AIBU to not understand why I am facing disciplinary at work for such a non-issue?

[Scarlett9004]

Hello,
My situation is this. I work in a UK company where all staff are trained to perform every role, yet in practice, particular individuals are consistently assigned only physically hard or only easy tasks-sometimes for many months in a row. I am usually given the harder ones and recently started feeling burned out by the daily grind, so a few days ago, I vented to one colleague, saying that this allocation is unfair given that we all receive the same wages, and mentioned several people who exclusively perform the easier tasks, including one Polish lady (let's call her Annie).

Yesterday, Annie’s husband (let's call him Tommy) approached me during the shift and shouted angrily, "Listen carefully! It's not your business why Annie never does physically demanding jobs. Stop gossiping about this or I will report you!" Offended by his tone, I retorted that I can speak whatever I like and that freedom of speech still exists. He turned bright red, walked away and reported me to the management. They launched an investigation, which I feel might lead to disciplinary action.

Aibu to not understand why the management are taking this so seriously? Can they really punish me even though I haven't been abusive or violent, but just complained about something that is bothering me? In Poland, Tommy would be told to bugger off with such rubbish-I know because I grew up in a neighbouring country! Also, I must note that Annie cannot be pregnant now as her duties, albeit quite light, are not pregnancy-friendly and all pregnant employees are always moved to office roles; this means she is provided with easy work purely due to favouritism.

People that can meet the metrics when they're in the monitored roles progress to tasks that need less supervision.

Argue your own case but not by targeting Annie.

So she mentioned individuals then.

Picture this the other way around: you have a disability which means you cannot do physically heavy work, so your manager agrees to give you light duties as a reasonable adjustment. Understandably, you want to keep your disability private.

A colleague decides to start bitching to other colleagues behind your back about the fact that they perceive their workload to be heavier than yours. They don’t raise their concerns to a manager in the correct manner, nor do they speak directly to you.

How would you feel if you were Annie?

It sounds like your managers are being proactive in stamping out workplace bullying and for that I applaud them.

Maybe she’s on lighter duties because, as you said yourself, she has previously excelled and proven herself valuable enough to be assigned where management thinks she’ll be best placed to meet their objectives.

Freedom of speech doesnt mean you can say what you want without repercussions.

Regardless of the nuance and whether or not it was unreasonable of you to complain to your coworker, I absolutely do not think you should received any disciplinary action for voicing your opinion at work. That’s madness.

I think that you should join a union, OP, or get a rep involved if you are already in a union. If the workplace can make reasonable adjustments they must do so.

But - if you take them on over this, stay focused. Don't dilute your case by complaining about individuals - even a few of them - or cultural differences. Hope you get somewhere.