No soonee had I clocked on today than I was told the ceo wanted to see me, and he, I, and the new ceo (silent witness I huess) had a meeting. In brief (because I am so tired and depressed), I got TWO written warnings for my attitudes towards staff and guests.
Surprised much? Not half as much as I! Sad. Sad. Sad.
WTF! I have been following your story and your boss is lower than low. Keep fighting and fight hard. Dont you dare quit or give up. They have no right to do this to you! Do your job as best as you can hun even if it pains you. And WTF!!! How can you get two written warnings at the one time as well? That is ****ed! SO angry for you right now!!!
A warning is just what it says - "don't do that again or else". By giving you two warnings at once they have deprived you of the opportunity to learn from the first warning and modify your behaviour.
Giving you the two warnings at once suggests they're gunning for you. But frankly if this causes them to dismiss you on the basis of these two warnings I suspect they would come unstuck if you challenged it.
That won't fly. Two written warnings are still not due process, especially when they come at the same time. Due process is having a word about any concerning behaviour (hard to do when you're making it up and rushing towards 3 written warnings when you think that's all you have to do to get rid of someone 'legitimately') without anything in writing, to give the person an opportunity to rectify it before it has to become a written warning. With a written warning comes a meeting where you work towards resolving the issue and avoiding another discussion about it, so that all aims and motivations are clear and you can work towards getting back to business.
In fact, in the absence of these things and straight to written warning, they are giving themselves away and really becoming deserving of the 'bully' label. Issuing TWO is just stupidity because now it is clear that there is a campaign against you, when this is the first you hear about it.
Fairwork Aust should see this as a clear disregard for due process. There is no 'compassion' involved in this. Allegedly, they were concerned for your pregnant state. Then they go and behave in a way that says they don't actually give a toss about your welfare, they just want you gone, and to all and sundry it is evident that it's because you're pregnant and they want to avoid the obligations that go with that.
Please, please, please - no more meetings, official or unofficial, with ANYONE until you can arrange to have your OWN witness with you. Any meetings WILL wait until that can be arranged. They won't bully you into meetings where you'll be railroaded mercilessly and with no notice to give you time to prepare. That's another bullying tactic - they have time to prepare and you don't, what's with that? Be very firm next time. If you get to work and someone says you're to meet with a boss, you smile (this is important - just do it!), pause, and say you will have the meeting when you can arrange someone to come in with you and you will get back to them with a time that is the earliest convenience. Then, you turn around, go to the toilet, breathe, breathe some more, and get back to work. During working hours you arrange someone to come in with you - don't do it on your break. It's a work issue, you use work time
Maya has given some great advice so I am just part of the cheer squad and lot's of I agree that they are crossing into the bully/harrassing stage and this is sooo not fair to you.
Keep FWA posted, keep making notes - make them as contemporaneously as possible ... sit down and write notes at the time of any further "meetings" or immediately afterwards, so you get the words used, body language noted etc and it's as accurate as possible - and write down the date and time of them.
Make a copy, so you have a safe set as well, in case something happens to your first set.
Is it possible to talk to the new CEO? They might not be comfortable disagreeing with the old CEO to his face, or speaking out against him publically at the moment, but is it possible to speak to them privately to at least let them know your side of the story, and give them the option to take the higher ground with you (and FWA...) rather than possibly getting tied up in the old CEO's BS and dragged down with it before they've even really established themselves?
And yes, take someone with you to any future "meetings".
Netix - massive hugs. Maya and Peanutter have said it well and given great advice. It is awful and unfair - I hope you are able to see this as it is rather than being about you. Sad reflection on the CEO and his business but I am glad that as is usually the case these people make silly blunders which reveal their motives.
xxxxxxx
When keeping a diary, put a line directly under your last entry, leaving no gap. If you need to add to it, write another entry with time and date of when you're making it. If it's a recollection, note the time and date of the incident within the note itself, don't make it the entry date. This covers you and is transparent so that it doesn't look like you're inventing things. It will be invaluable for you if this goes to mediation. My diary got my old boss into a real pickle (he was too arrogant to keep notes on me and his interactions with me and only had one thing in writing - a nasty and vindictive email he sent me...yes, you read right, it was by email!) and even his lawyer (ha ha! I made him spend money on a lawyer for the afternoon!) was shaking his head at how I had snookered him with his client's own actions. Buy an exercise book and keep it on you at work (try not to leave it unattended - my favourite is one called a Fat Little Notebook).
