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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To report my boss?

121 replies

Truckingalong · 06/11/2015 11:21

Totally torn about what to do. I recently caught my boss out falsifying business data. She knows I know. She did it thinking id never find out. I didn't suspect a thing - I just stumbled across it by sheer chance. She is very senior, I'm reasonably senior and there is a good chance she could lose her job. I shouldn't know but I do know that she's already under investigation for something else that calls her character into question (financial wrong-doing) but I don't know what the outcome of it has been or whether it's still ongoing even. Every scenario is shit. I say nothing and feel compromised. I say something and she's sacked or disciplined and I have to carry on working with her. I say something but nothing is done about it, so we carry on working together with our relationship broken. She's lovely, a great boss and a likeable human being. My OH thinks I have to report. A colleague I've confided in says she's under a lot of pressure (she is), we all make bad calls and so let it go.

OP posts:
Truckingalong · 06/11/2015 11:53

There is no way of her undoing what she's done but she will be thinking of a plausible story for sure. Not that there is one but she'll be trying to minimise.

OP posts:
OfaFrenchmind2 · 06/11/2015 11:54

I would help you but be careful and give only very generic information. In the meantime I can look up who to contact in case of doubt.

Toffeelatteplease · 06/11/2015 11:54

Then just report. The least known the better

RattusRattus · 06/11/2015 11:54

Happy to if you want to PM me. Used to be in HR (employee relations)

eddielizzard · 06/11/2015 11:55

you must report.

Twickerhun · 06/11/2015 11:55

I'm sat on a similar email too. I need to report using the whistleblowing policy. I know I have to do it, I'm just choosing my time.... When it's less likely to look like it was me. This is why companies have whistle blowing policies. Hand over the emails and step back. Your work will investigate and someone else has to decide what the correct solution is.

MovingOnUpMovingOnOut · 06/11/2015 11:56

You're senior, sounds like you may be working in a regulated environment which means you probably have a statutory obligation to report, you've already told a colleague what you know... well that's pretty easy. You have to report it just to cover your own arse now.

Failure to disclose something like this could lead to you being subject to disciplinary proceedings and maybe even dismissal depending on your company policies and whether you have any regulatory or professional obligations.

These things are never pleasant, but the thing I always say at work to managers struggling with these things "we're only here because X chose to do Y. If X had decided not to do Y you would not be in this position and would have nothing to feel bad about, so you stop feeling responsible. The responsibility for this situation lies firmly with X." (I know that's saying the same thing over and over several different ways but it's the best way of getting the message to sink in and someone to feel better ime).

MovingOnUpMovingOnOut · 06/11/2015 11:59

Knowing and turning a blind eye is usually considered as bad as actually doing something yourself.

FundraisingPTABitch · 06/11/2015 12:00

I am happy to read through the explanation.

KittyHello · 06/11/2015 12:00

Unfortunately you will have to report it. I know someone who was in a similar situation to you, turned a blind eye and didn't report a theft as the person said they would put the money back asap. An "impromptu" audit took place whereby my friend acknowledged that he knew the money had been taken and was sacked alongside the other person as a result as he was complicit by not reporting it.

No matter how lovely she is is she worth losing your job over and also would she risk her job for you and cover up for you? Unlikely.

MillionToOneChances · 06/11/2015 12:01

You have to report it.

MillionToOneChances · 06/11/2015 12:01

And mention that you've already queried it before so that they know she's had time to prepare.

OfaFrenchmind2 · 06/11/2015 12:04

First, do you have an ombudsman?

myotherusernameisbetter · 06/11/2015 12:04

What's relevant here too is what she replied to you when you sent your innocent enquiry email, and what you did with that e.g did you reply etc.

RedZeppelin · 06/11/2015 12:07

If you don't report it then you become complicit in the falsification and may well be implicated should anything be uncovered at a later date.

You have to report, if only to cover your own arse. She might be nice, but she's acted improperly with no regard as to the impact on you, your colleagues, the business etc....

BlueJug · 06/11/2015 12:07

Another one saying that you have to report it. sorry - not easy at all. She will know that realistically you didn't have a choice. It still won't make it easier.

And if you don't report it, and she knows that you know, and another colleague knows that you know then you are open to being "pressurised" at a later stage for wrongdoing in not reporting it.

Truckingalong · 06/11/2015 12:08

Ok, someone said be careful with details, which has made me paranoid about PMs!! But thank you to whoever offered.

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Chattymummyhere · 06/11/2015 12:10

You have to report. You say nobody would know however a person was fired at dh work place as the man who ran the IT/emails saw the email and flagged it up as work emails are not private and confidential for the staff members so where allowed to be checked.

MovingOnUpMovingOnOut · 06/11/2015 12:10

As soon as you told a colleague about it you created a situation where you have to report or you run a very high risk of being seen as complicit.

For all you know your colleague may well be having the same dilemma now they "know" and are in the process of reporting this right now. Which would obviously land you in the shit.

Report now.

AnnaMarlowe · 06/11/2015 12:13

Report. Right away.

A friend was in a similar position and didn't report. Someone else found out and reported straightaway. My friend lost her job because she was obligated to report and didn't.

She's had to change career as she couldn't gain employment in her old sector.

Truckingalong · 06/11/2015 12:14

Oh I totally get the bit about me only being in this position because of what they've done. It's just difficult knowing that what I do next is going to have serious consequences for her. For what it's worth, the impact of what she's done is relatively minor on the business. It's not safety or financial data that's been falsified, for example but it's still deceitful and unscrupulous and demonstrates that she's prepared to lie and falsify business data.

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UnGoogleable · 06/11/2015 12:14

Its a horrible situation for you OP, but I don't think you have any choice.

Is there any way you can talk to her after you report it, to say 'look, I had to do this, I'm really sorry and I wish you all the best'? Or would that just hit a brick wall?

Truckingalong · 06/11/2015 12:15

I don't know if we have an ombudsman I'm afraid to say!!

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PerspicaciaTick · 06/11/2015 12:15

You work for a company that has bothered to provide a whistleblowing helpline - so use it today.
Hand responsibility over as quickly as possible. Just the bare facts. Keep copies of emails etc. but beyond that don't try and play Miss Marple. Let the people at the end of the phone deal with it.
Your company has made it as easy as possible for you to do the right thing. So do it.

Junosmum · 06/11/2015 12:15

Option 3. She's found out by some other means and it transpires you knew. You both get fired. Report it now.