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.

Why would you go off sick? You've done as you were told and have the paper trail to prove it. Surely this is just a box ticking exercise by your employer, and a PITA for you?

I would not go off sick now in your situation. I would follow the advice PP here have given you and make sure your union rep is fully briefed. Get together all the documents you need and email them to yourself. Any preparation you need to do for defending your case or meetings with your rep make sure they happen in work time, not in your own time.

When you have been completely cleared - as I am sure you will be - raise a grievance about the clumsy and distressing manner in which it was handled. If necessary cite the effect on your mental health. That will be the time to go off sick. Make those above you answerable for the distress they have caused you.

Is the folder of evidence physical or on your computer? I would say you need a hard copy just in case.

I work in a senior HR role. I’m unclear why you are ‘under investigation’. Someone has raised a complaint - which they are entitled to do - and this needs to be responded to but it is the complaint that is under investigation not you personally. If they are complaining about a lack of feedback then the complaint is about the process not you. Don't go off sick - you’ve done nothing wrong.

FYI, there is no legal entitlement to feedback. If they believe your decision was discriminatory they can raise a claim but it sounds as though no feedback is being provided.

This could, and should, be dealt with quickly by your senior managers with a formal response explaining that since the interview there has been a change in the company policy regarding interview feedback for all applicants - it certainly doesn’t need 4 weeks!

This is horrible advice if you want to remain employed there.

I can tell you that people who raised grievances against their managers - even those that are upheld - almost all leave the company in the next year. Rightly or wrongly, there’s no coming back from a formal grievance when you raise it upwards.

It should have been the post has been withdrawn you were a great candidate feedback etc will keep you in mind if anything comes up. That aside if you haven't got work to distract you it will be worse as have time to overthink etc. It's horrible I've been there. Felt sick everyday going into work whilst investigation took place. Thinking I could lose my job as was a possibility if the grievance was upheld. I doubted myself so much but I got through it and lived to tell the tale as such. Good luck

It should have been the post has been withdrawn you were a great candidate feedback etc will keep you in mind if anything comes up. That aside if you haven't got work to distract you it will be worse as have time to overthink etc. It's horrible I've been there. Felt sick everyday going into work whilst investigation took place. Thinking I could lose my job as was a possibility if the grievance was upheld. I doubted myself so much but I got through it and lived to tell the tale as such. Good luck

So your employer is simply following the process, investigating a complaint by an interviewee. You know exactly what happened and have evidence that you did everything correctly at your end.

Why would you need to go off sick? It’s just a procedure being followed.

I’ve been in a similar situation. I didn’t go off sick although did need workload adjustments in order to be cope with the stress of the (very badly handled!) investigation. It is documented in my medical records as I saw the GP. Work out your timeline of events and keep all of your emails and any other evidence in a folder. I found it helpful to list them as part of the timeline.

Get advice from your union rep and don’t go to a meeting about this unless they are with you.

Make it clear to the organisation the effect this is having on you and state that you need support. They should be offering regular updates.

Get a GP appointment. They can advise you on whether what you’re experiencing means it would be a good idea to take some time off. At the very least, if you’re having to deal with extra meetings and paperwork for this, someone needs to look at your workload. My GP was very scathing about how my employer was behaving!

If it ends up going on for ages (mine did!). Keep an eye on the situation. Go back to the GP if necessary. Make sure your stress levels at work are documented in writing - they have a duty of care to you.

Good luck! It’s a horrible thing to go through. Mine ended up with an apology from HR to me and two policies were rewritten as a result.

Don’t go off sick to prove a point, but if you’re struggling to concentrate and it’s affecting the rest of your life (sleeping, eating etc) then you should be thinking about it.

I stayed at work (with workload adjustments because of the stress) but would have gone off sick if I’d begun making mistakes because of inability to concentrate or lack of sleep.

If you do end up with a FIT note make sure the GP puts it down as work-related stress.

I understand this is a stressful time and process but won’t the investigation process get paused while you’re off sick or at the very least take longer as they won’t be able to interview you while you’re off sick? So it will be hanging over you for longer. It sounds like you’ve done nothing wrong and have email evidence to prove you were following advice from your manager so I’d want it over with as quickly as possible.

Use the employee assistance process, and get a meeting with your manager and / or your HR person on Monday and have this conversation with them.

There should be a way to expedite the process if it’s causing you this much distress.

After that, make a decision on whether you’re feel fit to work. If you jump straight to taking time off, then it’s likely to slow the process down further which doesn’t sound like will help you at all.