I'm not jaded, I promise
Thank you everyone. I need all the strength I can get at the moment to deal with this, and win. I forgot what I was going to say, but Maya, I think it was about your first post at the top of this page, and that i am doing what I can in that. I got pressured into the meeting yesterday, amd was just shocked at what was being put forward. I had no words.
The two letters of warning I was given (actually pushed under my dinner plate shortly before I went on break, not handed to me) are both dated 5 January, not the 23rd.
I know he wants me out and will play at anything he can to get me out. He has not offered help or similar to help me improve or anuthing like that. Just says i must change.
Fwa today say the process is happening, but did not take any notes (didnt ask me any name details) when i told them about what has happened since the business becoming aware of my complaint. I called worksafe, they are sending me a bullying pack to fill in a form and send back, re ceo behaviour and the letters. Am waiting for after 2pm so i can call jobwatch back.
Will be calling the local paper, and probably today tonight and aca. The Man doesn't care about people knlwing whereabouts I live, jist for this story to be very public. We can always move again. And when I marry him, I will have a different name
It has got to the point where I cried all night, and don't want to go back to work because of (highly likely) unfaor and unjustified vilification. I spent all of last night's shift hiding tears and sadness. What will this stress do to my baby?
this whole situation makes me so angry. there is no way they should be treating you like this & i hope you can feel the sense of outrage & the support that is being sent your way & that it helps you to stay strong & focussed.
perhaps you could speak to a GP or similar about the stress & your concerns about how it may affect the baby? i know that generally women can withstand a fair amount during PG without it affecting the baby, but at the very least it must be having (or has the potential to) a negative impact on your blood pressure.
stay strong, keep taking those notes & keeping good records of dates/times/behaviour etc. good luck with your next call to job watch too
Keep the media option up your sleeve - hold off on that for now, till you've heard more from FWA and WorkSafe.
Definitely go to the GP now - the sooner the better, and tell him or her all about this that he or she is able to listen to so that you can get a referral.
Dating the letter the 5th is a stupid tactic if they're going to 'give' it to you three weeks later. It shows that they are either not very concerned about the apparently serious concerns (because written warnings are only ever supposed to be serious breaches of conduct!), or they are backdating and that also is stupid. Slipping it under your dinner plate instead of giving it to you and discussing it (not even posting it to prove they wanted to make sure it got to YOU) just so goes right against them and screams "bully" with no effort on your part, so that's just handing you more evidence.
I'm glad you've got no experience with playing hard ball, and I'm sad that you have to learn it now. The situation and your boss (not to mention manipulated co-workers) can have you feeling crazy and like you're the one in the wrong and that's what bullying is designed to do. Stick to your guns.
Mention media maybe in the next communications, that may be enough to get them to conceded a little something. Just not now till you know a bit more about where your cards are falling.
Look after yourself - get a massage, or foot rub or something. Just take some time out (I know how much these things just follow you around in your head)
The only thing I have ever signed is my full time job proposal. I just got off the phone with jobwatch. I jave made some errors in not responding in writing to the 'redeployment' letter, or arguing my disagreement of the proposed changes. It has made it look loke i am agreeing to what is going on (note to future problemees; do it!). I need to start now and create a retrospective papertrail, and try to back the ceo into a corner, but withoit sounding like i hate him or that we dont get along (bad for me in the future, shows i cant work with him).
Not done anything with the media yet. I am annoyed at myself for not having replied in writing. Jobwatch say to contact my dr (who when we last discussed work, did NOT write any issues on my depression questionnaire! Grrr! And will cost me heaps to go back and see), as may
Just read your posts - I am shocked! I am sure you have already got lots and lots of great advice and you know that you can't get two backdated warnings at the same time. It doesn't matter if you sign the warnings or not, however it does matter that you were not given one at a time (with a reasonable opportunity (2-3 weeks) before there was another meeting to see how you are progressing, before you were potentially given another warning. The fact that you weren't given the opportunity to have anyone with you is also a problem given they were aware you had made a complaint etc, etc.
I have lots of experience dealing with these situations (as an employer, so I know what we have to do to let someone go with proper process) - and I can't see any commissioner letting them get away with this. The reality is though that it will be a hard road, it sounds like they don't want you to be there - but you deserve to stand up for yourself. Keep in close contact with the fairwork etc to make sure you are protected and getting advice specific to your situation, if they do decide to terminate, you will have done everything to protect yourself and could claim post termination. If you do feel that you cannot cope any longer, then to me this is really something called constructive dismissal (where they basically make it so awful for you, they force you to resign). This is also unlawful - but you should get advice before you go any further. It would also be useful for you to find out what you would be entitled to if this were to go through fairwork so you can see what you are fighting for.
