Employee claiming hours on her day off while working a full day elsewhere

[dodgylady23]

I manage one staff member. She’s casual and until recently another person (friend of hers) was signing her timesheets off.

For a number of reasons, not least of which being this employee is hopeless and has an attitude problem, I suspected something fishy with her timesheets so had them (rightfully) signed over to me.

She works four days with us and one day elsewhere. I had to insist multiple times that she add this regular day off to her calendar to indicate she was off. I’ve approved a few of her timesheets now, but just noticed she has claimed to have worked six hours for me on the day she works a full day elsewhere - her agreed day off from here.

Queried this with her only to have her get very defensive and claim she had urgent work to do here so managed to do both. She mentioned working on one thing (not at all urgent and a quick task) and “other bits and pieces”. She said she would send through evidence of her work if need be.

1. I didn’t authorise her to work on that day
2. This “urgent” work could have waited until the next day, or any number of days in the weeks ahead before it became urgent.
3. It’s impossible to work two jobs simultaneously.

AIBU to outright reject those additional hours and give her an award for biggest pisstaker of the year?

Do you think it’s a coincidence that this is happening when your main boss is on holiday? Do you think HE is the issue, got his deputy to do his dirty work for it in his absence (while telling you the opposite), and the deputy is angry because he’s not doing what main boss told him to do?

I would email a précis of today’s dealings tonight/tomorrow to the deputy, copying the boss. A straightforward record of what happened today. I would end it with “I suggest we take this to [main boss] when he’s back from leave, as my response to this situation remains unchanged”.

You’ll find out next week at least something.

Do you think this should be sent directly to the boss cc other key staff, rather than to the deputy? Genuine question....normally if an employee has a serious complaint about any colleague the usual practice is to complain over the person's head. I think this is a serious complaint as there are grounds to believe that the deputy is not acting in good faith.

So a way forward is to just report the matter directly to the boss. No need for accusations or finger pointing about the deputy, no assumptions about his motives; just a straightforward summary of what occurred. And the OP can focus on how it made her feel, eg: 'I felt very uncomfortable & distressed that I was being asked by the deputy to sign timesheets that I knew to be inaccurate, and felt unable to do so as I expressed at the time. My sole intention has been to ensure I act with integrity'.

Totally agree.

I have been a director and board member of several companies over the last 15 years.

There are issues that find their way up to me. I take advice (from HR, legal etc) and make a commercial decision with regards to the way forward. I don’t want or need explain myself to the entire company the reasons for my decision. But I do pass down instructions as to the next steps.

My guess is that it has been decided that, all things considered, this person’s contract is up in a couple of months time. Rather than get into a drawn out legal dispute where both sides were in the wrong to some degree (contractor over-claiming hours, company not checking timesheets properly or not giving clear instructions regarding when work can and cannot be completed), it is cheaper and easier to let the contract run its course with minimal fuss.

OP, by making a stand like this against a contractor who is shortly due to be leaving anyway, you are not doing yourself any favours. Particularly if you have been given clear instructions by someone more senior than you to just sign off the timesheets.

@Pookerrod you would sign fraudulent timesheets - really.

I agree being pragmatic and allowing the contract to expire and not waste time on this is one option. However, I would not endorse/cover up fraud - yes that is what it is.

The thing is @Pookerrod the OP has identified potential fraud and does not want to be complicit. In any organisation, it is possible for more senior employees to sign off on things like these timesheets. The reason the deputy is trying to get the OP to do it is because he's avoiding doing it himself for some reason. If the OP does sign them, however much she protests, she's then implicated and there's the possibility they'll try to push her to do something else she doesn't want to in future. And when I say "something else she doesn't want to" I mean potentially criminal, against professional standards, i.e. career limiting. As a director and board member you have power the OP doesn't. You also have information she doesn't. Your pragmatic business decision is a very different kettle of fish.

OP it'll be interesting to see what happens when the boss is back. My suspicion is he's identified the deputy is complicit and once he knows the guy tried to get you to sign he'll have more evidence.

If anyone does this it would be career suicide, that's likely a massive data breach and very probably be gross misconduct

I'm afraid I disagree with this, and I have substantial senior management and HR experience. Yes sometimes pragmatic decisions are made; for example with someone on a fixed term contract whose performance is just below par we may decide to let the contract run its course if it is ending shortly, rather than go through formal disciplinary/capability proceedings. After all what is the point in issuing a formal warning for a year, if the employee is finishing in 3 months?

But this is different. As well as performing poorly there is actual evidence that the employee is defrauding the company. That is potential gross misconduct and you really do not want someone like that working for you at all.

I do not agree at all that the OP is 'over-invested'; she is just doing her job. Maybe as a person of integrity she is just disgusted by lying and fraud. And I find this patronising phrase objectionable: 'you're not as important as you think you are'. It is up to everyone to put a value on themselves and decide whether acting with integrity is important to them.

Sometimes at work we may be asked to do things that we personally don't like or even agree with; the OP is being asked here to sign her name to a document that she knows is fraudulent. That is too big an ask from the employer and could well backfire on the OP.

Even if the company had decided to take a pragmatic view and let the matter drop, they should have left the OP out of it and the deputy could have signed the timesheet instead. Oh but I suppose he does not want to sign his name to a fraudulent document either.

This is good advice.

