Receiving a disciplinary for breaking up a cardboard box

Ellieseleven

My daughter has been working for a company for 5 years and has always done a good job however, the Area Manager has taken a dislike to her and is trying her best to get her sacked.

My daughter has recently applied for promotion and in doing so as found she now faces disciplinary which is totally unfair.

The Area manager has sifted through hours of CCTV footage, found an incident from 3 months ago and presented it to my DD. My DD is shown in the warehouse breaking up vegetable boxes. There was no-one else in the warehouse at the time but DD has now been accused of assaulting the box.

She did jump on the box and used scissors to break it up but this was because it was very tough.

The transcript from the disciplinary notice is as follows:

"Whilst viewing CCTV I saw XXXX stomping on cardboard and then picking up a pair of scissors and repeatedly stabbing the cardboard with them"

We are not even sure this has been sent to HR but the manager has now said she cannot apply for promotion due to her aggressive behaviour towards the box.

Surely this cannot be allowed and it would be laughable if it were not so serious.

This is not the first time this manager has stopped my DD from applying for promotion, there have been a catalogue of events over the last 2 years.

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

Thank you

robinwales

The Area manager has sifted through hours of CCTV footage...

Only a very, very sad person would do that. But I can believe it thinking of some of the people I have met. Perhaps she needs to change jobs.

DCFC79

Just for breaking up a box, jeez that's low very low. and pointless.


Id want to know (I admit I may not) what was wrong with breaking the box the way she did.

theoretica

Does she have the ability to contact HR? I would be tempted to send this to them asking if it is genuine.

Jakg

Demand a trial by combat with the complainant.

Smodlet

Even if these boxes are supposed to be recycled intact, which I very much doubt, really? Sounds to me as if this manager has escaped from somewhere and should not be walking around loose.

Unless any of her other gripes have any merit I second the suggestion your daughter contacts HR directly. Who knows? Hers might be the latest in a line of complaints which finally triggers some action to deal with this Area Manager...

OCD is the most charitable explanation I can come up with even if your daughter were channelling her dislike of this individual into her attempts to minimise the space taken up by the box.

Ellieseleven

Jakg wrote: »

Demand a trial by combat with the complainant.

Good call - I think we will do that:rotfl:

Ellieseleven

DCFC79 wrote: »

Just for breaking up a box, jeez that's low very low. and pointless.


Id want to know (I admit I may not) what was wrong with breaking the box the way she did.

She did ask and was told it was intimidating to the cardboard box

Ellieseleven

theoretica wrote: »

Does she have the ability to contact HR? I would be tempted to send this to them asking if it is genuine.

Yes, that is what we intend to do

nicechap

Ellieseleven wrote: »

My daughter has been working for a company for 5 years and has always done a good job however, the Area Manager has taken a dislike to her and is trying her best to get her sacked.

My daughter has recently applied for promotion and in doing so as found she now faces disciplinary which is totally unfair.

The Area manager has sifted through hours of CCTV footage, found an incident from 3 months ago and presented it to my DD. My DD is shown in the warehouse breaking up vegetable boxes. There was no-one else in the warehouse at the time but DD has now been accused of assaulting the box.

She did jump on the box and used scissors to break it up but this was because it was very tough.

The transcript from the disciplinary notice is as follows:

"Whilst viewing CCTV I saw XXXX stomping on cardboard and then picking up a pair of scissors and repeatedly stabbing the cardboard with them"

We are not even sure this has been sent to HR but the manager has now said she cannot apply for promotion due to her aggressive behaviour towards the box.

Surely this cannot be allowed and it would be laughable if it were not so serious.

This is not the first time this manager has stopped my DD from applying for promotion, there have been a catalogue of events over the last 2 years.

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

Thank you

I suspect there is more to this than the destruction of a cardboard box. There is usually more of a back story if someone has taken a dislike to someone else. Would your daughter tell you the whole story if she had done something wrong?

Has your daughter actually been disciplined yet? If so, on what grounds? Do the boxes have a value (e.g. deposit) which was lost as a result of the destruction. What does the company's disciplinary policy say about the process used with your daughter? What did the union say in her defence/ mitigation?

What does your daughter want to do? Will she put this behind her, toe the line and get on with her job, or will she start looking for another job? Does she want to raise a grievance, and if so, on what grounds?

EDITED TO ADD I presume you do not work for the company, in which case you should not be contacting them, your daughter is an adult and could get into further trouble by discussing it outside of the work place.

Ellieseleven

Smodlet wrote: »

Even if these boxes are supposed to be recycled intact, which I very much doubt, really? Sounds to me as if this manager has escaped from somewhere and should not be walking around loose.

Unless any of her other gripes have any merit I second the suggestion your daughter contacts HR directly. Who knows? Hers might be the latest in a line of complaints which finally triggers some action to deal with this Area Manager...

OCD is the most charitable explanation I can come up with even if your daughter were channelling her dislike of this individual into her attempts to minimise the space taken up by the box.

Thank you for your comment, we are currently writing to HR with this incident along with several others and I just wanted to understand whether other people thought this a genuine complaint by the manager.