What would you think if you were told to do this at work?

[Borka]

DH has been told by his manager to:

a) claim several hundred pounds worth of overtime he hasn't worked, as a sort of Christmas bonus

b) on days when he hasn't got any work to do, to email the manager and tell him he's going home - but not to take it as holiday.

It all look very dodgy, he thinks they're setting him up to get fired. Could there be an innocent reason?

I would ask for it in writing, and ratified by management higher up that this is acceptable practice. It sounds very dodgy to me.

I wouldn't do it, his manager is telling him to make a fraudulent claim.

He could not only be fired but prosecuted as well

Sounds very odd

This is exceptionally dodgy... Can he raise it with HR?

He's definitely not going to do it. Unfortunately he can't raise it with HR as that's the department he's in. At the moment he's trying to work out the best way of refusing.

I have to admit many years ago I put through additional overtime on instruction from my manager as she had fought tooth and nail and failed to get me the higher bonus she believed I was due.

I did it as I trusted her 100% and knew if it ever came back to bite us she would put her job on the line for me. She was an exceptional manager. There is NO-ONE else in the last 25 years of my working life I have had that level of trust in. Wouldn't have done it with anyone else.

I've never been in the position of having "nothing to do" and wouldn't feel comfortable going home while being paid (I have seen the dismissal of an entire team for gross misconduct after leaving work before the end of their shift on the say of their manager to all go home and watch a sporting event on TV).

In the roles I have been in there is always something to do, whether it be finding process improvements, networking, self training (online excel for example), temporarily taking workload off others that are busy (even if its not part of your job etc etc. If there is REALLY nothing to do then spend the time perfecting your CV as a job like that is rarely sustainable!

That's the thing, Wings, he really doesn't trust his manager because of things that have happened in the past. The 'nothing to do' situation is easy for DH to avoid because he's always busy, but that makes it even stranger that the manager's mentioned it. DH was already looking for another job, but his has given him more of an incentive - so hopefully he can jump before he's pushed!

No, I wouldn't, especially if I didn't trust him.

I would send an email setting out what he has asked me to do and tell him that I have considered his suggestion and have decided against it because it is fraudulent (or whatever it is) and not in the best interests of the company.

Never trust anyone at work and always cover your back...

He should document everything and also consider going over his boses head or to someone of a similar level as his boss in another department, perhaps the head of finance as this is a similar support function with comparable ethical obligations. His boss sounds unhinged.

Thank you everyone - DH is now drafting an email.

anotherday unhinged is exactly how he described his boss!