Verbal warning?

[Doglover321]

I work for a childcare agency and cover at a wide range of different nurseries across the county. I had an awful bullying experience at this particular nursery recently (all the others have been lovely!), and decided to post about it ANONYMOUSLY on an Early Years Practitioners Facebook support group. I didn’t identify myself, the nursery, or anything else. I simply just said what happened.

It turns out that the manager of this nursery is a member of the group. She decided to call the agency and report my post. The agency have given me a verbal warning, as well as said I will no longer be placed at nurseries belonging to this chain - this is despite me having a really good experience at a different nursery belonging to this chain after this incident!!

Considering the post was anonymous and it might not have been me who made it (I told others about my bad day), do you think it’s a bit much from the agency?

They don’t seem to care about the bullying and have just said they can’t afford to lose work with this chain.

And this is why HR is bullshit, because what should happen is an open investigation for bullying and the OP asked for her perspective.

You must have given identifying detail op

They weren’t an admin or mod

But she's now posting about it all over Mumsnet, lol.

You can't go around badmouthing your job (even if it is "anonymous") and expect there to be no consequences.

No "anonymous" post on FB is truly anonymous anyway - the group mods can see exactly who's posting, as can FB themselves.

OP the thought of then posting this identifying thread on mumsnet the day of a verbal warning for doing something similar is…. telling

I think it is unfair you were bullied and now have lost some work options. But i do understand the agencies point of view. Dont put anything work related on social media again and it might blow over. Hopefully you will be the only one available for a last min shift at that chain at some point in a few months time and it will be resolved.

I agree. I was being illegally underpaid in my previous job as well as bullied and HR refused to investigate. Ended up having to resign! No meetings were even called with the bully like I requested from my manager

I really think you need to stop venting

Word gets round very easily and you're not helping yourself

Make an official complaint if necessary and leave it at that.

So far, you've told friends, family, your agency, Mumsnet and another forum.

There's just Twitter and BBC news to go...

quite a chequered career you have there

An industry full of very young school-like women

so now, the day you get a verbal warning, you are accusing your previous employer of illegal activity

The manager of the nursery before I joined the agency was only 23

Oh yeah....op!!!!

Posting like this would be a sackable offence in many workplaces. You have been lucky.

Says the person who got a verbal warning for bitching about her employer on a public forums
Then starts a mumsnet thread on the day of said warning…. with more bitching and even accusing illegal activity

and?

No, I was simply responding to someone else’s comment. But yes they did illegally underpay me and it was proven. I was being paid Apprentice Wage despite not being an apprentice basically, and was owed thousands. Carried on for 15 months

You must have admitted it was you, when asked about it. Or it must have been quite identifying, so the chain recognised your story.

I don’t think the agency will be contactring you anytime soon Op

Just to clarify my last few comments were just me responding to people’s comments. Not about the current situation

Yes, the bullying should be investigated. OP should have aired it through the proper channels rather than taking to social media. Clearly her post gave enough detail that they were able to work out exactly who she was so it's totally fair enough that the agency would want to protect the relationship with their client.

If I was the HR Manager of the agency I'd give her a verbal warning too about not posting on social media and instead following policy. It protects everyone, including OP from allegations of bringing the company into disrepute.

At the moment, OP has claimed bullying and I'm sure that happened. But OP also now has form fo lying to her employer as she denied that she wrote the post when it clearly was her, so I can see they have been put in an awkward position.

OP, I would apologise, take the verbal warning and learn from this to air grievances through the proper channels. It'll all be forgotten about soon.

The business is children!

It obviously was identifiable, since the manager recognised it. It might not have meant anything to most people but if it's recognisable to the ones that matter then it's identifiable and they'll react accordingly.

I believe you that you've had a shit time of it but this was an unwise course of action to take as a result. I think pretty much all contracts these days have something in them about not bringing the organisation into disrepute, including social media posts.

You weren't happy anyway so I'd just chalk this one up to experience and join a union for next time, if that helps as agency staff.

Thank you. I did follow policy and report the awful shift by speaking to my manager on the phone about it

If they are on my they will know it was you