Like the others have said, I would probably avoid ACA at this stage, purely because I think it might add to the pressure on you, but you still have that up your sleeve. It isn't too late to put things in writing now - you are not expected to be a lawyer, or an HR professional, so don't think it's too late, just get the advice you need and do everything you can now! I am sure there are quite a few of us on here who would be happy to review your letter if you want an independant person to review it for you too. You are not alone!
I was just thinking about when I went through similar and it occurred to me that you will be required to see the Work Cover insurer's psychiatrist.
Here are some points to consider when that happens (happens in bullying cases because you're claiming stress due directly to the work situation):
- if they choose one more than a 10 minute drive from you, insist on a taxi to get there and they can put it under their 'ambulatory' costs, which means the cost to get you to travel to a medical practitioner, because it's work-related. I had to go to one and I didn't have a car, it would have taken too long to get there by public transport and we had a new puppy that I wasn't going to leave for that length of time. They ordered me a private taxi (a sedan sized limo!), and I warned them that I'd have to bring the puppy with me (even on private transport it was going to take an hour to get in from where I lived). The driver was very nice and said he drove a lot of stress cases to the psychiatrists for the insurer. He was very nice!
- Your GP costs can be put under this claim, too, so don't be afraid to go to your GP again - the insurer pays the costs, that's what the premiums are for. Get the address of the insurer, a contact name (or the HR person at work, if that fails) and get the GP to send the bill to them - don't handle any more invoices or bills.
- The psychiatrist they send you to is not concerned about your welfare. Tell them the bare minimum and keep it work-related.
- The psych WILL probe and try to get you to reveal about your private life, and will likely push buttons about the pregnancy - be prepared for this and stand your ground, keeping him or her at barge-pole distance. Always link the stress in your head with incidents at work. If you must mention your DP, only say that he is supporting you and looking after you while you fall apart about work issues. If you say that the stress has caused strain on your relationship, or things like that, they will twist it to mean that your personal life is what is causing your work troubles. I thought I was helping my case by saying my DP was exasperated with how work was affecting my mental health and it was used against me, quite inexplicably.
- The psych is paid by the insurer to say that you are NOT stressed due to work, so give him or her as little reason to conclude this as possible. If they ask about anything outside of work, say that it has nothing to do with the work stress and you just want to return to work without the pressure to resign. Be specific about that. Do role playing with DP if you have to!
- You will need to really play up the stress and probably cry when you talk about how much you want to keep working there because you like the work and are good at it, but actions of your boss make it impossible to switch off after work, because you go home and worry about how much they're going to pressure you to leave, and the effect on your baby's cortisol levels (because cortisol is a hormone that crosses the placenta).
- You owe the psych nothing, remember that golden rule!
- Don't give anyone else at work any personal details, close shop and pull the curtains - trust is broken and even a joking comment can be used against you.
I hate that I've had to remember this, and if someone had told me before I'd gone in I would have been very grateful. I've given these nuggets to a friend and also my mum and they found it very useful, even though at the time of the telling they thought I was overreacting. I wish I had been. My friend was successful in her claim against the Dept of Justice, too, on the upside (well, downside, depending on how you look at it).
Most stress claims aren't successful - they tend not to believe you're stressed until you are completely broken. I will say, however, that my girlfriend was NOT completely broken and hers was successful. Plus, there were people back in my time working towards changing that situation of having only suicidal and heavily medicated workers' stress claims being accepted. So, I hope that holds true for you. The 'joke' was that if you weren't already stressed when making the claim, proving you are stressed would send you to a psych ward
Don't let that deter you. You can do this. Push it as far as you possibly can, and do pull back if you feel you have reached the point where it's not worth it anymore - only listen to your own voice on this, as there will be plenty of people who will try to tell you it's not worth it before you feel ready to pull out.
Make sure your baby gets plenty of your feel-good moments - yoga will help, listening to mantra music before bed and while you drift off, and at any other given time listen to things that will relax you (more so than things you enjoy, I mean specifically relaxing listening).
Sorry to harp on about it!
I have written my reply. Turned out to be a six page typed letter. Printed it off at the local library, bundled the kids back into the car, to the post office. Closed. Missed them by ten minutes! Argh!
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The Bullying Continues....
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