Bullying/Appraisal issues at work and stress leave, new potential role

mitkx · 17 January 2019 at 3:06PM

Hi,

Looking for some advice from the great, good and experienced of this forum.

I have worked for my employer for the best part of 8.5 years in a finance role. Early in 2018, my ex boss was forced out of the company and the interim caretaker financial controller retired. The company bought in a new guy that became my line manager. This guy has bullied and harassed me over the course of the last 8-9 months and set me up to fail in my work objective and appraisal. I think he is trying to manage me out so I leave on my own accord.

I could not take anymore and signed off with work stress over the last 2 weeks and my note is about to expire tomorrow where then I will go to the gp and request an extension as I cannot bear returning and it is making me panic and become anxious and I am not sleeping at the thought of working with him.

I also rejected my appraisal ranking and it went to an appeal process which the line manager flat out rejected and marked me at below minimum standard on all points despite me taking on my ex bosses responsibilities.

I have interviewed for a few roles as I want to make the break away from that role and boss and company. HR and the General Manager are all impartial and teaming up with my line manager so I cannot do anything here.

If I land a role (I have been good at several interviews this week), would I be able to reduce my notice period down to 1 month (I have a 2 month notice period which I just confirmed), but said to the potential employer that I have 1 month. Also, would my sickness from work (as a result of this relationship with my line manager) be called into question?

I have thought about seeking legal advice and going down the grievance route with my line manager and seeking a compromise agreement with linked reference but dont know what effect that would have on my future career or by being offered one of the roles I really liked this week.

Thanks.

lincroft1710 · 17 January 2019 at 5:10PM

If HR and general manager are siding with line manager, they are not impartial.

You can only ask current employer if they would accept 1 month's notice.

gettingtheresometime · 17 January 2019 at 6:37PM

mitkx wrote: »

Hi,

Looking for some advice from the great, good and experienced of this forum.

I have worked for my employer for the best part of 8.5 years in a finance role. Early in 2018, my ex boss was forced out of the company and the interim caretaker financial controller retired. The company bought in a new guy that became my line manager. This guy has bullied and harassed me over the course of the last 8-9 months and set me up to fail in my work objective and appraisal. I think he is trying to manage me out so I leave on my own accord.

I could not take anymore and signed off with work stress over the last 2 weeks and my note is about to expire tomorrow where then I will go to the gp and request an extension as I cannot bear returning and it is making me panic and become anxious and I am not sleeping at the thought of working with him.

I also rejected my appraisal ranking and it went to an appeal process which the line manager flat out rejected and marked me at below minimum standard on all points despite me taking on my ex bosses responsibilities.

I have interviewed for a few roles as I want to make the break away from that role and boss and company. HR and the General Manager are all impartial and teaming up with my line manager so I cannot do anything here.

If I land a role (I have been good at several interviews this week), would I be able to reduce my notice period down to 1 month (I have a 2 month notice period which I just confirmed), but said to the potential employer that I have 1 month. Also, would my sickness from work (as a result of this relationship with my line manager) be called into question?

I have thought about seeking legal advice and going down the grievance route with my line manager and seeking a compromise agreement with linked reference but dont know what effect that would have on my future career or by being offered one of the roles I really liked this week.

Thanks.

Why in earth would you (effectively) lie to a potential employer?

If you're of such a senior rank that you have a 2 month notice period then it is what it is. I would have answered the question honestly but added you hoped to be able to negotiate a shorter notice period.

I would be seriously annoyed if I was the potential employer and on offering you the job you told me it was a 2 month notice period not one

jonnygee2 · 18 January 2019 at 4:40PM

If I land a role (I have been good at several interviews this week), would I be able to reduce my notice period down to 1 month (I have a 2 month notice period which I just confirmed)

You can negotiate it down, it sounds like this would be successful - if they want you out then sooner might be better for them.

The other option is just not to work it.I don't really recommend this approach, it screws up your reference and also potentially your employer could claim against you for financial loss (admittedly this is extremely unlikely to happen unless you are very senior. But, it's been done and I know people who have gotten away with it.

Also, would my sickness from work (as a result of this relationship with my line manager) be called into question?

If they do a reference check (not all companies actually do them) this might show up but 2 weeks is not abnormal or a massive cause for concern. References normally ask for total time off over the last 12 months, they don't normally go into why or when the absences took place.

Just in case you're probably better off going back to work even if it's tough. If the absence becomes longer than two weeks it might start to cause problems on references.

Bullying/Appraisal issues at work and stress leave, new potential role

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free