Hauled in by HR - I was off ill!

[iwasoffill]

NC to keep this annonymous

I work in a small 20 people team. Some are acquaintances. Some are actual friends.

I was off ill last week. My husband took my son to see his grandparents as they were visiting a local seaside town and they stayed overnight. I myself went to my Mum's overnight as my anxiety meant I couldn't stay in the house lone, along with being poorly.

A comment was made by my boss when I came back on Monday when I said I had been in bed all week. Something in the way he said it made me think he doubted it.

HR was here for another issue today and I was hauled in.

My boss said a social media post had been brought to his attention during my sick period and he produced 2 A4 printout's of 2 photos of my son on the beach posted by my DH/MIL. I had been tagged in them.

He asked did I have anything to say about this. I said I had been off ill, at home, then went to my parents overnight when DH and DS were away.

He said that he had to ask me about it because people's perception was that they were covering my work as I was ill hen this was seen.

I reiterated the above and he said he hoped I understood why he had to ask. HR said she understood as her mum will tag her in photos of her daughter when they are out and she's not there.

Thing is, I am livid.

I have removed ALL colleagues from facebook. This includes people that ARE my friends.

I am livid I wasn't asked, by whoever has told work about this, what the deal was and they added 2 and 2 together and got 5.

I have had no apology and am sat here, feeling so fucking angry and looking at my colleagues thinking which cunt did this.

Dunno why I'm posting really. Just angry and upset.

Of course the OPs husband could have emailed the photos to her. Or sent them privately by Facebook Messenger or by Whatsapp

Anyone can tag anyone on FB, pretty much.

I would say whoever reported a photo you quite obviously weren't in was an idiot.

Of course it doesn't look good that you were tagged and they gave[sic] a duty to investigate
If they took any duty to investigate seriously, they would have concluded there was nothing to see and no reason to even talk to the OP.

If you call in with D&V, it really does mean you shouldnt be out and about

You really can eg if you need to go out and walk the dog. Or even collect a child from school. You don't need to go and breathe over other people! But I don't want to start yet another thread about how everyone is immune-compromised and can catch D&V from someone walking along on the other side of the road.

You really can eg if you need to go out and walk the dog. Or even collect a child from school.

That's not what OP was accused of though. Going out because it's an emergency and no one else can do it, fair enough.

If OP was off with anxiety. Being at the beach is perfectly fine. Depends on what you call in sick with.

How pathetic do you have to be to report this to your boss in the first place? Someone looking for brownie points I think.

If I thought my colleague was at the beach when they had called in sick I wouldn't give a shit. If it was a regular occurrence and was having a negative effect on our team then yes, I would report it. That is not the case here though.

Some people are so desperate to get praise from the boss I guess.

YANBU OP

I'm a direct person so if I was you I'd group message all the colleagues who had been on my facebook, saying I know one of you reported me to HR for the photos of my son on the beach. I wasn't there for the report. I'm beyond hurt one of you felt the need to do this- it's a massive betrayal and awful to think one of you thinks I'd do that.

Being off sick in half term and seeing beach pictures would have raised suspicion with colleagues especially if they had to do extra work to cover.

You were asked about it, not hauled in etc. Your employer obviously had at least one upset employee and had a duty to resolve their complaint.