To think my boss shouldn't be logging in a doing work whilst on Parental Leave?

[ThisChickenLastsForever]

Boss is on parental leave for unspecified amount of time, up to 1 year. All good. Left 3 weeks ago. I am stepping into their shoes in their absence to keep things ticking along. However, it is quite clear that boss has been logging in and completing tasks these past 3 weeks. Is answering emails, approving invoices etc. this is not part of any approved KIT days.
This is a problem because I go to do tasks and discover they're already done. And have wasted my time finding out about things, deciding a resolution etc only to find out that boss has already said "do this" or things have been actioned on systems (easily seen form audit logs and the like).
Frustrating for sure!

My bosses boss is just ignoring my messages asking about this. Have emailed though to say seeing as there's no response to my previous concerns about this, then I will assume that all tasks will be completed by my boss and I won't be doing them due to the time I'm wasting... Iam doing almost two roles in my part time hours, so efficient use of my time is vital)

AIBU to think they shouldn't be doing this? Or is it perfectly fine for them to decide to work "secretly"?

Book a call in with your bosses boss and ask them what the expectation is don’t just email. Be more proactive.

Keep writing emails but be savvy about it. If work is duplicated or something has gone wrong, email boss and copy in bosses boss to kindly explain what has gone wrong.

“I emailed client asking them to do x but they are confused as you’ve told them to do y. I have rectified but I expect trust in us to be damaged now. Apologies for contacting you on parental leave, hope you can switch off and enjoy this time with your new baby. Do let me know / copy me in next time you contact an external client so this doesn’t happen again, although this is my responsibility now so please do allow me to cover it whilst you’re on leave. Happy to chat and kind regards…”

Send emails every time and build the picture for them that this behaviour is problematic. I imagine that your boss is checking emails and feels compelled to respond to clients, not realising how problematic it is.

So what do I do. I've asked my boss for clarification. No response. I've asked his boss. No response.

Again, what did HR say about it when you contacted then?

Stop emailing and have a conversation. Your response sounds childish (well I’m just not going to do any of it then).

The simple reality is that lengthy parental leave affects career growth. Permitting access to email and work systems is a recommendation in some industries to reduce the stalling (and falling back) of mother’s career progression when she takes parental leave ( is a gendered thing in my industry and country, women are impacted more than men). The problem is not that she (or he or they as the case may be) is doing things, it’s that there’s no clear guidelines for when you need to. She shouldn’t have to work through leave, it sets a good example not to - but I’m also not going to force a mother to suffer the career disruption as an example to others.

So go meet with the grand boss in person or phone or video (real time conversation) and go through the actual problems this is causing. If it’s just that you will have put time into solving only for them to finish before you, that’s a minor annoyance (it’s not taking more time than you doing it).

Escalati to block access only makes sense in an industry where that’s a market for fraud and no access to systems while in leave is a mandatory thing.

This.

Contact the person in charge of your boss or HR and ask politely if they can confirm you are responsible for XYZ jobs as you’re confused because ‘someone’ seems to be accessing the system and the data and you’re not sure who it is as your boss wasn’t able to reply to your enquiry if it was them. They won’t want any threat to their data etc and hopefully will speak to your boss (who sounds horrendous) and tell them they are OFF.