Suspension from Work - Advice Requested

Torrin

Hi Guys,

I work for one of the large UK banks as a manager lending money to businesses etc. Yesterday afternoon I was suspended pending disciplinary hearing. I’ve typed up all the notes surrounding the things I was asked about. If you have time could you read through them and tell me if my presumptions noted below are correct. I have done some HR work a few years ago for the Bank so I think I know what to expect and what to do.

1. What I did was wrong, but I was under a lot of pressure, both personal and work related and I have not lost the Bank any money.
2. If the Bank follows the letter of the law I am looking at dismissal due to gross misconduct.
3. Best outcome – they ask me to move to another job within the company.
4. Worst outcome – they dismiss me and won’t accept resignation instead of dismissal.

Thanks in advance.

--- Information ---

Personal Circumstances

• I split up with my long term girlfriend in 2007.
• The breakdown of the relationship and other connected problems had lead to high levels of stress.
• I have taken counselling on a weekly basis.
• I didn’t inform Bank as I thought it might reflect poorly on my record.

• Left with a property for which I had to pay the mortgage for.
• It was originally rented out but the tenant left.
• I therefore had to pay the mortgage.
• Cashed in shares and some savings to cover expenses while the house was repaired due to problems left by the tenants.
• I have undertaken this work on my own.

Paying of Personal Items

• I did pay in on a number of occasions to cover items that were going out of my personal bank account on the same day. This lead to my account being overdrawn on some occasions.
• I have never asked a member of staff to pay items for me if I hadn’t paid in to cover or not transferred funds (which is the procedure).
• The incident where a large number of items were paid leaving the account overdrawn was down to a cashier paying them when I had paid in to the account to cover the most important items. I did not ask for these items to be paid on this occasion as I had paid in after the daily cut-off.

Holiday Not Being Taken

• I was due to take two weeks holiday at the end of April 2008.
• I did not have anything planned for holiday.
• I felt under a certain amount of pressure due to work and wanted to see appointments to help continue to hit targets.
• Three days before the holiday was taken my manager left a message to say my 1:1 meeting (which was due the Friday I finished work) was re-arranged for following week – a time when I should have been on holiday.
• This caused additional anxiety and I felt if my manager did not want me to have the time off I would be better to stay in work so I did not take my holiday.

Work Related Issues

• I had been in one documented meeting with my manager about my personal and work circumstances and one undocumented meeting two weeks prior to this.
• On the first occasion we had discussed my lack of organisation and the personal circumstances surrounding this.
• On the second occasion we had talked around the lack of reliability of my figures for loan completions I had predicting in my returns.
• We also discussed me circumventing the processing centre and getting accounts and transfers done locally on a couple of occasions. I made my manager aware of the accounts which had been opened locally and this was documented.
• After the first meeting I felt that I was starting to turn the corner with regards to my control over my personal life and that while I knew my work was not that well organised I felt I could start to bring this in to line as well.
• Between the first and second meetings I had still felt under a lot of pressure from the need to meet the targets I had already committed to (returns had to be sent in six weeks before hand) and during the second meeting my manager made it very clear that I was to hit the targets for loan completions I had already made.
• The loans for the clients I had informed my manager would complete were late moving to the processing unit and this therefore caused me to ask another member of staff to process a transfer as I did not want to let my manager down with the figures for that week.
• The funds were transferred in to a loan account so that the customer could not withdraw the money, as while I knew what I had done was wrong, I did not want to put the Bank at risk.
• Over the weekend I strongly regretted this action and on the Monday morning I sent an email to the lending unit explaining this had been an error and made sure that it was corrected that day. I also asked the processing unit to close the loan account that had been opened at the branch.
• The loans I had drawn had been approved by the lending unit and were due to complete the following week.
• I thought as the loans were going through the following week it would have little effect on the figures.
• I did not mention this to my manage during the meeting that took place on Friday, 15th May 2008 as I was scared of the situation I had got myself in to.

Summary

Over the last five months there has been a massive amount of pressure for me to make sure that loans are drawn on the dates when they were predicted to and the failure to achieve the given date has been highlighted at meetings and on audio conferences. Such things as having to state in front of team members why loans have failed to complete made this pressure all the more intense when I was faced with the fact that a loan my manager had stated the team was relying on would not draw the week it had been stated.

