Friend being investigated

ghostfinder

Friend at work is being investigated for doing something stupid at work.

The manager conducting the investigation does not like the guy being investigated, everyone knows this but its off the record and no one can prove anything.

Manager is making a total meal off the investigation, literally making the guy sweat buckets over his job, held the investigation on a thursday with a view of getting back with a decision maybe on monday.

The guy who screwed up knows he screwed up but is generally fearful of his job.

is this normal for an investigation?

Friend has worked for the company for 20 years and never, to my knowledge, had a single incident that required a warning or anything.

elsien

Making what decision - whether to take it to disciplinary or not?

ghostfinder

Sorry,

Yes it's an investigation to see if a disciplinary is needed

sangie595

This is entirely normal, and to be expected. I am not going to say there is nothing to worry about because I can't - we don't know what he has done or its consequences - but an investigation is normal and to get a result in a few days would actually be considered quick!

TELLIT01

Management would want to collate as much information as they possibly can before making a decision which could affect not just the person's job, but their long term employability. This will take time. It seems that your friend acknowledges that they screwed up, so they are just going to have to sweat for a while.

kingfisherblue

An investigation on Thursday and a decision the following Monday isn't very long - although I appreciate it must seem it to your friend. Many companies are Monday to Friday, and if this is the case, it's only a couple of working days.

Alice_Walker

To what level has he screwed up, gross misconduct? Has the company incurred a loss, been brought into disrepute, are there health and safety considerations?

Nothing you have written suggests that the manager has made a meal of it, on the information given he is doing things by the book.

Hopefully your friend's first response was an apology, and full cooperation with the investigation.

MEM62

ghostfinder wrote: »

Friend at work is being investigated for doing something stupid at work.

The manager conducting the investigation does not like the guy being investigated, everyone knows this but its off the record and no one can prove anything.
So what? Even if this can be established the manager can still only act within current legislation and the company's HR rules. Anything outside that and your friend can make a formal complaint.

Manager is making a total meal off the investigation, literally making the guy sweat buckets over his job, held the investigation on a thursday with a view of getting back with a decision maybe on monday.
The time scale may be reasonable as he has an investigation to complete. If the time scale were too short your friend would be complaining that the outcome had been pre-judged.

The guy who screwed up knows he screwed up but is generally fearful of his job.

is this normal for an investigation?
We don't know because you have only given us limited details rather than an outline of the whole process.

Friend has worked for the company for 20 years and never, to my knowledge, had a single incident that required a warning or anything.

If your friend has messed up there should be a formal process that his employer will follow and he will have to deal with the consequences / outcome. If any part of the process is not conducted fairly or within the company's HR rules then your friend can make a formal complaint.

ghostfinder

Thanks for the replies.

We have heard that his job is safe but it looks like a demotion is on the cards, which weirdly works out good for him.

He allegedly told an external customer something about the business which the customer emailed us directly to ask if it was true.

He has denied saying it in the investigation, which is weird as he 'fessed up to us ?

he will hear in another week roughly as he is on annual leave at the min

Thanks again

agrinnall

His job may be safe for the original issue, but what happens when the company finds out that he also lied in the investigation meeting? I can't really see this ending well.