Bullying from Boss - Untrue Allegations Made Against Me

NeedSomHelp

So to keep it brief, I have been working for a company for 3.5 years, no real issues until the turn of the year when a new manager took over and since then I have been the target of constant criticism, undermining and various acts designed to push me out of the door.

Basically what has been happening is after no issues with the quality of my work since I started, suddenly issues started getting flagged as being poor quality work, a lot of the way quality is assessed in our workplace includes discretion, and as such this can (and is) being abused by marking down people for certain things you don't mark others down for.

Also the process is flawed, I work in a large multi-national and the quality is reviewed by a native speaker of English, I work with people from 30 different countries and the other peoples work are checked simply by putting the work into Google translate and seeing if it looks round about right allowing for the fact Google translate is not an exact science. Straight away it means the native English speakers are at a disadvantage as they are subject to more scrutiny than others.

Previously. quality was audited by people outside the department and by native speakers of the particular language, this was removed a number of months ago and allows the procedure and the scores to be manipulated in a way that wasn't possible before, since now one person has control over everything. In my case I have saw said person going through all of my work and assessing it all, but then making sure that the "random" sample only includes work where there is any mistake, and not choosing anything that is done very well. Essentially he is using non random date and fixing the sample to prove a particular point, however it is impossible for me to prove this.

With this in mind to beat him at his own game, I started to work late every now and then and double, triple check all of my work for the smallest mistake and always if in doubt on anything with his emails go into minute detail so he can't argue later. Last week he said he had reviewed over 5000 pieces of work since 2014 and had noticed 30, what he would call mistakes, but at the time when some of this work was done, there were different processes than exist now and at the time of completion about 50% of that work was in line with the then guidelines.

I looked at similar cases of other peoples work that I had access and I found a lot more issues and more often than in my case. I told my boss I had noticed this and if he was going to apply the same actions to others he did to me and he said he will not enter this discussion by email (obvious why), but said in the email I am not allowed to research mistakes in other peoples work and told me in person this could be considered willful dereliction of duties that is a gross misconduct offence.

Now he has ran out of things to complain about in relation to my work since I have been extra careful to work late and make sure I don't make the smallest mistake, he has changed tack, I was using my phone for 30 seconds in work and everyone does, and he told me that my mobile phone usage was unacceptable and was mocking him since if I spent less time looking at my phone I would be able to complete my work quicker and that I am treating him unfairly and he will go to HR about me in an aggressive voice and went to walk out the room.

I asked him if we can talk about it calmly and to sit down and he told me no, and I said that I will have to speak to HR about it myself as I was unhappy at the tone of the meeting and being accused of mocking him, to which he told me to go ahead because it would be his word against mine, little did I know what he had in store for me.

I spoke to his boss since HR were not there and told them what happened and I was asked if I swore at him. Didn't understand where that came from, but the next day I got an email from him claiming minutes of the meeting and in it he stated I swore at him and called him names (I didn't). I replied back and stated that I gave my version of events to his manager and I discussed what may or may have happened in the meeting and I stand by them but I am not neither confirming or denying his side of events.

I then got a mail last night with a loaded question.
"What I stated you said in the meeting was an accurate representation of the discussion we had, will you please admit that you did call me names and withdraw the hint bout me possibly fabricating the incident or I will consider it a fundamental breach of trust as per disciplinary policy, which is it to be?"

Which basically translates as which way do you want to get fired for gross misconduct. Of course I simply responded "I did not make any accusation, I simply was saying I neither agree nor disagree with the points you made."

I'm in a tight spot here, there are no witnesses to back him up (unless he gets someone to lie) but I have a feeling on Monday I am going to face another grilling.

Any advice?

sangie595

NeedSomHelp wrote: »

So to keep it brief, I have been working for a company for 3.5 years, no real issues until the turn of the year when a new manager took over and since then I have been the target of constant criticism, undermining and various acts designed to push me out of the door.

Basically what has been happening is after no issues with the quality of my work since I started, suddenly issues started getting flagged as being poor quality work, a lot of the way quality is assessed in our workplace includes discretion, and as such this can (and is) being abused by marking down people for certain things you don't mark others down for.

Also the process is flawed, I work in a large multi-national and the quality is reviewed by a native speaker of English, I work with people from 30 different countries and the other peoples work are checked simply by putting the work into Google translate and seeing if it looks round about right allowing for the fact Google translate is not an exact science. Straight away it means the native English speakers are at a disadvantage as they are subject to more scrutiny than others.

