AIBU reporting colleague

[endofmytether4]

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.

The point is Fellrunner that it's your job as a manager to manage those reactions from staff.
That there may well be a valid reason for someone to be off or leave early doesn't mean that those complaining should be judged for doing so. If anything you should be glad that you have diligent staff who may equally have identified misconduct that needs investigating.

@Snoozer11

How do you know she isn't attending medical appointments or has caring responsibilities which her manager knows about?

In which case the manager can just say that they are aware of the situation. It's not a reason not to report.

@FluffyBooBoo

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

She's based offsite and we've seen her once in the last year

How is she marking a physical calendar if she isn't there?

The person taking the piss is the OP's manager. The person who works off site is the manager's manager.

So OP reports to manager A (piss taker)
Manager A reports to manager B (off site)

Report her. Years ago we had a colleague sacked for similar (she was junior, not management but too advantage and team
Leader being on mat leave). If it wasn't for a colleague saying to management that she seemed to always have flexi time owed but never seemed to be there to build it up they probably never would have known she was doing it.

Its fraud.

For some reason my account appears to be banned- I expect this one to be banned shortly after I post as well!

Update: on Friday when my colleague left early I phoned my offsite manager to tell her we were struggling with the workload (which is true) due to my colleague's use of annual leave and lack of cover.

While on the phone my manager checked her records and her last approved leave was in October. Since then she's taken 67 hours of 'holiday leave' that hasn't been declared. Manager seemed very shocked and will be investigating further under the guise it has been reported that we are struggling being one team member down for that many hours a week.

Fingers crossed this gets properly resolved for you.

Blimey well done! So she has stolen potentially around 1k of money from a charity, how despicable! I hope she is made to pay it back have annual leave docked or better still sacked! I wonder if this has happened before October.
Be interesting if she claims working from home now and gets away with it. Prepare for her to be frosty with you all.

@endofmytether5

For some reason my account appears to be banned- I expect this one to be banned shortly after I post as well!

Update: on Friday when my colleague left early I phoned my offsite manager to tell her we were struggling with the workload (which is true) due to my colleague's use of annual leave and lack of cover.

While on the phone my manager checked her records and her last approved leave was in October. Since then she's taken 67 hours of 'holiday leave' that hasn't been declared. Manager seemed very shocked and will be investigating further under the guise it has been reported that we are struggling being one team member down for that many hours a week.

I doubt your account is banned because your thread is still up.

But well done for reporting.

Might be worthwhile contacting MNHQ and they can put your new name with your old account.

@Wingedharpy

Does part of your role involve "checking the timesheets"?

😂😂😂😂

@Angelswithflirtyfaces

Blimey well done! So she has stolen potentially around 1k of money from a charity, how despicable! I hope she is made to pay it back have annual leave docked or better still sacked! I wonder if this has happened before October. Be interesting if she claims working from home now and gets away with it. Prepare for her to be frosty with you all.

She cant claim she has been working from home when she has been writing on their informal calendar that she is on special holiday leave. And telling all her in-office colleagues that she is on holiday leave for a couple afternoons a week.

The company will have to decide if this amounts to gross misconduct or if they are going to just back date it as leave and update how many hours she has left of her annual leave allowance and then bring in new procedures to prevent this. But she wont be getting away with it with any kind of work from home excuse.

Really sorry to hear the outcome, OP, but sadly not surprised
IME once this kind of thing starts it tends to deteriorate, and it certainly sounds that full advantage was taken of the manager being offsite a lot

Yeah I'd be asking oh has she changed her hours or is she taking time off because it's putting extra pressure on the rest of us to pick it up every few days.

Glad it's being investigated!

@fellrunner85

I'm a senior manager in the public sector and think you should tread carefully, OP.

I've often had staff in my service complain to me about things they feel colleagues are doing that takes the piss (working too few hours, not going to meetings, taking too many holidays, whatever).

99% of the time it's something I'm already aware of, but the Complaining Colleague (CC) has no idea. CC will come to me all riled up saying they're aware of "fraud" or things are "unfair" etc, but mostly they're just blinkered and have no idea of the full picture and the circumstances in play.

I have staff who need time off for counselling appointments and other regular appointments; staff that couldn't take time off over Covid and are now taking it back; staff who have compressed hours for caring purposes, etc etc. Their colleagues mainly have no idea of their personal circumstances. But that doesn't stop them coming to me all fired up, thinking they're in the right.

You may well be right that your colleague is taking the piss, OP, but be prepared for the outcome that she isn't, and consider how you stop this reflecting badly on you.

Why would voicing legitimate concerns about another member of staff reflect badly on the person, exactly?

As a "senior manager" you shouldn't ever discourage people from raising issues even if there is a reason for them that the person doesn't know about.

Glad it's being looked at, OP. You did the right thing. It's weird about your MN account though. Hope they can fix it for you!

You are not being paid to do her work several times a week and you are not being paid for overtime.

You and your colleagues are very passive to have tolerated this.

How many hours a week are week speaking about?
Because if its been going on for a year it could be hundreds which is undoubtedly fraud.

I would come from the position of being extremely fed up of the fact that you picking up the slack, unpaid for, several times a week.

6-8 hours a week, I thought I mis read!

Why have you all accepted this OP?

Why would voicing legitimate concerns about another member of staff reflect badly on the person, exactly?

When they do it in the wrong way. For example:
"I've noticed Rachel is leaving early every Tuesday and Wednesday and was just checking you're aware of this" = fair enough.
"I can't believe Rachel is leaving early every Tuesday and Wednesday. It's totally unacceptable and I've been telling the rest of the team so they're livid about it too" = not ok.

As a "senior manager" you shouldn't ever discourage people from raising issues even if there is a reason for them that the person doesn't know about

Nobody in my service is ever discouraged from raising issues. Quite the opposite. But there is a professional and balanced way of doing it. Staff who wade in angrily, having jumped to conclusions, don't come across as well as those who present it as a question rather than an accusation.

If the OP chooses to raise it, which perhaps she should, it needs to be calmly, with evidence ready, and framed as a question - with no assumption-jumping.

OP I'm quite surprised the senior manager would discuss in detail another colleagues work hours with you, especially a colleague that is senior to you.

I would have expected her to say she'd look into it and not stay on the phone with you to discuss it.

Your workplace sounds unprofessional.

But I tend to mind my own business when it comes to these things…

It's entirely OP's business, @Totalwasteofpaper.
2 or 3 times a week, she has to pick up the slack her colleague waltzes off from.

This is a charity and the OP thinks the manager would only get a verbal warning…

Wowzers this is gross misconduct in my book - it’s fraud. And I bloody hope I’m not donating my hard earned cash to this charity.

@fellrunner85

Why would voicing legitimate concerns about another member of staff reflect badly on the person, exactly?

When they do it in the wrong way. For example:
"I've noticed Rachel is leaving early every Tuesday and Wednesday and was just checking you're aware of this" = fair enough.
"I can't believe Rachel is leaving early every Tuesday and Wednesday. It's totally unacceptable and I've been telling the rest of the team so they're livid about it too" = not ok.

As a "senior manager" you shouldn't ever discourage people from raising issues even if there is a reason for them that the person doesn't know about

Nobody in my service is ever discouraged from raising issues. Quite the opposite. But there is a professional and balanced way of doing it. Staff who wade in angrily, having jumped to conclusions, don't come across as well as those who present it as a question rather than an accusation.

If the OP chooses to raise it, which perhaps she should, it needs to be calmly, with evidence ready, and framed as a question - with no assumption-jumping.

She HAS raised it, and in a professional and balanced way, by focusing on the workload issue.