To be angry at work colleague who opened an envelope addressed to me and had CONFIDENTIAL written on the envelope?

[johnbarrowmanlovesme]

She knew it contained my recent job appraisal, which (she must have suspected!) did contain quite a few complaints about her! I wasn't in work the day the Secretary handed out the envelopes so she (my supervisor) was handed mine & asked to pass it on to me the following day.

Anyway,to cut a long story short, she handed me the envelope which for various reasons I suspected had been tampered with so I went to see the Secretary who was shocked that it wasn't her writing on the envelope
This person had taken the envelope home, opened it, read it then put it in a new envelope & tried to copy the original handwriting, I would never know
DH thinks this is a sackable offence, what do you think?

I'm afraid in that case I'd go with sack her (if they will). You cannot wrk for her after this, and she has brought this on herself.
Are you serious that she may be violent? Definitely keep a diary and be prepared to call the police if she threatens you. You poor thing.

She has a terrible temper & has lost it at work on numerous occasions. Never touched anyone, just lots of shouting & screaming. She should have been reprimanded about this before now but our boss is obviously not good at managing people & doesn't know how to deal with her. she has been offered to go on an anger management course but doesn't think she needs to!

We have heard her losing it with her family too, lots of high pitched screaming, she just loses it.

Hi, just thought I'd come back & update you on what the outcome was.

Basically she (the accused!) got called into the Boss's office today & was asked why her handwriting was on the envelope. She said that she had spilt some coffee on it so took it out & put it into a new envelope but didn't read it

The only way we can prove if she did read it is if I can remember anything specific that she said that she could have only have know if she had read it but unfortunately, reading back through my appraisal, I think her comments were all quite general, obvious to me that she had read it but I can't remember anything she said that would prove this. If we could prove it then there would be a disciplinary but as I can't then unfortunatelty it means that she has got away with it.

I just hope that she is feeling like shit tonight though, knowing that members of staff know what she has done.

Thanks for all your comments on this eveyone.

So she admitted it was her and gave an excuse for changing the envelope. But that doesn't cover the fact that opening someone else's mail (regardless of reason) is illegal (ok that might only apply to Royal Mail post, but still, she should not have opened it even if that were true, she should have returned it unopened to the sender).

But this might be the best result in some ways. She knows she now has people watching her and there will be some official record of this event. Do keep a diary as others have suggested and if the bullying carries on then do approach someone - if her manager is useless then go up a level or to HR.

Hope it gets easier for you and that there is no fall out - make sure anything snide is recorded. Good luck!

But there was still no need for her to open the mail and put it in a new envelope, I thin if they really wanted to do something over this then they could.

she should have just wiped of the coffee and attached a note apologising for the accidet.

Actually was it left somewhere she could have spilt coffee on it?

And if your boss believed that he's a muppet. Seriously, I would be taking this a LOT further. It may be enough to make her stop and think about her attitude but to me, it's way over the line and the fact that she is so obviously bull shitting is worse

How would you take it further?

I'm sure no-one in RL knows me on here so I'm sure it's ok to say that I work in a School & that my 'Boss' is actually the Headteacher so I don't think that this sort of situation arrises often for her (if ever)

surely to the board of governers?

What a nightmare! She sounds a bit deranged actually! But then if she lost her job she might lose her house

Sorry, is your boss your head, the one who's done this? or is the head your boss's boss, and your supervisor the head of dept or something?
At the very least she needs her judgement questioning if she thought that was an acceptable thing to do if you spilt coffee on something with CONFIDENTIAL written on it!

Board of governers without a doubt.

sounds suss to me tbh

i blame the secretary - she should of held onto it till she saw you, esp as what the report was about ( assuming that she typed it up so must have known)

I wondered if you worked in a school - too much of this stuff goes on.....I hope you have union representaion - if so - then you are sorted - the union will assess the case and take it on from here for you. You'll barely need to be involved. If you are not in a union - please join one right now in case any of the bullying tactics get worse over time.

A union will not deal with past events but they will deal with anything that comes up after you've joined. You seriously need to protect yourself here.