Previously. quality was audited by people outside the department and by native speakers of the particular language, this was removed a number of months ago and allows the procedure and the scores to be manipulated in a way that wasn't possible before, since now one person has control over everything. In my case I have saw said person going through all of my work and assessing it all, but then making sure that the "random" sample only includes work where there is any mistake, and not choosing anything that is done very well. Essentially he is using non random date and fixing the sample to prove a particular point, however it is impossible for me to prove this.

With this in mind to beat him at his own game, I started to work late every now and then and double, triple check all of my work for the smallest mistake and always if in doubt on anything with his emails go into minute detail so he can't argue later. Last week he said he had reviewed over 5000 pieces of work since 2014 and had noticed 30, what he would call mistakes, but at the time when some of this work was done, there were different processes than exist now and at the time of completion about 50% of that work was in line with the then guidelines.

I looked at similar cases of other peoples work that I had access and I found a lot more issues and more often than in my case. I told my boss I had noticed this and if he was going to apply the same actions to others he did to me and he said he will not enter this discussion by email (obvious why), but said in the email I am not allowed to research mistakes in other peoples work and told me in person this could be considered willful dereliction of duties that is a gross misconduct offence.

Now he has ran out of things to complain about in relation to my work since I have been extra careful to work late and make sure I don't make the smallest mistake, he has changed tack, I was using my phone for 30 seconds in work and everyone does, and he told me that my mobile phone usage was unacceptable and was mocking him since if I spent less time looking at my phone I would be able to complete my work quicker and that I am treating him unfairly and he will go to HR about me in an aggressive voice and went to walk out the room.

I asked him if we can talk about it calmly and to sit down and he told me no, and I said that I will have to speak to HR about it myself as I was unhappy at the tone of the meeting and being accused of mocking him, to which he told me to go ahead because it would be his word against mine, little did I know what he had in store for me.

I spoke to his boss since HR were not there and told them what happened and I was asked if I swore at him. Didn't understand where that came from, but the next day I got an email from him claiming minutes of the meeting and in it he stated I swore at him and called him names (I didn't). I replied back and stated that I gave my version of events to his manager and I discussed what may or may have happened in the meeting and I stand by them but I am not neither confirming or denying his side of events.

I then got a mail last night with a loaded question.
"What I stated you said in the meeting was an accurate representation of the discussion we had, will you please admit that you did call me names and withdraw the hint bout me possibly fabricating the incident or I will consider it a fundamental breach of trust as per disciplinary policy, which is it to be?"

Which basically translates as which way do you want to get fired for gross misconduct. Of course I simply responded "I did not make any accusation, I simply was saying I neither agree nor disagree with the points you made."

I'm in a tight spot here, there are no witnesses to back him up (unless he gets someone to lie) but I have a feeling on Monday I am going to face another grilling.

Any advice?

In passing, your manager is correct that you are not responsible for checking other people's work, and what your manager might be saying to them about it is none of your business. And if the rules say no use use of mobile, then that is what they say. What happens with other people, again, is none of your business. None of this will defend you from anything.

You said that you would not confirm or deny the managers version of events. That was a stupid thing to say. It makes it sound as if you did it! If you didn't say it, why not say that you didn't?

In the end, there are no witnesses. That doesn't mean that the employer can't discipline you for it. In law, the employer can decide who they think it is reasonable to believe. And that might not be you.

I don't particularly think that the managers email was well put, and possibly not wise. But I don't think that they have done anything that is legally wrong either. On the other hand, in their shoes, I would have immediately referred the whole thing to my manager as a disciplinary matter and let them deal with it as such. Would that be a better option? Although it looks like that may be the way it is now going anyway. And your response doesn't exactly help you any, I am afraid.

tacpot12

I think you need to go on the offensive. Total War!

I think you need to formally raise a grievance with HR, explain that you are being bullied and that your manager has lied to his boss. I think you need to kick off with the your bosses boss - you need them to do something about it, and if they won't, raise a grievance against them.

The thing is, you don't know how many other people may have complained about this person previously, your complaint may be the one that causes HR to realise that there is a real problem, or the first that starts the process.

You shouldn't try to work with your boss on this, only their dismissal is acceptable now; it is gross misconduct to lie about an employee as they have done. They need to loose their job over it.

I wouldn't reply to your bosses email, at least not by email! An email exchange will only dig a hole you don't want to be in. I would ask for a meeting with your boss' boss, explain that your boss HAS lied to them about you, and only their dismissal for gross misconduct is acceptable to you now. They will say it is one person's word against another. But if they don't take your word on this, then you are happy to be lied to on a matter of personnel management by your boss, which is not acceptable to you, so raise a grievance against them as well. if they won't meet with you without HR present, so be it. But you can take the same approach with HR in the room; your boss lied about you, and !!!!!! are they going to about it.