Except that it should not contain any specific allegation that the timesheets are fraudulent, because of defamation laws. It should say something like "... I believe the timesheets show evidence of possible fraud which needs to be thoroughly investigated before anything is signed off".

There is nothing in any of the OP’s posts to say there is clear evidence of this person committing fraud. And it’s not clear that this person is an employee. I read it as though they are a contractor, not an employee.

It appears that there is evidence that the person claimed they worked hours on days that was not expected, such as sick days, weekends, non-contracted days. But not evidence that they didn’t actually work those hours. Plenty of people work on days off, weekends, when they are sick etc.

Plus the OP is being asked to sign off the current time sheet. She hasn’t stated anywhere that she has evidence that the hours claimed on the current timesheet are incorrect.

The point is that an investigation has taken place and a decision has been made further up the chain. She is not owed an explanation regarding that decision.

I do agree that OP shouldn't be categorically saying anything about fraud. For a start, there are legal definitions to take into account. What she can say is that she is not confident enough about what hours have been worked to sign off the timesheet, so she wishes to pass the matter to a supervisor.

There is no good business reason for the supervisor to ask OP to sign a timesheet that he is not willing to sign himself. If he needs it signed off despite concerns, then he should sign it. HR and finance would be interested in his behaviour OP, it is very odd. Report it by email, but make sure you are identifying discrepancies or concerns, rather than leaping to stating yourself that it is fraudulent.

The “fraud” work is being banded around a lot on this thread.

I have seen nothing that the OP has posted that would pass the legal test for fraud.

There would need to be clear evidence that the employee/contractor was not actually working at all for the company in the hours that were claimed. That can be quite a difficult thing to prove. They could have been working on their laptop from their sickbed, or over the weekend. Unless the company has virtual monitoring checks in place, fraud is difficult to evidence.

It would rarely be in the company’s best interests to pursue this. It would cost a lot more than could ever realistically be recovered even if the case was water tight.

@Pookerrod I am well aware what fraud is and have lawfully dismissed people for flexi abuse by working elsewhere or just not working the hours claimed. So I understand what you need to prove the case.

Clearly on this forum we don’t have full details but in a case of suspected fraud - which this appears to be, I would never tell a manager to sign and approve what they suspect to be fraudulent timesheets.

What the OP states is that there is strong evidence that this individual may claiming working hours which she may not have been working. That warrants further investigation due to the seriousness of the matter, if the individual has indeed been defrauding the Company.

We are probably not talking criminal prosecution here when talking about fraud. If it is confirmed she has been falsely claiming moneys from the Company then the proper response is to dismiss her. Most employers are not going to bother with taking it any further; unless very large sums are involved.

Btw if she is working days she is reporting sick (and maybe receiving sick pay) that is also problematic; sick pay is paid on the basis that you are unfit to work, and if you are in fact working it is clearly not true. Likewise employers who expect their staff to work when they are sick are failing in their duty of care. I am very clear with members of my team that they must not work while they are sick.

If this is a contractor rather than an employee that makes the deputy's actions even more inexplicable. If it is a contractor then the company can just dispense with their services, no further investigation process required. If a service provider has been making dishonest claims that potentially IS criminal fraud.

You state that 'an investigation has taken place and a decision has been made further up the chain.' But the OP doesn't know if either of these is true, she knew an investigation was ongoing but not if it is complete. And if a decision has been made then it hasn't been shared with her.

I would expect a responsible organisation to update her as to the outcome, or at least as much information as they were able subject to confidentiality. Hopefully not all employers are not so high-handed as to deny their staff any follow up after they have raised concerns in good faith.

One of the big changes lockdown and WFH have meant is that in some jobs managers have had to switch from managing by recording hours worked and to start managing by outputs.

This can be a big change and difficult in some jobs.

I'd go straight above him to bosses boss and tell them your being pressurised to sign.

She would rightly sue them if so. GDPR breach, defamation AND workplace bullying.

Stay strong @dodgylady23, I would definitely follow advice and get it in an email adding your boss, so you have a record of all gone on in his absence.

It is pretty obvious from op posts this person has worked when she shouldn’t. Op clearly states in her first post, she didn’t authorise her to work on those days, and no doubt she isn’t giving us all the facts formprivacy. No-one would be allowed to work ‘extra’ time in any place I have worked without line manager agreement.

i would not want to work with you in charge if you would be prepared to turn a blind eye to fraud because a contract was due to end in a few months. I would wonder what else were you capable of. @Pookerrod

Any update @dodgylady23 ?

@dodgylady23 what happened when your boss came back?

A lot has happened since my last post but I’ll avoid too many details.

The deputy told this higher up it had been agreed we would pay the timesheets and that everything was a misunderstanding. So she advised me to pay them. I refused and sent through my evidence. This got her attention as she had just taken these people’s word for it. This then opened up another can of worms as there were additional red flags raised in the sign off process.

Again, no idea why this person wasn’t let go immediately. Instead, she has been able to “work” out the remainder of her contract. I’ve been told she won’t be renewed but given how ridiculous this situation has been I expect her to pop up again.

My boss has backed me in this. The deputy has become increasingly hostile towards me and the elephant is in the room about his support for this sketchy employee and the question hanging over his head about why. I won’t be letting this go.

I applaud you for standing your ground. The whole situation stinks.

What does your boss say about the hostility???