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.

And this was a policy that the OP says was agreed by SLT! So I just don’t get why HR is calling the OP into a formal meeting to explain herself for simply implementing an SLT decision! And her manager is just allowing this?

It sounds like there’s serious management dysfunction at the organisation for this to escalate like this.

You were just following their orders, the problem was caused by the lack of communication as the complainer can't seem to accept it and move on.

It was absalutely no fault your yours. You were following the instructions of the hierarchy above you, under no circumstances should you be feeling anxious and the complainer needs to back off.

Agreed. They need dealing with properly and proportionately. That doesn’t need to include protracted proceedings that drag your hapless employee (who was following instruction) into ludicrous, unnecessary meetings. It can be dealt with at a senior manager’s desk, or across email between those with authority to sign off, with a formal response to the complainant being written after that.

Wasting time and money on this is neither a good use of public funds, nor ethical practice towards their employees - to whom they have responsibilities as well, let’s not forget.

It’s this kind of arrant nonsense that gets the public sector a bad name.

I would say just carry on with your job as you haven’t done anything wrong. You were just following instructions.

I would say you have avoided a difficult employee - if they are kicking off now they would surely find things wrong if they were in post.

Do they have any protected characteristics that they will use to claim they have been unfairly overlooked for the position? They are clearly annoyed they didn’t get the job.

IMO, OP wouldn't be going off sick because there's a complaint about her. She'd be going off sick because her management have deliberately put her in this position and are now allowing a complaint to be formally pursued against her for doing what they have actually required her to do. That's appalling.

Print off the emails containing the instructions not to give feedback. Print off any emails from you back to the applicant. I think, despite it being really horrible, I’d stick it out at work and get the meeting out of the way asap. Stand firm in the meeting and don’t allow HR/management to trot out any nonsense about blame. This is not your fault. 💐

Also you want to be at work when stuff like this is happening so you get your information spread around and keep making noise about how ridiculous the whole thing is. Advocate for yourself, rather than hide away

Dont go off sick, just co-operate abd get it sorted out ASAP. They are just following procedure, the sooner the investigation is complete the better for all.
Ridiculous though that you couldn't just tell the. The job vacancy had been pulled.

It sounds like you work for a completely incompetent local authority? With equally useless HR. There is no way they can sack you or even reprimand you for this. If they do sack you it’s unfair dismissal and you can also claim damages for your mental health. Don’t worry about this. It’s not your fault.

There must be a senior person you can pass the email on to

Do they have any protected characteristics that they will use to claim they have been unfairly overlooked for the position? They are clearly annoyed they didn’t get the job.

The OP stated the recruitment process was withdrawn so there should be no issue there.

OP, what are you worried about about exactly? HR can hardly say you were in the wrong for not providing feedback when you have evidence from Management instructing you not to.

Even there was no such instruction from Management, the worst that would happen would be that you’d be told to provide feedback in this case and apologise for the misunderstanding, and to provide feedback more promptly in future - it’s hardly a sacking offence! But that’s only if Management didn’t instruct you not to provide feedback, but they did! So why all the angst on your part?

I work for a LA, HR arent involved in hiring at all. We get the CVs, we decide who to interview, we decide who to the offer the job to (we're the managers)

In fact HR do almost nothing. Im frequently amazed at this site where every bit of advice about job things is 'speak to HR' or 'HR will discipline them', 'report to HR'

Pointless.

Indeed, it’s obviously not the OP’s fault, but even if it was, it’s a “do better next time” issue, nothing more.

Seriosuly OP, if this non-issue is causing this, I’d seek some support. I had someone on my team go off with stress and anxiety because they had contrived a completely false narrative about how they were failing at their work, despite assurances that they weren’t, and without any issues being reported raised about her performance. She seemed to gone into an anxiety spiral that no amount of reassurance could rectify… She blamed me and others for her situation when actually we bent over backwards to assure her that what she was doing was great, but she had convinced herself that she was failing... I’m still not sure what triggered her breakdown, but your thread reminds me of her by the way you’ve taken a non-issue that should be routine, and escalated it into a major incident that’s majorly impacting your mental health!

Indeed, which is why I don’t think this is a Council. I can’t fathom how this is being managed between HR and the OP without her manager seemingly having any involvement, especially when this is clearly a management issue!