With this approach, you have a chance your boss' boss will cover the situation, or your boss will be scared about losing their job that they withdraw their allegation that you lied (and back off on the bullying), or that your boss will be sacked and not you.

Don't engage in any discussion on your performance until your grievance with your boss is resolved. Flat-out refuse to discuss your performance with a liar (or someone who takes the word of a liar).

Remember Total War! Anything else just admits to the fact you are happy to be walked over by bad managers.

Good luck - you'll need it, if you get asked to leave, you can resign and explain confidently at interview, that when they wouldn't sort the issue out you walked out.

If you do walk out, don't give any notice, explain to your boss that you are leaving and send a letter to HR alleging breech of contract, you have to stick to the narrative that your boss was guilty of gross misconduct and they did nothing about it. Best wait till payday to walk out though. :-) Your boss will be mortified that they have to tell HR you have walked out!

You did ask for advice, sorry if the above seems extreme, but I have seen enough of this to think that attack is the only form of defence.

NeedSomHelp

I agree I am not responsible for checking other peoples work, but my whole issue is that I am being treated unfairly and am being bullied and that he is treating me differently from the rest of the team as he wants to push me out. The point is he is carrying out excessive monitoring and supervision and is also not applying rules fairly across the team, which I believe is a form of bullying is it not?

What he calls a major error on my work he rates as good for someone else and there are set policies about how work should be assessed, there is also an element of being set up to fail as well involved in this I think as well. For example on one occasion we are told if there are issues with some documents or systems issues, to mark them as such so they would not be used in a QA check and the engineers would look at it. I marked this on two files and he picked them for the QA check deliberately. and marked them if note was not there and told me we are not allowed to put that note, even though it's been common practice for years under previous manager.

I was being threatened by my manager of gross misconduct in a room after that mail and he kind of spelled out for me I would be being tried for lying or swearing and it was my choice. I spoke to his boss on Thursday and told her I did not swear since she asked me a direct question. I simply stated to him yesterday I was not accusing him of lying and that I gave my version of events to his manager upon being asked to and I am not at liberty to discuss them with him and I would not be commenting on them, but if asked to do so by HR or in an investigation I would.

The obvious goal of the mail he sent me was to push me into one camp or another to hang myself by giving a direct answer, which I was not going to do, if I lied sand said I said it to get him to back off they'd be using that to look at possible gross misconduct to fire me, and if I said he lied the tone of his email was one of threat and intimidation and you can be sure he would make my life hell by it.

The point I'm really saying here, is what do I do from here on in, faced with a manager who has fabricated a story against me? They're going to try and attempt to try me for either lying or swearing, now considering I didn't do either and my boss certainly will not back down, it;s a question of where do I go from here.

Realistically the no comment response was a holding response so I can get some advice before I think about my next steps. ,

NeedSomHelp

tacpot12 wrote: »

I think you need to go on the offensive. Total War!

I think you need to formally raise a grievance with HR, explain that you are being bullied and that your manager has lied to his boss. I think you need to kick off with the your bosses boss - you need them to do something about it, and if they won't, raise a grievance against them.

The thing is, you don't know how many other people may have complained about this person previously, your complaint may be the one that causes HR to realise that there is a real problem, or the first that starts the process.

You shouldn't try to work with your boss on this, only their dismissal is acceptable now; it is gross misconduct to lie about an employee as they have done. They need to loose their job over it.

I wouldn't reply to your bosses email, at least not by email! An email exchange will only dig a hole you don't want to be in. I would ask for a meeting with your boss' boss, explain that your boss HAS lied to them about you, and only their dismissal for gross misconduct is acceptable to you now. They will say it is one person's word against another. But if they don't take your word on this, then you are happy to be lied to on a matter of personnel management by your boss, which is not acceptable to you, so raise a grievance against them as well. if they won't meet with you without HR present, so be it. But you can take the same approach with HR in the room; your boss lied about you, and !!!!!! are they going to about it.

With this approach, you have a chance your boss' boss will cover the situation, or your boss will be scared about losing their job that they withdraw their allegation that you lied (and back off on the bullying), or that your boss will be sacked and not you.

Don't engage in any discussion on your performance until your grievance with your boss is resolved. Flat-out refuse to discuss your performance with a liar (or someone who takes the word of a liar).

Remember Total War! Anything else just admits to the fact you are happy to be walked over by bad managers.

Good luck - you'll need it, if you get asked to leave, you can resign and explain confidently at interview, that when they wouldn't sort the issue out you walked out.

