AIBU to go off sick over complaint about me at work

[SadlyNotATroll]

have kept some details deliberately vague but will try to give as much detail as I can. I work in the public sector dealing with members of the public, making decisions that affect their lives. We recently recruited and I chaired the recruitment panel. Due to legal issues affecting our department we were no longer able to recruit and withdrew the vacancy. I was tasked with communicating this decision to the unsuccessful applicants after they had interviewed, but was not able to offer any information as to why they were unsuccessful, despite them being told if they were unsuccessful that they would get feedback.

One of the candidates was very upset about this and emailed me several times asking for feedback. I explained I could no longer provide feedback but I couldn’t explain why. Upper management forbade me from providing any further context, e.g. that there was a legal issue affecting the vacancy. The candidate emailed me several times over the following days and I replied each time saying I was sorry but the decision was final.

They have now complained about me and I am being investigated. I am confident I have done nothing wrong but I am so anxious about the process. I’ve been told it could take up to 4 weeks. I’ve been invited to a formal interview next week and have asked a member of the union to come with me. I don’t know if it would look bad if I went off sick. I’m so anxious my brain keeps jumping to the worst conclusion. I just don’t know what to do.

I cannot figure out why you are being investigated. The company promised feedback then changed its mind. Someone asked you for feedback which you could not give and you explained this. The candidate complained, but surely the complaint is about the change in company policy rather than you telling them the change in policy?
I do think it would have been wise not to engage in an email exchange after the first reply, given you had nothing to add, but providing you just repeated the policy then I am puzzled that you are so worried about it.

This is bonkers. I work in recruitment in-house and if we ever have a vacancy pulled during the interview process we advise all candidates that unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances our recruitment needs have changed and the position is no longer available. I’ve never not been able to give individual feedback off the back of this but given the circumstances in your case, HR should have drafted the wording and any further communication should have been directed to them. Absolutely appalling on their part. You’ve done nothing wrong and they have a duty of care to you during this process. I’d be tempted to take some time once it’s all over if I was you.

Unless you are very junior, snd shouldn't be expected to deal with difficult stuff, pull some resilience out, and crack on.

I work in local government and would guarantee that anyone facing this situation in my council would submit a grievance.Prepare all your evidence and submit a grievance, you been thrown under a bus.

My advice is to ask your union rep's view about taking some time off.

I'm sure the rep will have told you that you have very little to worry about as you were following instructions from above. I would expect the rep to push management strongly on why you weren't protected from the complainant by HR, as you should have been..

Going against the grain here. If a hiring manager promised me that I would be provided with feedback if unsuccessful and they inexplicably refused to provide it out of the blue, this would send my anxiety into a frenzy. I would be ruminating about whether I said or did something that sounded terrible or whether someone had spoken about me unfavourably.

Making a formal complaint may not have been the rational response, but perhaps it was driven by exasperation about the current job market. They may have been rejected for numerous roles and desperately wanted to know how to improve. Could you or your employers not have given a vague but reassuring sentence or two about there no longer being a present need for this role due to a change in circumstances?

If you have it all on email, and you have done everything exactly as you're required to, I'd ask go off on paid leave if it's available. No job is worth making yourself sick over, especially a job you have done exactly as you're required to and are still being made to feel awful over. You're feeling like shit because of work policies that you have followed to a tee ... and they're not supporting you!

I agree with this.

What the fuck are they wasting time investigating?!

Surely a complaint in this situation is against the employer, not the OP as an individual? Even if the OP was at fault, any complaint brought by the candidate would be against the company?

Wonder how much this is costing the taxpayer?
Advertising a vacancy when there wasn't one (?), wasting the candidate's time and money-while I wouldn't have taken it to these lengths, they have the right to be annoyed, and having an investigation regarding OP, for (from what you say OP) isn't her fault.

Well it is all just a bit crap isn’t it “for legal reasons” and there is no accountability. I am sorry that it affecting your MH but this will be and should be challenged because there are conscientious and professional people that will refuse to be fobbed off, collateral damage of this. If only it could go higher.

