Love the job, not too keen on co-worker!

Spendless

I do ad-hoc admin cover for a firm covering for holidays and absences for different people and I've gone through something similar myself this year with one new member of staff (the others are lovely). I raised it as an issue with my line manager, who said she'd keep an eye on the situation. Then I decided to ignore my colleague, rise above it and cover my back for anything she could 'stitch' me up for. Eg I made sure I saved the hard copy of the instructions she'd left me so that it couldn't be claimed 'that I hadn't done such and such' when she hadn't left me precise instructions. I then left her to it and sure enough she was given given enough rope.....etc. I discovered recently that she's being moved on to other duties.

I know people are giving you a hard time about reading emails, I suspect that you use the same email addy eg admin@workplace and either the subjects aren't titled or are titled in such a way you wouldn't know what the content was and you've been asked to llok for something.

Confusedandneedhelp

notanewuser wrote: »

In the absence of any obvious unlawful discrimination, or will be another 22 months before any claim for constructive dismissal. That's without mentioning how few claims for CD succeed.......

well i presume the op is quitting any time soon, and yes only a few do succeed, but that isnt to say its not worth it and this is certainly an indication of what is to follow, with a HR representative no less

purpleshoes_2

Confusedandneedhelp wrote: »

well i presume the op is quitting any time soon, and yes only a few do succeed, but that isnt to say its not worth it and this is certainly an indication of what is to follow, with a HR representative no less

You cant lodge a case for constructive dismissal with employment tribunal until you have been employed for 2 years with the same employer.

purpleshoes_2

Are you in a union? If you arent Id think about joining one. Soon.

egoode

katie_saver wrote: »

I can see how it may seem weird to some but yes, the treatment I am getting is making me paranoid!

You mention the emails but how does she treat you generally in the office? Does she obstruct you from doing your job, not send you things you need to complete your tasks, etc.

If it's just emails I'd be trying to ignore it and do my best not to look for anymore when you need to access her account.

With the tea one maybe she gets upset you don't offer to get her one. I know people I work with that complain about things like that which I've never really understood but then I don't drink tea or coffee so have never had to worry about it.

Confusedandneedhelp

purpleshoes wrote: »

You cant lodge a case for constructive dismissal with employment tribunal until you have been employed for 2 years with the same employer.

My post was meant to say isn't, i know this, as i had a case for constructive dismissal.

Georgiegirl256

katie_saver wrote: »

And this morning - because I had a dentist appointment she was asking HR - 'is she going to be making up the time? She has been making personal phone calls a lot this week and has another dentist appointment etc...!

I hate jobsworths :mad: What on earth has it got to do with her? Surely she must know that you're going to see these emails? She's either really stupid or is doing it on purpose to wind you up....which understandably is succeeding.

I'd be tempted to email her back saying that as she is so interested in your dental appointments, would she like to know all the gory details?! Or when I was going to make a cuppa...."get your email at the ready, I'm going to make a cup of tea"

Or, just have a word with her and ask her what she's playing at?

sulphate

egoode wrote: »

You mention the emails but how does she treat you generally in the office? Does she obstruct you from doing your job, not send you things you need to complete your tasks, etc.

If it's just emails I'd be trying to ignore it and do my best not to look for anymore when you need to access her account.

With the tea one maybe she gets upset you don't offer to get her one. I know people I work with that complain about things like that which I've never really understood but then I don't drink tea or coffee so have never had to worry about it.

"Just" e-mails?

Doing stuff like this via e-mail is even more stupid than making silly comments to a member of staff face to face, because e-mails can be documented. From what the OP has said it's pretty obvious that her colleague has an actual issue with her beyond whether or not she offers to bring her a cup of tea.

I'm tempted to agree with Georgiegirl - confront her directly. And the woman who works in HR - talk about unprofessional (assuming she is responding to the e-mails in a similar manner).

katie_saver

Thanks for your replies.
A - I know I do not have a leg to stand on as I have only been here for a couple of months - I really don't want to quit though because I love the job itself.
B - Yes, she really is that stupid that she doesn't realise I have to access her emails!
C - I always make her a cup of tea, she has made me a couple in the 2 months I've been here.
D - She is constantly texting on her phone and when the HR manager and boss were out, she was making calls all the time...

The way I see it is she has been here for ages, she knows how to play HR lady and she dislikes the fact that the boss likes me and that I'm doing a good job.
It's very frustrating but I agree I should just keep my head down and ignore her as the situation if I were to confront her would be unbearable!
Thanks for your support though...deep breaths required!

katie_saver

Sulphate - Yes - HR lady is responding in exactly the same way...funny that she hasn't been bothered to ask me about my breaks or phone calls though. Cowardly to say the least but then bullies often are!