This pressure from work combined with personal problems caused me to transfer the funds for a loan prior to when the loan should have been drawn. While I knew this was not the right action to take it felt like the lesser of two evils when compared to saying again that the loan was a week late in completing.

The loan funds were not given to the customer but used to repay another loan that was part of the sanction and I regretted this action the moment it had been taken. It was because of this that I informed the lending unit on the Monday and made sure that the monies were transferred back again.

I have worked for the Bank for over 14 years and previously had an impeccable record having been a successful Customer Adviser and more recently worked for two Regional Managers from the Retail section of the Bank. I have gained a lot of recognition for the work I have done over the years including attending three annual national performance dinners and two achievers conferences overseas.

floss2

I think you have covered most things. Were the 4 points you've used as headings the criteria for your suspension? I presume the bank have stated the reasons why you were suspended & followed their HR & disciplinary procedures?

Also, when you state that loans were "late again", whose fault is that? Is it down to another department? Are there any written or computer records of these loans not meeting the promised dates?

Riq

Final bullet point just needs a typo correcting.

manage should be manager.

dmg24

Whilst your points are concise and presumably cover all the reasons for your suspension, I have to say it does not look good.

As you never informed your employer about your personal problems, they were under no duty to minimise the pressure that you were under at work (beyond that of any other employee).

The points under 'Holiday Not Being Taken' contradict themselves.

Under 'Work Related Issues', it does seem that the bank have given you several opportunities to express your concerns, and you have not. This will not go for you.

The meeting of targets is all part of working in your type of role, if you are not able to manage this, perhaps it is not the role for you? Would you accept a demotion, if this was offered?

Are you part of a union, or do you have someone that can go to the meeting with you?

The offences that you appear to be being investigated for do seem pretty indefensible, and are made worse by the fact that in some instances you have not been completely honest up to now.

When is your hearing?

Torrin

Many thanks for the responses and the information (and the error checking ). This is helping me understand how to explain things. To cover some of them:

dmg24 wrote: »

Are you part of a union, or do you have someone that can go to the meeting with you?

I’m not a member of the union, but I do have an Area Director (from another section of the Bank) who will be at the meeting with me.

dmg24 wrote: »

When is your hearing?

No date given for the hearing. To clarify the suspension letter reads (the relevant part):

“… such times as we carry out further investigation into the matter of the alleged irregularities relating to the opening and closure of loan account.”

I mentioned the other points because these were things that I was asked about before I was suspended and I wanted to be prepared.

dmg24 wrote: »

The points under 'Holiday Not Being Taken' contradict themselves.

With regard to the holiday and not taking it, I should be more clear about what happened:

• I was feeling pressure in the run up to my holiday, but would have taken the time off.
• When my manager left me a message to rearrange the meeting for a day when I was off, this increased my anxiety and I thought I had better make sure I was in the office to get more work done. I didn’t feel I could call my manager back and say I was meant to be on holiday.
• I had not discussed with my manager, or anyone else, about not taking the holiday.

dmg24 wrote: »

The meeting of targets is all part of working in your type of role, if you are not able to manage this, perhaps it is not the role for you?

My formal targets are not for making sure loans are drawn on a particular date, but merely that I lend a certain amount of money in the year. Being told to predict when loans are drawn is only a recent thing that has come in (i.e. that last few months). As far as hitting my target for money lent I any currently over target.

floss2 wrote:

Also, when you state that loans were "late again", whose fault is that? Is it down to another department? Are there any written or computer records of these loans not meeting the promised dates?

The loans were late in the sense of they happened on a different week to the one I had told my boss they would happen on. The loans themselves were drawn on time for the client and ultimately we are at the client’s bequest as to when the loans went through. These days we are asked to predict which loans will complete on which weeks, some six weeks before hand. This is a recent change and doesn’t directly relate to the targets.

dmg24 wrote: »

Would you accept a demotion, if this was offered?

Yes. I’m not sure I want to do the job in the current climate and it wouldn’t be easy to work with my manager after this. If I got offered the chance to move to another area (for a lower salary) I would take this over being dismissed as it will give me a chance to review my position in the company and I'm guessing, if I want to leave, it will be easier to find a job then it would be if I had been dismissed.

dmg24

I think your biggest problem is that you have been dishonest. Whilst the reasons for this are clear (you felt under pressure, and you did it with the best of intentions), the offence is extremely serious, especially in a finance environment.

