will I get suspended from work?

[redrose80]

NC so not identified and will change a few small details again so not to be identified.

I have been off work with anxiety for 3 months now due to bullying behaviour, all of which I can evidence in a very thick folder of emails I've printed out.

I have been getting lots of panic attacks due to the horrible behaviour and I'm not the only one who is being bullied, again which I can evidence.

I still had access to work emails, shared drive, intranet etc and used my time off to gather more evidence - email exchanges, examples of reports I had done that my manager has been taking credit for etc.

My union rep had told me to gather all the evidence I could for my grievance - which I submitted 2 months ago yet still don't have a grievance hearing date.

However, whilst gathering evidence, I totally accidently came across a large patient file on the shared drive. It has very confidential information which I won't go into obviously. It is not the NHS though.

I immediately reported it to the DP officer. The document has now been removed. This was 2 weeks ago.

Yesterday I got an email (to my personal account) asking me to meet on Monday with the area manager and an HR business partner. My union rep is coming with me.

Yesterday I discovered that my access to work emails etc has been blocked.

I am now utterly terrified of what is going to happen on Monday. Will I be suspended?

I haven't done anything wrong, I didn't go looking for that document, I was only looking for my own files. But they could turn it around on me couldn't they?

My union rep says I've done nothing wrong and they shouldn't be blocking my access but I am very scared.

I really need some hand holding and some advice from anyone who maybe works in HR, legal areas, in a union or what.

Oh and they say they've reported it to the ICO but I can't be sure that they have and there was no 72 hour patient notification that I could see either.

I've tried to keep this non identifiable so please don't out me if you recognise my story and apologies if I am vague in any follow up replies.

This may be long - it’s just some random thoughts in no particular order which may or may not be helpful.
I take the point that others are making about you trawling through work files when you are off sick - surely your defence to this would be that your sickness has been caused by bullying at work, you aren't subject to this at home and the only way you could collect evidence for your appeal is by accessing the information you need on line. Of course if you have been doing more than this and continually looking at what’s going on at work since you’ve been away they may well question why you are still off sick in an attempt to deflect from your claims of bullying.
It’s impossible for anyone not involved to give really useful advice because we only have your side of the story. No doubt the bully would have an entirely different story to tell.
Is your Union rep a paid official or just a work colleague - how much do they know about your case and your organisation’s grievance procedure. Have you met them already or are you just meeting them at the meeting? You need to have some confidence that they will be able to fight your corner if things don’t look to be going well.
It’s easy for me to say but try not to worry over the weekend. When you arrive at the meeting make absolutely clear that you are feeling extremely anxious, and especially so because the purpose of the meeting wasn’t made clear, and you are worried that what you inadvertently discovered in a place you legitimately had access to at the time may affect how your grievance is dealt with. Answer all questions factually and do not be afraid to ask for a break if you feel yourself becoming upset. Try not to waffle and bad mouth.
I can’t imagine that your organisation doesn’t have a clear procedure for dealing with grievances - have they followed it to the letter in terms of timescales and notice for meetings etc?. If they haven’t your Union rep should be on this like a ton of bricks. Everyone deserves a fair hearing.
Presumably your organisation was aware of your problems before you raised your grievance - did they do enough to help resolve the issue before it got to this stage and were you receptive to what they did? Also do you have any idea what you would like the final outcome of your case to be - this could well be a question that may be asked at some point.
IMHO the confidential info you saw should not have been where you found it - unless you were looking somewhere that you shouldn’t so this is their problem not yours. They should be grateful that the error was discovered before the information got into the wrong hands.
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Despite the nigglers on this thread, it doesn’t look like you’ve done anything wrong.

Try not to worry, blocking access could be for any number of things. Your union rep is the best person to talk to.

Make sure you have all your actions documented somewhere. As clearly and with as much detail as you can, what, when, how, where, who. Be clear in your mind what happened and don’t let anyone distract you. Good luck.

IT will be able to show how long you spent in the document and anything you did in there, so they will be able to show that you made no copies and closed it as soon as you knew it wasn't your work, etc.

They are definitely not following the grievance process properly.

My union rep has been really good so far.

Apparently they told her that I can't change either my manager or job role so they are basically saying like it or f*ck off.

This was before they blocked my access though.

I wanted to return to the same job role but with a different line manager. I really like my job.

But now I'm not too sure if I want to return there, but I can't see any similar jobs advertised.

Sorry op but I can't believe you're not the same person with the huge thread from before which you asked to be deleted.

You know full well you downloaded the file and showed your DH.

I'm terribly sorry you're going through this because I've got similar issues which is why I read your previous thread so avidly.

All you can do is attend the meeting and hope your union rep is a good one because that's all I can do too.

I wish you well but you didn't get definitive answers on your previous thread and you won't get them now.

I remember their thread and it is very very similar. If IT confirm the file was downloaded it won't be a suspension but dismissal.

