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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU reporting colleague

197 replies

endofmytether4 · 10/02/2022 12:07

My colleague is in a senior position to me. In our office we don't have a clock in/out system and we have no onsite management.

Part of her job is to fill in a timesheet on behalf of everybody in the department.

Over the last year or so she has never worked a full week and marks on the calendar that she has a couple of hours holiday leave to take maybe twice- three times a week. I was suspicious for a while because although she doesn't take full weeks off, it seemed like she had a lot more leave than anyone else.

Her leaving early means a lot more work for me as we get busier towards the end of the day and if she took a full day off, someone would cover her role but not if its just a couple of hours.

Last week when she left early I checked the timesheets and she hasn't declared any of these hours. She has almost four weeks of leave left and we have been offered payment for any days left at the end of the year (April- April) so I'm assuming she's going to cash it in.

Our manager has no way of knowing she's doing this unless someone explicitly tells her.

YABU- she might have a reason she needs to leave early so much/she might need the holidays and the extra money.
YANBU- she is abusing the system and making work life more difficult for the people who have to pick up her slack.

OP posts:
Original poster
endofmytether4 · 10/02/2022 13:21

@Inertia

If some of the team are having to do unpaid overtime to cover, then it does need to go to the next level of management. This person may struggling with childcare/medical appointments, but her early finishes might leave other members of the team stuck when they have responsibilities too.

Agree with PPs, it needs to be approached from the perspective of managing team workload, and what needs to be prioritised when you are short staffed due to X leaving early.

I’m a bit confused about timesheets/ calendar, and what’s recorded where, because I don’t know what evidence there is that she’s leaving early. Is the calendar a shared official document, or is it a whiteboard which gets wiped clean every day? Surely there’s a calendar/ timeshee5 discrepancy?

Calendar is a paper one on the wall that isn't wipe clean. So that's where the discrepancy is obvious. She's marked down as having holiday leave on that but on the timesheet that goes to admin/managers (that does have coding for special leave) she's marked that she's worked the full day.
OP posts:
Lickinglemonsinloughborough · 10/02/2022 13:23

This could easily backfire on you.

LorelaiDeservedBetter · 10/02/2022 13:24

What do your other colleagues think?

Agapornis · 10/02/2022 13:25

I also work at a charity where management has deliberately chosen to understaff. In my experience they're not going to address it until there are consequences. Let it happen!

WeAreTheHeroes · 10/02/2022 13:25

The evidence she's leaving early is that more than one can attest to the fact she is no longer in the office.

ShadowPuppets · 10/02/2022 13:25

So no-one's comparing the timesheets with the calendar, but they're all recorded in writing?

That's a risky little game she's playing. I'd agree with others - either report anonymously if you can (my preferred option I think) or bring it up in terms of the impact on your workload and the workload of the team.

Original poster
endofmytether4 · 10/02/2022 13:26

@LorelaiDeservedBetter

What do your other colleagues think?
Everyone is frustrated with her but seem to think reporting would affect her negatively. There's a structure where she'd get a verbal warning and then a written one before dismissal was even talked about. My hope is a verbal warning or even acknowledgement of her behaviour would put a stop to it.
OP posts:
Pluvia · 10/02/2022 13:27

Photograph that timesheet on the wall. Or perhaps take it down and photocopy it and put the photocopy back up. That might freak her...

I hate people who do this. I've had a male boss who used to spend Friday afternoon in the pub and a female boss who used to leave her computer and desk lamp on and her jacket over the back of her chair and nip off an hour early every afternoon for a the best part of a year. Turned out she was moonlighting at another newspaper and her shift there started an hour before her shift at our publication ended!

Lickinglemonsinloughborough · 10/02/2022 13:27

I think it would be better to say the workload seems to have increased, keep it a bit vague, if you put all the fine details you have here it sounds like you are spending a lot of time monitoring her and could be turned back on you sadly.