It sounds more like a very poorly run university?

This is bonkers.
I do work in the public sector as a manager. If a member of the public made a complaint (or an internal one if it was an internal candidate), the complaint would be recorded and allocated to a suitable person for review. The complainant would then be told by your manager that you hadn’t done anything wrong and why. Written up and closed. End of.
Your HR dept are being way OTT with this and I would submit a formal grievance over the way you’re being treated, with the support of your union. They seem to have completely skipped basic fact finding, because if they had done it, this wouldn’t be formal (based on the info you have given).

Your HR dept are being way OTT with this and I would submit a formal grievance over the way you’re being treated, with the support of your union. They seem to have completely skipped basic fact finding, because if they had done it, this wouldn’t be formal (based on the info you have given).

I sense the HR meeting is probably just a very simple fact finding meeting (if unnecessary and could be done via email imo), and that’s all there is to it… And they’d be aghast that the OP had escalated this in her mind out of all proportion into something akin to a Crown Court trial in which she is being accused of some heinous crime!

I understand how distressing this is but I think if you engage with the process, be reasonable and have the union you will be fine.

The investigation meeting is just fact finding. You have evidence that you were following direction. The candidate is hoping to get the role on the back of you not following the process and you have. You can submit your documentation.

If the investigator has any experience they will recognise that you didn't make this decision and how stressful it is for you.

I genuinely do not understand why so many people seem to think “going off sick” is an acceptable response to pretty standard work stresses. You followed a policy you were told to follow (in writing), and now they want to simply confirm that after a complaint has been received. On what planet do you think this means you are now too ill to work for the next 4 weeks?

Well this is why it could well be a LA, this is what people at work do all the time. Bit stressed, off sick, overwhelmed, off sick, weather not to your liking, off sick. Got a new pet, off sick, got back from a holiday and tired, off sick.

You name it.

@SadlyNotATroll Do not go off sick. I know you are probably scared and anxious but that is perfectly normal in this type of situation.

You have your interview next week where you provide your evidence that you were following a management instruction. As a pp suggested a timeline with copies of correspondence will help.

Your employer should have an EAP - Employee Assistance Programme, contact them as they are designed to provide support to you in this type of situation.

You have done nothing wrong, the applicant has raised the grievance against you because you are the one saying no. The reality is you are actually acting as a representative of the organisation and it is the organisation who is responsible not you personally.

Personally, I think the organisation has over reacted by saying no feedback. It’s perfectly straightforward to give non-discriminatory feedback, you just build in a checking process.

Forward the emails to HR, all of them. If they still decide to sanction you for it, start looking for another job.

Too late now, but in your position, I’d have sent the first email and if the candidate continued to email, I would have forwarded all to HR, copying in the candidate with a “Can you assist with this enquiry, please” message. I’ve had to do with with students who question processes I have nothing to do with, as I only lecture part time and have no input on course management. They rarely come back to me after the first one.

I work in the public sector and I would never do this. The fact that so many people’s first thought in times of difficulty is to “go off sick” is outrageous. And for 4 weeks?! The impact that has on a service is awful.

If it’s the first time someone has come up against something like this, and where they haven’t done anything wrong, but the fault lies higher up, it is tremendously stressful.

Especially if it hasn’t been dealt with properly. Surely in this scenario there should have been an informal conversation to establish the facts, the manager already knows what they’ve told the person to do so should have already confirmed this (possibly avoiding the need for even the informal conversation) and then the manager responds to the complaint drawing a line under the whole thing.

HR have gone straight to formal meetings, probably with accompanying letters in HR speak warning about legal
rights and possible consequences. I’ve had people who work for me reduced to tears by letters like this simply asking them to be a witness in someone else’s case.

All it does is create more stress and take up more time.

Your company are not treating you fairly here

why are they investigating you for following orders?

can you speak to a union rep?

I get all of that but I find it bizarre that the OP’s first thought is to go off sick before she’s even spoken to HR. Her first thought should be to try and fix the situation and find a resolution, not absolve herself of all responsibility and leave everyone in the lurch. She can’t complain of other people not having dealt with the situation properly if she’s considering doing the same herself.

People really need to consider their own resilience in situations like this. Maybe taking on responsibilities such as interview panels etc. is not for the OP.