If you do walk out, don't give any notice, explain to your boss that you are leaving and send a letter to HR alleging breech of contract, you have to stick to the narrative that your boss was guilty of gross misconduct and they did nothing about it. Best wait till payday to walk out though. :-) Your boss will be mortified that they have to tell HR you have walked out!

You did ask for advice, sorry if the above seems extreme, but I have seen enough of this to think that attack is the only form of defence.

The thing is me and this boss have been having issues since February on and off about various issues, it's not something new, however my boss is straght up calling me a liar if I accuse him of lying and openly has stated to me that they will believe him rather than me (obviously not via email) and that if I want to get fired go ahead.

The problem is my boss and his boss are very close and she also doesn't like me either and I know for a fact that him and her would both like to see me leave. She doesn't care really about getting herself into trouble, since she is leaving in two weeks anyway for travel abroad so I doubt she is that likely to play it safe.

In my conversation with her about my boss, she called him a sweet and really nice guy, so you can imagine how neutral she would be, since my boss is the kind of person to suck up to everyone above him in the tree (that's how he got the job), but is only too happy to start taking shots at his own subordinates when he feels like it.

I see what you are saying, but my boss can also use the same arguments you tell me to use, against me as well, because it's my word against his word and you know his boss hitned to me that my boss has power and I do not, therefore we are in different positions of trust which seemed to suggest that they would believe him as he has a "clean" record as such .

Me and my boss had a informal mediation session with HR a couple of months ago to try and reolve things, with not much progress, I asked to bring in an external mediator 3 times to resolve things, but they wouldn't accept and now it's got down to this level.

sangie595

If you put the employer an option of " him or me", I can tell you right now which they will choose. It won't be you.

To be honest, I think you have very few options. Is there any possibility of moving to another team or shift? That may be an offer the employer wouldn't want to refuse - the whole thing goes away quietly. Past that, I am afraid that, from what you say, it is only a matter of time. So I would be looking for a new job right now. Whichever way you cut the truth, you have at least two managers that see you as the problem. That won't end happily. Sorry.

NeedSomHelp

sangie595 wrote: »

If you put the employer an option of " him or me", I can tell you right now which they will choose. It won't be you.

To be honest, I think you have very few options. Is there any possibility of moving to another team or shift? That may be an offer the employer wouldn't want to refuse - the whole thing goes away quietly. Past that, I am afraid that, from what you say, it is only a matter of time. So I would be looking for a new job right now. Whichever way you cut the truth, you have at least two managers that see you as the problem. That won't end happily. Sorry.

I made offers of both mediation from an external source or qualified mediator, or to move teams because the relationship had broken down a while ago, neither of which were entertained.

One of the managers is leaving in two weeks (not my boss) not sure if that is a good thing to get rid of her and replace her with someone fresh externally (which I have been told it will be an external appointment) or the fact she is leaving so she doesn't mind how it effects her and can ogo after me more.

I don't want to give my employer ultimatums of him or me and I don't intend to do that, but I'm not going to roll over and admit to something I did not do either. The manager of me has said that if I admit it we can just move on and get on with our jobs, but that is an obvious trap to seek an admission which they would then use to fire me.

That's why I wouldn't talk with him about the situation and offered no comment. His words appear to be thinly veiled threats, admit it and keep your job or lie and lose it is effectively what he is saying to me but we both know that it's a trick question to try and gain a confession which he can then use to nail me.

I am already looking for a new job, but I ideally want ot drag this out for as long as possible as I really could do with the cash since recently my savings were destroyed by deaths in the family and partner leaving me and stealing my money...

ohreally

NeedSomHelp wrote: »

So to keep it brief, I have been working for a company for 3.5 years, no real issues until the turn of the year when a new manager took over and since then I have been the target of constant criticism, undermining and various acts designed to push me out of the door

So between then and now you've had the foresight to join a union?

NeedSomHelp

Unions are not recognized in our place of work

They do not allow any person other than colleagues to be representation of employees at any meetings, disciplinary hearings, grievance hearings etc, which is useful for the company since in general most staff are scared to speak up for their colleagues in fear of recrimination further down the line. ,

xapprenticex

Just look for another job, as said, drag this one out, it wont last. Only issue is reference, I doubt this company will do you any favors.

NeedSomHelp

That is my thinking by giving no comment to my boss, let it go to a HR investigation rise a grievance against him which most likely will need to be investigated before the disciplinary if there is one can proceed and look for other thing sin the meantime.

I just don't want to give him any ammunition to hit me with. The question he asked me which was loaded seemed to be an attempt to speed the process up.

Any other tips on dragging it out?