To refuse to provide bank statement to my work to prove I was in the office

[HanExplorer]

I’ve found myself in a very unusual situation and am standing firm so far despite pressure.

I work in a hybrid role with a requirement to attend our office twice a week, this is measured monthly based on card swipe data. On one of the days in May, I forgot my pass so was issued a temporary one to use that day.

Earlier this month my manager flagged I was showing a day short for office attendance in May and said I’d need to make up a further day in June. I looked at the dates they had on record and quickly realised the missing one was when I had the temporary pass so that obviously hadn’t registered on the system.

I explained this to my manager and she still maintained I’d need to attend an extra day to balance the totals on the system as there ‘wasn’t any record of me attending’.

I realised I’d spent money in the on site restaurant that day and there’d be a record on my bank showing the company name. I screenshotted this on my phone, cropped it so you could see the date and sent it to my manager.

She has checked with her manager and told me that I need to provide a copy of a bank statement which shows my name and the transaction - that would of course also show all my other activity!!

This has been dragging on and I’m standing firm so far, but I’ve had a call booked in with my manager and her manager for tomorrow and I’m wary of what they are going to say.

My office is over an hours train journey each way so not a case of driving 5 minutes down the road to work a further day - regardless, I don’t feel I should do out of principle.

Maybe I'm not understanding properly but why don't you just blank all the other transactions out leaving just the relevant one?

I’d print the bank statement and blank out all the other transactions, if it was important to me not to have to make up the day. I don’t have head space to get into a stand off when it could be easily fixed.

Redact the other transaction info before sending?
Yes you shouldn't need to do this but it is maybe the simplest way to resolve?

You're just being awkward. If you show the bank statement then this situation would be resolved very quickly. Why are you so bothered about them seeing it, what's on there?

Anyway, just print it out and black out anything you don't want them to see.

You could provide a redacted statement with all of the other entries blacked out with marker or using an editing programme on your computer.

You could also ask your company of they can confirm you had a temporary pass - do they not need to sign these out and keep a record of who has them?

However - this workplace sounds toxic beyond belief. There is clearly no trust if they won't take you at your word despite this being the first time this has happened, and your manager sounds like a complete jobsworth who micromanages to an astonishing degree. So I wouldn't blame you at all for standing firm and making this a point of principle, escalating if necessary.

They sound pedantic AF but just redact the other info?

It’s fair enough that they want your name and address on it. Just block out all other transactions and leave that one visible. Or is there a way you can just show a payment confirmation for single transactions?

did you attend any meetings or have some other way to prove your attendance? Is there a record at reception of you getting the visitor pass?

If push came to shove, I would supply a copy of the bank statement and redact/black out all other information that is none of their business. I would also start looking for another job because that sounds like hell!

And surely you have to sign for (and they keep a record) of temp passes?

Are we missing something? The answer seems to be so obvious (redacting)!

Can you ask the bank to print you out a copy of that one particular transaction - get the bank to stamp and date it

Surely the temp pass record is what you need.

Surely there is a record of a temp pass being issued. This is basic emergency information that should be recorded.

It is wholly unfair for a company not to keep a record of a forgotten pass if they are going to insist that they see a record. The ones should be on them not you

This

But also talk to HR for the system going forward, if you got a temp pass it should be recorded

Of course you're not being awkward. It's beyond intrusive.
Other PPs have suggested you black out the transactions, which is a sensible course of action.

Get another job that doesn't have a totally stupid random office days requirement.

You can redact everything except that one payment and your name at the top of the statement.

It seems a bit over the top to some people but many companies ads structuring bonuses around hitting office attendance targets so if it’s something like this I can see why they need to prove it in a way.

Other than a fully remote job pretty much every other role is going to have office day requirements, if not 5 days now.

Sorry haven't RTFT, surely someone would remember you being in that day. Did you have coffee or lunch with one of your colleagues? Someone must remember interacting with you. You must've talked to people, gone to meetings etc??!

I forgot my pass so was issued a temporary one to use that day.

Whoever issues temporary passes should be making a record of who they issue them to. How else are they going to take a head count in a fire/emergency situation? If nobody is making a written record then the company is surely breaching H&S protocols?

Another idea, does your phone have the Google maps app and if so, do you allow it to store location data? You'll find everywhere you've been under your timeline.

I turned this off as I am super paranoid but the default may be on.

That is ludicrous. You were issued a temp pass and it's up to your employer to verify that internally. What a ridiculous situation. How petty.

Do you have your train ticket for that day on an app?

Whilst I completely agree with the posters saying “redact”, on my bank statements, there’s an option to filter (i.e. only payments in, only payments out, payment to X, payments in a date range, etc). If that’s an option for you, you could also do that.

I don’t understand why you wouldn’t. They just need to check it’s your bank account and you haven’t got a colleague to send you one from their account, or just whipped up a fake screenshot or something.

I think they’re being petty though. If this is coming from HR/main office/higher ups that don’t know you personally then I’d roll my eyes but if this demand is from someone I actually work with then I’d be questioning why they don’t trust me and looking elsewhere.

I'd be looking for another job, I think you're being treated awfully, it's not your fault the temp pass system is shite, and you've given evidence via your bank that you were there...they are basically accusing you of lying

If they were still doubting me I'd want to tell them to shove their job up their arse