I wouldn’t go off sick over this. I don’t think that’s appropriate unless you are actually ill.

however I would be very strongly complaining to HR, raising your own grievance that you’ve been thrown under a bus and please ask them to end this farce immediately. They absolutely need to stick up for their employees

Unless there are key details you haven’t provided, then I can’t see how you are in any way culpable.

I’m a senior manager at a local authority and have responded to numerous complaints over the years. If you haven’t done so already I would raise with your manager, explaining your stress at the situation and that you are on the verge of going off sick as a result.

Your manager should be able to reassure you that this is just routine process… the HR meeting will be fact-finding; it won’t be a disciplinary… And if there is legal advice stating you shouldn’t provide feedback then that’s that… you don’t have a case to answer!

However, the fact that this is making you so incredibly stressed does indicate there’s an underlying reason that is causing your resilience levels to be so very low, because if this non-issue is causing such an issue, I’m assuming you’re an extremely anxious person who often catastrophises and generally struggles with life.

So I’d be looking for some support to address what’s going on in your mind to allow such a small issue to lead to such an unhealthy disproportionate response, because other issues will inevitably arise in work and life that will easily eclipse this one!

Start polishing your CV OP, your workplace sounds like the type to use this complaint to push you (a scapegoat) out.

Lots of talk of going to her union, but first she surely needs to go to her manager to chat about this (and I emphasise chat as there seems to be an assumption that all this all has to be done through stiff, formal meetings - that’s not how good management works!)

OP, what does your manager say? Because if I was your manager (and i manage many people in my role at a council) I’d, first, be reassuring you that you had done nothing wrong, and second, be contacting HR and advocating on your behalf telling them I had instructed you not to provide the applicant with feedback! I’d be telling HR very clearly that the way they were handling this was causing significant stress to a member of my team, and that they needed to talking to both of us, informally before there’s any formal meeting (which frankly this case doesn’t warrant at all).

But refusing to give feedback just plays into that narrative. Schools are horrible toxic places and slt throw people under the bus without a thought.

I was thinking that… If such a straightforward complaint happened at my place of work (a large local authority), there’d have been a brief exchange of emails between those involved, and a senior manager would have written a response to the complainant, politely but firmly explaining the issue and shutting it down … No need for a formal investigation - how absurd!

I personally would take sick leave so you have time and space to concentrate on collecting your evidence and preparing a statement for your investigation hearing. They may try to throw you under the bus (eg try to make you accept a written warning to appease the interviewee especially if they are alleging some protected characteristic element) so you need to be prepared and protect yourself now. If it starts to look as if they really are going to use you as a scapegoat (ie the investigation recommends disciplinary action) then you will need to immediately put in a grievance at that point, as your grievance will automatically stop the disciplinary process. Then you submit a SAR requesting to see all emails and documents about you etc relating to the recruitment process and the complaint.

The issue isn’t with the complainant - they have a good reason to be angered by their treatment… It’s with HR/Management, and potentially the OP if she’s inexplicably not told her manager who could have nipped this in the bud.

I personally would take sick leave so you have time and space to concentrate on collecting your evidence and preparing a statement for your investigation hearing.

That’s making Mount Everest out of a molehill…

If it’s as the OP has described, then virtually no time would be required to do this. Supposedly, she had instructions from Management or Legal not to provide feedback. She then didn’t provide feedback… case closed!

A email from Management and Legal stating this is all that’s required - a 2 minute job to find, if that… As for the statement… “I received written instructions from Legal not to provide feedback to interview candidates. I didn’t provide feedback, and informed the candidate who asked that I was unable to do so as your records will show.” That took all of 30 seconds…

Unless there’s a massive drop feed, this isn’t a fraud trial requiring volumes of evidence!

I don't understand why your line manager simply sends n email to the complainant reiterating that no feedback can be given at this time.
The person probsbly doesn't realise that this is the party line

Because formal complaints have to be dealt with formally.

I don’t think you should go off sick because of this. I was in a similar situation years ago and it was awful but I didn’t go off sick; in fact that never occurred to me.

Definitely take the union representative with you. You know you’ll be ok in the end and it’s just something you have to weather through. I sympathise: I’ve been there..

Don’t go off sick you’ll feel worse being at home stressing. Go in to work keep everything as normal and deal with this head on. It’s not you but hr and recruitment that should be worried. Get everything you need in order, emails, dates and phone calls and be as prepared as possible so it’s over with as soon as possible.

No, complaints have to be dealt with professionally and proportionately. They don’t all require a formal investigation - that is excessive and unnecessary.

I say this as someone things worked in the public sector for decades at a senior level, and dealt with many complaints over the years.

As I’ve posted previously, where is the OP’s manager here. They seem conspicuous by their absence. If they have refused to engage and support the OP with this, then the OP needs to raise a grievance against her manager, and look for another job asap.