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Original poster

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:
Iliveinalighthousewiththeghost · 06/11/2015 13:14

It doesn't matter what the other colleague would do or not do, as the saying goes. If he put his hand in the fire would you. Id imagine he'd also be in trouble ad well seeing as he knows. You have to make him aware of that or unless you just keep quiet that you told him. I mean I who has to know I guess but then if he wouldn't report it, would he also do the same thing.

Original poster
Truckingalong · 06/11/2015 13:15

I'll run the risk of being an idiot. Work has finished for the day - no one is in now until Monday.

OP posts:
AnchorDownDeepBreath · 06/11/2015 13:15

You need to report it, not for your morals or your business or because of her motives, but because there is a written paper trail that shows that you knew. It would be a complete breakdown in trust when it comes to light, and that's grounds for dismissal in most places.

MediumBox · 06/11/2015 13:15

do it now.
your anxiety will get better -not worse. really. don't lose sleep over it.

if the other colleague has 'questionable work ethics' what's stopping him/her dragging you under?

MaidOfStars · 06/11/2015 13:16

I am contractually obliged to report certain misconducts - fraud definitely falls into that category. If I don't report, I can be disciplined.

Do you know if your contract requires you to report?

I would report anyway. You need to do what is best for you. You need to protect yourself. It's all very well saying that people will know you weren't complicit in the actual fraud, but you are being complicit in the covering up of the fraud. That won't do your career any good.

teacherwith2kids · 06/11/2015 13:17

Call the whistleblowing line that you called before - I presume they're open outside normal business hours, as they will be independent? Then the ball can get rolling while you're not in the office, which may well be the best all round.

Jhm9rhs · 06/11/2015 13:23

Not read the other threads, but I would report it and do so immediately...literally immediately. I wouldn't think it was sp urgent, but she's clearly either unscrupulous or desperate and she knows you know. She may already be making plans to use you as a scapegoat. Just do it. Now.

Jhm9rhs · 06/11/2015 13:24

Also if you wait, they'll ask why you didn't report it immediately. A short delay is understandable, a long one is not.

wowfudge · 06/11/2015 13:27

Look at this another way: she has put you in this position and doesn't care what the consequences are for you/thinks you will cover up for her. She's not lovely at all - she's abusing her position of power by putting you in what is an intolerable situation. Or she thinks you are stupid and won't realise the consequences of her actions, which shows utter contempt for you.

Now you have told someone else you are on a really sticky wicket not reporting it now. This is exactly what whistleblowing procedures are for. In fact better to report now and the chances are you won't have to come face-to-face with her at all. What if the person you have told does report it, in spite of what you think and they may have said to your face? You have had it then.

teacherwith2kids · 06/11/2015 13:27

How will you feel if she - or the other colleague that you have spoken to, or someone who has been copied in on an e-mail chain that leads back to your finding out - reports you to the whistleblowing hotline over the weekend?

ImperialBlether · 06/11/2015 13:31

Did she do something which meant she would gain financially?

Original poster
Truckingalong · 06/11/2015 13:36

No financial gain at all. There is no way of implicating me at all in any way or her pinning anything on me. And absolutely no way the colleague will report. No impact on me if I wait until Monday to report. Absolutely none.

OP posts:
MaidOfStars · 06/11/2015 13:48

No impact on me if I wait until Monday to report. Absolutely none

Apart from the prevarication.

Which would flag to me that you weren't convinced you would report.

Which would make me question you.

TreadSoftlyOnMyDreams · 06/11/2015 13:48

Or she is being investigated for something else and is trying to lay the blame at your door and is now creating evidence of misconduct on your part to muddy the waters.

BondJayneBond · 06/11/2015 13:53

No impact on me if I wait until Monday to report. Absolutely none.

Unless IT have already picked up on e-mails between you and your boss that suggest you're aware of her falsifying business data. Given that she's under investigation for something else, it's possible that someone in IT is monitoring her e-mails.

Original poster
Truckingalong · 06/11/2015 13:54

Absolutely not. There is nothing at all that could reflect badly on me here. Nothing. She did it thinking I'd never find out. Seriously, this is not a stitch up. I am reporting on Monday.

OP posts:
teacherwith2kids · 06/11/2015 14:00

Question from whistleblowing team 'When did you know?'
You 'Last week'
"Is she aware you know?"
"Yes"
"Why did you give her all that time to destroy evidence / create a false trail / think of excuses"
"Erm......it was Friday"

Your credibility, and professionalism, is in doubt if you delay.

AnnaMarlowe · 06/11/2015 14:00

Donner the vast majority of companies would regard knowing about wrong doing and failing to report it as gross misconduct- a sackable offence. The wrong doing doesn't need to be illegal or financial.

The OP would most likely lose her job if it came out another way.

teacherwith2kids · 06/11/2015 14:09

"There is nothing at all that could reflect badly on me here. Nothing."

Oh yes there is - your delay in reporting a wrongdoing that you knew about is a thing that could reflect VERY badly indeed on you.

Brioche201 · 06/11/2015 14:09

I have been involved in a kind of similar situation which eventually resulted in a long serving and much-liked employee with young children being given a jail sentence.But there are no 2 ways about it .You have to report otherwise you are colluding.

Original poster
Truckingalong · 06/11/2015 14:17

There is no way of any evidence being destroyed. There is not even the remotest chance of any prison sentence being on the cards here either. I am not justifying or minimising for a moment but some of the responses here are not scenarios that are going to happen here.

OP posts:
RattusRattus · 06/11/2015 14:20

Fair enough, Trucking, but the possible damage to your reputation in the firm if it does get out. Don't forget there is a 3rd party with a wonky compass now involved so you are vulnerable here.

MN can get overly dramatic in these situations but it boils down to your own professional reputation within your company in the end and I'd start with protecting that if I was you.

UnGoogleable · 06/11/2015 14:22

Oh come on everyone, give OP a break. Only OP knows the details of the situation, so I'm sure she understands the consequences and severity of them better than anyone else.

She knows she needs to report it, and she knows that delaying until next week won't impact on the situation in any serious way.

As for IT watching, knowing, and already forming a judgment on OP for not reporting... do you really think they're that on the ball? Mine certainly aren't!

If OP is questioned as to why she didn't report sooner, she can say that she was nervous about doing so. Any reasonable boss will understand that.

Hope you can relax a bit over the weekend OP and try not to worry about it too much.

MaidOfStars · 06/11/2015 14:26

it boils down to your own professional reputation within your company

I cannot agree more strongly.

OP, I've been through the process of reporting someone for fraud. It was before I knew I was contractually obliged to do so (but is how I know that, IYSWIM). I checked the data, double checked the data, went for a 10 min walk to avoid blowing my stack, then immediately picked up the phone to the head of my department.

And this was without the person involved knowing that I knew. I would have been even more immediate if there had been the slightest chance of the person starting to create a story.

I couldn't have sat on it. Aren't you really fucking annoyed?

Mistigri · 06/11/2015 14:29

I'm not really clear what sort of "data" is being falsified here. Is there a clear breach of the law or of your company's ethics policy?

I would be expected to report financial wrongdoing, or unethical/ anticompetitive behaviour - to protect myself if nothing else. I wouldn't be expected to report someone fudging a piece of data because they were a bit crap at their job (unless I was their supervisor, or directly affected by them doing their job badly).

"Falsifying business data" can cover a whole multitude of sins. I "estimated" some commodity price data today but the data series is still perfectly fit for purpose.