law. I would not be concerned regarding that specific issue ; you need to focus on others.

2.is it normal to be suspended for 2 weeks for sending an email? -

There is no set timeframe. I have seen anything between 6 hours ...and 6 months. Essentially, all things being equal the period of suspension must be as short as practicable whilst at the same time being of sufficient duration to (theoretically) conduct a fair and thorough investigation, and , if applicable, disciplinary process. Two weeks is OK, but if the investigation alone carries on for another week I would consider raising a grievance.

3. Would suspension for sending an email consitute gm? -

Depends on the facts and circumstances and most importantly the evidence. Based on what you say it would be a brave employer that eventually concludes that you have committed an act of GM. Have you a recent history of any disciplinary issues (e.g. informal warnings, formal warnings etc ?). GM, or worse still dismissal, for a first offence (if upheld) may well be overly harsh and unfair. Does or could anybody else gain access to your work email ?

Hi philanthropist, thanks for replying.
No, l haven't had any history at all of warnings etc. I've a clean work record, even a good attendance (3 sick days in 4 years).

First l knew of anything was when summoned, asked 3 questions, then suspended on admitting l email my partner. The emails were trivial, usually along lines of ' I'll be late home... having a hard day... hows your day going' l would reply ' no probs, just get on with it ..not long till home time etc'.

Re: other people having access - yes they do, I've an email from a senior manager which has my email signature on it but was sent from her own email address. I'm not IT technical at all but they would have no reason to copy/paste this at all.

According to the disciplinary procedure, they penalty for email misuse is final written warning/dismissal.

In disciplinary policy also states most things could be dealt with, with a quite word first. If l was approached with this, l would certainly not continued to email.

PHILANTHROPIST

RiverStar wrote: »

Hi philanthropist, thanks for replying.
No, l haven't had any history at all of warnings etc. I've a clean work record, even a good attendance (3 sick days in 4 years).

First l knew of anything was when summoned, asked 3 questions, then suspended on admitting l email my partner. The emails were trivial, usually along lines of ' I'll be late home... having a hard day... hows your day going' l would reply ' no probs, just get on with it ..not long till home time etc'.

Re: other people having access - yes they do, I've an email from a senior manager which has my email signature on it but was sent from her own email address. I'm not IT technical at all but they would have no reason to copy/paste this at all

According to the disciplinary procedure, they penalty for email misuse is final written warning/dismissal.

In disciplinary policy also states most things could be dealt with, with a quite word first. If l was approached with this, l would certainly not continued to email.

RS - Based on above you should in theory be ok, but employers will sometimes act as though they are (or think they are) above the law.

Re your circumstances I have dealt with a case where email misuse was alleged and an unsuspecting employee accused. Eventually, had to have an independent IT forensic search of employee's hard drive etc. The culprit was an IT savvy manager. It happens.

Keep us updated.

dappy_breh

Using the company phone for personal calls is grounds for gross misconduct so I guess this could also be extended to personal email use.

Ozzuk

This is a very weird situation - I'd agree with most here that if usage is as described then it would be very hard to read as excessive.

The whole managers having passwords that can log onto user machines and see user email is also odd, but maybe a security requirement of your place. Finally, giving your password to someone so they can access a file is almost certainly a breach of IT policy and wouldn't reflect well on temp or you, so you might not want to mention that.

Check your sent items, prove how intermittent your emails are, if necessary the company should be able to recover your mailbox as further proof. Ask for a definition of 'excessive'. The whole situation sounds very strange, either your temp manager has said something else, or you aren't being straight up (which for what its worth you seem to be), or they want you out and this is a poor way of trying. Good luck!

RiverStar

Philanthropist,
Thank you, l will.

RiverStar

Philanthropist,
Thank you, l will.

Ozzuk

dappy_breh wrote: »

Using the company phone for personal calls is grounds for gross misconduct so I guess this could also be extended to personal email use.

Can be grounds for misconduct however there is no official act governing this so it would be entirely down to local IT policy.

Giving OP says their policy governs 'excessive' use you can argue this actually permits limited use - which is very common and usually same for phone/internet (though not always).