Unmumsymofo · 10/02/2022 13:28

@DreamerSeven

I’d raise it with your manager in a “as Barbara is regularly taking a couple of hours a week of leave, it’s putting additional stress on my workload. Are there any plans to backfill her hours so we have adequate cover? You can see from the calendar how often this is occurring” That way you’re raising it from the point of view of how it’s affecting you rather than accusing her of anything.
I thought she wasn’t declaring it on the time sheet that’s how she was fraudulently still claiming additional holiday?
Original poster
endofmytether4 · 10/02/2022 13:28

@Lickinglemonsinloughborough

I think it would be better to say the workload seems to have increased, keep it a bit vague, if you put all the fine details you have here it sounds like you are spending a lot of time monitoring her and could be turned back on you sadly.
It's a really small team so very obvious when she leaves early.
OP posts:
Campervangirl · 10/02/2022 13:29

Yep I would, we have a code of ethics at work, if we see it we say it.
It's a massive issue if something comes to light and no one has reported it, this includes behaviours.

Original poster
endofmytether4 · 10/02/2022 13:30

@Unmumsymofo The way I read PP was that by saying 'you'll see from the calendar' is that my manager WON'T see from the calendar (as its in our department on the wall) and as its not on the timesheet will realise there's a discrepancy.

OP posts:
Pembertonrd · 10/02/2022 13:30

I worked with a man that fraudulently took holidays, he asked the manager in another dept saying his immediate manager was unavailable.
He wrote the holiday slip out and put it in the box.
Then when no one was about he removed the holiday slip before it was processed.
He was such a liar that we were watching him and eventually got proof of what he'd done.
He was sacked instantly for fraud.

Lickinglemonsinloughborough · 10/02/2022 13:31

Oh well none of you must work for the NHS then where everything is turned back on you and swept under the carpet. Lucky people.

Natty13 · 10/02/2022 13:33

@Lickinglemonsinloughborough

Oh well none of you must work for the NHS then where everything is turned back on you and swept under the carpet. Lucky people.
I do indeed work for the NHS and have seen people with their registrations (nurses and doctors) suspended for fraud. I have seen non clinical staff sacked and prosecuted for the same.

Funny that you can't generalise the country's biggest employer woth your own anecdotes eh?!

Lickinglemonsinloughborough · 10/02/2022 13:37

@Natty13 not sure why you are being rude to me? Anecdotes are the life blood of a forum are they not.

SmellinOfTroy · 10/02/2022 13:40

@Unmumsymofo

I thought she wasn’t declaring it on the time sheet that’s how she was fraudulently still claiming additional holiday?

and thats how the manager is notified

Natty13 · 10/02/2022 13:41

[quote Lickinglemonsinloughborough]@Natty13 not sure why you are being rude to me? Anecdotes are the life blood of a forum are they not.[/quote]
I feel I mirrored the tone of your post I replied to. I dont think its rude to respond to your sweeping generalisation with examples of times it hasn't been "turned on you and swept under the carpet"

WindyState · 10/02/2022 13:41

Absolutely I would report.

Cheeky fucker.

Christmaswindows · 10/02/2022 13:43

Many years ago, I was leaving early, taking time off during the day. My colleague who managed the holiday spreadsheet, decided I was stealing company time so had been calculating the time I was out of the office and taking it off my annual leave without authority or consent.

The reality was, I was pregnant and my unborn baby was unwell. Very unwell. I had lots and lots of extra appointments. Only my husband and I and my manager knew about this pregnancy.

AdmiralCain · 10/02/2022 13:45

I always say snitches get stitches (Much to the horror of mumsnet!) But on this occasion I'd shop the bitch in a heart beat!

ShinyHappyPoster · 10/02/2022 13:46

Fwiw in most places I've worked, no-one else would know about authorised leave for caring responsibilities; hospital appointments; toil (time off in lieu). The paperwork for those would be private regardless of other calendars or timesheets being made public.

Suzi888 · 10/02/2022 13:48

Hmm I don’t know. What if the manager knows? Is it part of your job to check HER time sheets?

YANBU though, it is unfair.

milveycrohn · 10/02/2022 13:50

This is very tricky.
Many years ago, I was in a similar situation, when a colleague was not pulling his weight. Due to my own circumstances at the time, I did not report him. However, this caused friction in the office, with others really furious that he was 'getting away with it'.
With hindsight, I think I should have spoken to said colleague, rather than reporting.
In your circumstaces, I think I would speak to her, and ask if she has a reason for leaving early, etc

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