My feeling is that you need to mitigate your actions as much as possible, but be prepared for the worst.

Sorry to be so negative, but having seen banks deal with this type of incident before, the outcome is rarely positive. The banks have to be accountable, both to their customers and to the regulatory authorities, and if something worse was to happen in the future (and I am not saying that it would!), they would be heavily sanctioned for not having taken suitable action now.

Keep in touch with any news x

Torrin

dmg24 wrote: »

I think your biggest problem is that you have been dishonest. Whilst the reasons for this are clear (you felt under pressure, and you did it with the best of intentions), the offence is extremely serious, especially in a finance environment.

Thank you for your honest answer.

Having read the examples of Gross Misconduct and Misconduct it could fit in to either and which will depend not only on my mitigating circumstances, but also, as the decision is taken by my line, the person undertaking the fact find.

As I know the person further up the line who will undertake this and make the choice, I am not confident that anything will be seen as mitigating enough and the route of GM will be taken. This is not me being depressed about my options, merely an honest observation.

So, as I am currently only suspended pending an investigation, my final questions are:

1. If I resign, without working any notice, prior to being invited to a fact find meeting (and therefore the subsequent [FONT=&quot]disciplinary[/FONT]) will it be noted on my record and therefore any future references?
2. If I see it through to the meeting to find out if they are willing to take in to account the [FONT=&quot]mitigating[/FONT] circumstances, and they are not (i.e. they say it's GM and therefore I'm dismissed), and I then resign what will show on a reference?

As you can probably guess I'm just looking for the best option for me to allow me to find work easily in the future.

dmg24

If you resign pending investigation it will be on your record, and a reference will state that you resigned pending investigation for misconduct/ gross misconduct/ financial irregularities.

If you are dismissed it will still show on your record.

If you did wish to resign (and I am not saying that you should), it may be worth trying to come to a compromise with your employer, so that you are just given a standard reference (i.e. stating dates of employment and little else).

CFC

It's a little late in the day but I suggest you go and discuss with your GP the pressures you are under. It may be that the GP feels that your judgement has been impaired as a result of stress. If your GP is of that opinion, you should ask that the hearing manager should seek a doctor's report.

Might I also suggest that you ask the hearing manager that in view of your length of service and previous impeccable record that you are moved away from areas of responsibility and that you would accept a demotion to another role with much diminished responsibility as part of the outcome?

In these suggestions I am not condoning your misbehaviour or trying to help you find an 'out'; but the fact of the matter is that sickness of the mind or body can seriously impair an individual's judgement even to the extent that they do not recognise that impairment is happening.

Torrin

Hi guys,

While I’m still waiting for a fact find and decision I have a couple of questions:

1. I’m on suspension and my boss has called me a couple of times at around 18:00. My normal hours of work are 9:00 to 17:00 and my suspension letter states that I should be available in those hours. So is calling after 17:00 allowed?

2. One of my clients has been told I am on “terminal leave”. Does this imply a decision has already been made, as I thought that had to wait until the fact find had been done?

I’ve decided I’m leaving the company rather than taking a demotion as this has given me a chance to reassess where I’m going in life(a shame I didn’t do this before getting myself in to a mess, but woods and trees and all that), so I’m just after some negotiating power for a clean or neutral reference if I offer my resignation. I’ve not got any intention of going back in to the financial sector.

Thanks again.

dmg24

Calling at any (reasonable) time is allowed whether you are on suspension or at work. You can choose whether you take the call, but I would suggest that it is in your favour to do so. He is probably calling at that time so that other people are not still about, so protecting your privacy? Obviously if he was calling at 10pm that would be unreasonable, but I don't see the problem with a 6pm phonecall?

No decision should be made until after the fact find. The term used is perhaps not the best that could be applied to your situation (it is usually a military term!), but I would guess that was just the person's way of saying that you are suspended.

I don't think the above points give you much leverage in negotiating a neutral reference. I would go down the route of 'I'll leave quietly if you meet me halfway'.