Fwiw, I have been advised by HR consultants that it is safest to have a policy of never offering feedback to anyone, but if you're going to do that you need to tell the candidates that, ideally at the outset, but if the policy changed during the recruitment process, surely you can say sorry due to a change of policy we are no longer able to offer feedback.

But, in this situation it would have been much more straightforward to just tell them the decision had been taken not to recruit.

You're not sick; you should go to work.
It sounds like you have followed the rules, so I'm not sure what you're worried about. You massively weakened your position if you fake illness.

If you're feeling so upset in anticipation of this meeting, you'd be better off having a meeting with your union rep rather than going off ill. The union rep will have a perspective on what's likely to happen and how serious (or most likely, not serious) the situation is. But I agree with PP, don't go off sick until you know what's happening. And even then, be guided by your union rep as to how to respond.

This is very strange.
Could you not have said “due to unforeseen circumstances we’ve had to temporarily withdraw this vacancy. We’re so grateful for your application and time and while we don’t expect you to wait, we will be back in touch when we’re in a position to reopen the vacancy”?

Hello, I work for a union. In these sorts of circumstances I'd be getting ahead of this case and emailing HR to ask why on earth they are dragging you through a formal process when this is so clear cut? Just to get that on record. Where the fuck are your managers and why haven't they closed this down?

Sounds like a total waste of time. I know in parts of the public sector they claim they have to do the process, but sometimes the process is just nonsense (like here).

It will be ok, you know. I think you know that. If you're going to go off sick (which isn't for me or anyone else to say other than you and the GP), ask the doctor to log it specifically as work-related stress in the fit note, and tell your work you need to see Occupational Health. They'll have all that stuff in place where you work, and you might as well make a slight nuisance of yourself. Basically make them support you and make it difficult so they think twice about doing this again.

I was not allowed to do this. I was told to tell all applicants they were unsuccessful and we could not give feedback. I don’t know why, I really truly do not know why… I just did as I was told and now there is a complaint against me (not the organisation, me personally). I don’t know why some people on here think this situation is unfathomable. It’s public sector incompetency at its finest and although I should be in the clear, having never been in this situation before, I don’t feel I can be blasé about it.

It's a university isn't it?

@SadlyNotATroll - "... I was tasked with communicating this decision to the unsuccessful applicants after they had interviewed, but was not able to offer any information as to why they were unsuccessful, despite them being told if they were unsuccessful that they would get feedback. Upper management forbade me from providing any further context, e.g. that there was a legal issue affecting the vacancy."

Apologies if I've missed this but couldn't you just have told all the applicants that they had not been unsuccessful but that owing to circumstances beyond the department's control the vacancy had been withdrawn?

Surely upper managemnet were not forbidding you from telling the applicants that the vacancy had been withdrawn?

Did management advise you to tell the applicants that they'd been "unsuccessful"?

I'm finding it difficult to understand what circumstances would mean you couldn't simply tell them the vacancy had been withdrawn

I have chaired public sector interview panels. Had we told candidates we would provide feedback after interview, I would be providing feedback. Just because someone tells you to do something you don’t have to do it - its ok to push back.

Public health dept by any chance?

Oh come on. If you're experienced enough at work to chair an interview panel you are experienced enough to deal with a minor complaint without going off sick.

Well you acted on written instructions. It’s the person who wrote those instructions that should be worried.

You’ll be fine.

Hi, thank you so much for this. I feel unless you work in the public sector you don’t fully understand the bureaucracy that goes on. They are investigating because they have to, akin to a FOI request or similar. I just wish they knew the stress it places on employees even when I know I’ve done nothing wrong. The first I heard of it was an “official sensitive” letter inviting me to a formal interview, advising me to bring union representation and signposting me to the employee assistance service. It’s just so awful for our mental health.

That's not how it feels to the OP, who while not having done anything wrong, feels thrown under the bus by the scale and kind of the investigation.