Board of governors could work but if its a small or village school I'd worry about conflict of interest if they are friends with the letter opener etc.

I'll wait to see if you have union backup before drivelling with more what ifs......

Sorry so long replying, had a long chat with DH when he came home last night about where we go from here.

Stealth, the letter opener is my supervisor. I called the Head 'the boss' as I wasn't sure if I should say where I worked. So she the Head is our boss. Does that make sense?

Mover, no, I'm not in a Union, never been asked to join one. Not sure which one I would be in, something I could look into though.

No worries about any of the Governors being friends with the letter opener, she has no friends, no surprise there.

As there is no way we can prove she read the letter & I'm deff not happy to leave it there so she basically gets away with it so I'm going to see if I can get an appointment with the Head later to say that I have taken legal advice (friend of a friend) not a sackable offence she said but there should deff be some kind of disciplinary. DH says I should insist on asking going forward, how are they going to manage this woman as she just does as she wants.

To be honest, I'm sick of the whole business & just want to walk away from it all but then I think it will all get brushed under the carpet & she will get away with it so I have to carry on with it.

I saw her from a distance this morning while I was chatting to a friend outside school, can you believe she shouted hello to me, I said hello then turned back around & carried on with my conversation but she just kept trying to talk to me, from a distance as she was carrying some stuff accross the playground, like nothing had happened, witch

I would talk to the Head about taking it further, if he/she won't then write to the board of Governers - they can't ignore letters.

I still haven't phoned to speak to the Head, got to do it today so they will have tomorrow to do something then I'm meant to be in work on thurs

How maddening! They must do something about it, that is awful.

(FWIW, in my first job we were told to open ALL mail unless it said "personal". But that is not your situation at all and in your case she is totally in the wrong for opening your letter. It is clearly private for you as it was internal mail.) I hope you can prove it and/or take it a little further.

I just wanted to say that she is fairly obviously shitting herself - all that 'hello' across the playground.

I would be very surprised if she started being a bitch to you now - it's not outside the realms of possibility but unlikely as she is being watched.

Good luck - hopefully she will be minding her p's and q's now - you did nothing wrong and have nothing to feel bad about when you go in.

My DP works in a school and has a similar 'supervisor'. Slagging him off at the top of her voice to other members of staff. Wicked people.

Thank you frumpy & laurie. I really hope she is shitting herself.

Just about to phone school now, my tummy is doing summersaults

JB if you want to take it further then she really doesn't have a leg to stand on. She has admitted to opening a letter addressed to you marked 'confidential'. The excuse is irrelevant (and obviously ridiculous). The appraisal is based on trust - you have to be able to trust that your comments are confidential - and she has made a mockery of that. I don't think that the secretary has done anything wrong BTW - she trusted that mail would get to the recipient without being tampered with, a normal assumption.

If the head really is pathetic then do consult the board of governors. I know it would be immoral, but your Head won't know if you are member of a union or not (unless you have told him/her).

You are not demanding her dismissal, you are asking that she be given some formal reprimand for a terrible breach of confidentiality and trust.

We had a bully in my old job, she used to single someone out and criticise/badger them constantly. Luckily the person she picked on was strong enough to ask us all for support and she received a formal reprimand which led to her resignation. Not a nice lady. Do you have colleagues on your side to support you? It does make a difference, I think dealing with a difficult supervisor can be very isolating.

Meant to add after the Union comment, that perhaps you could say you are consulting your Union rep.

Thanks crunchy. Yes, I have eveyone on my side I'm glad to say. She is not a popular person but will be even more unpopular now.

I am going to tell the Head that if she does not have a formal warning then I will be writing to the Board of Governors. I don't want to cause trouble there but I think the Governors should know what sort of person they have working at school.

Have you asked why there was no coffee on the document then?

if the envelope was thin the coffee would have stained the document. if the envelope wasn't thin no need for her to change envelopes.

Sorry, I wouldn't accept the answer you have got

are you a ta then and she is the teacher in the classroom you work in?