It isn't fair for people to deliberately state anything from the previous thread, you know exactly why OP doesn't want the information here. OP you might want to report those two posts?

You were advised before to seek legal advice about this document and you should have done. Now the meeting is on Monday - well, you say clearly and truthfully how you found it. You were looking for a specific document as part of your grievance, you found this one by mistake, saved it and scrolled through before you realised what it was. You've now deleted all copies (have you?) and haven't shared it (I think you didn't actually send it to the union rep?). You might get suspended if they evidence you lying in this process or evidence you not following the appropriate data protection processes yourself. If you get suspended then you should talk to an employment lawyer about your grievance anyway so check this off at the same time.

Your other grievances seemed wafty and hard to prove based on your previous thread, but be guided by your union on that. Honestly it all seems like very hard work, is there no way of working with HR to change your role so that the picture of your grievance and their discomfort with you changes? I've not yet understood what you want as an outcome from your grievance, what would actually make you happy to be in this role again?

What about a settlement agreement OP? Would you be up for that?

MRex you've done the exact same thing! If my post gets deleted then so should yours.

All I'm trying to say to the op is if it's the same person and situation as before she won't get any different advice. Also the thread was deleted and can't be linked.

One other thing - if you aren't sure about what you're saying and feel the line of questioning is getting uncomfortable regarding your own actions it's fine to say something like "Your questions seem to be challenging my actions, so I would like to speak with a lawyer before we continue."

No @Pgqio, I have not mentioned a specific thing that should not be written on this thread, nor any other.

MRex, I don't want to derail the thread but you are addressing the op as I am as the author of the previous thread. If we are correct and it's the same person that information is absolutely CRUCIAL to her predicament and her employment future pretty much hinges on the fallout from that so not addressing the elephant in the room is rather pointless.

Sorry op I really do wish you well.

Yes, and that one thing she absolutely should NOT be mentioning, a point which she clearly took on board from the last thread. Yet here two of you are bringing it up.

I'm guessing you ARE the same person, as the previous poster, as you said on here you've changed it to not make it identifiable.
I'm guessing they have heard you shared the extremely confidential information with your husband, and that is the sticking point.

I'm not getting into a back and forth with you MRex.

Op your situation hasn't changed so no one here can reassure or help.

Probably a good idea to get this thread deleted too, it'll just upset you more.

I wish you well, I really do.

You have lots of advice here but just wanted to ask if you have also contacted ACAS?

well done for whistleblowing a databreach you should not be penalised for that, there are protections in place and your union rep should be able to provide you with the support.

Can I just mention that a friend went through similar recently and her workplace trawled social media searching for relevant words and found her complaints online (anonymously but clearly her) and hounded her in a meeting about it. I would say, OP, shut up on here, tempting tho it is to seek supplementary advice and stick to talking to your union rep.

Apparently they told her that I can't change either my manager or job role so they are basically saying like it or fck off.*

I'm not sure why you think they would give any other answer.

It sounds worrying.

That's why the last thread was deleted Cherrysoup. Someone even mentioned that it would have been so heavily cached (freely admit I don't know what that means) it could still be found.
I've been very careful about what I've posted and not given any identifiable information about myself or the specifics of my situation which is just as well because a lighthearted crack about Rocketman went viral on twitter and that could have been disastrous for linking it to me.

One other area that you or your union rep might consider (as you don't have access now) is whether there is a whistle-blowing policy. Most large employers will have one of these as part of their anti-corruption policies.

Under this kind of policy a person who reports a malpractice (which would include filing confidential information in a place with public access, or without password protection) is usually protected from reprisals by the employer.

If you were acting within your authorised access limits (yes, as I understand) then it shouldn't matter why you were looking so their ability to penalise you for accessing the file must be quite limited. The fact that you reported it should then bring you within the whistle-blowing policy.

Of course the world is littered with whistle-blowers who were aggressively attacked by their employers (think Snowden, Manning etc.) but it could at least open up a path for unfair dismissal.

Broadly, you need out of this job and situation, however much you like it. With a combination of workplace bullying, stressful environment, whistle-blowing you could consider accepting a large payment for a non-disclosure agreement and a good reference, while they are still possible.

Not the same person, stop being nasty and bringing up other threads.

I have spoken to ACAS and gotten some good advice. Have spoken to the ICO too.

I don't have a lawyer yet - lawyers aren't allowed in such meetings anyway?

My union rep says it doesn't come under whistleblowing?

It’s hard for people to give advice if you’re not honest and it’s pretty clear you’re the other poster. In this version you have done nothing wrong. You found a data breach, immediately reported and didn’t download or share it. They have no legitimate grounds to suspend you and you will have your union rep, who sounds good, there to support you. In this version there is actually no need to have a meeting about this data breach.

In the other version, you downloaded the document, showed your husband and read confidential details about your colleagues. Yes, in that version there could be grounds for suspending you.

I literally read this entire thread weeks ago, feel like I'm in the twilight zone.