Issue with colleague - am I right to be upset & complain?

[ShastaBeast]

A colleague has implied I made a mistake (implied because I’m the only one who does this particular job so it can’t be anyone else), and this was partly because she didn’t check it first before it was emailed out.

My manager emailed back to “tell her off” for this accusation. In fact there was no mistake and it was known why this happened. It was no big deal.

I worked out today that this colleague had used a shared inbox to send this document out and had signed it off with my name/email signature. I have a professional job title and she is in a different team altogether.

I have other issues with this colleague but this is the only point I’ve felt tipped over into serious enough for a formal complaint.

I’m quite shaken and worried about this. Does anyone have any idea how this should be handled? It is the first time she has pointed the finger to avoid blame, I witnessed it once before but wasn’t the target that time. Help. I’m so stressed I came home early and ate a huge piece of cake and a bag of maltesers!

It’s not for you to handle as such. I’m a bit confused, does your manager already know about her doing this? If not, he/she needs to know, then let them deal with the complaint. It’s not your fault and she needs to be made aware of this.

It’s more of a “how should I expect this to be handled”. It’s been escalated as far as it can go, and was already before I discovered the email wasn’t actually from me. I wasn’t sure if it was wrong to send the email from me, it feels wrong but for various reasons (childhood trauma) I don’t trust my own judgement.

How did she get access to your email signature? Did she have to use a sneaky method to apply it, or is it open access? Should she have been able to access your signature? That is where I would start, I think.

If it is accepted that the shared email account has all signatures stored, then is it policy to use each other's signatures to send emails? Do you need permission? Or is it a definite no? In other words, can she legitimately say that she thought it was ok to do (even if in this instance she was being sneaky)?

Moving forward, why? Why now, why you? What would she gain? What do you gain from challenging it? Is it better to challenge by confronting it, or from trying to build a better relationship? That gives you your answer about what to do.

A colleague of mine signed my name onto an email she was sending and I told her in no uncertain terms not to ever put my name to something she had written.

Let your manager know that she has sent an email out with your name on it. This kind of thing has serious repercussions for your business and your professional reputation.

Email signature rather than written. So just copied from an email or she altered my assistant’s which is the same format.

It’s only because she pointed the finger at me for a mistake on that email that it’s come to light. Is it in breach of any regulation or law to do this? Data protection? Ethical?

Sadly this is not the first issue and it’s unlikely we can move on from this. I have a suspicion this is another nail in the coffin rather than it just being me. Unfortunately she is more senior so more difficult to handle.

It's simple fraud, no?

Surely this isn’t allowed unless policy at your company says it’s ok?

Let your manager know that she has sent an email out with your name on it. This kind of thing has serious repercussions for your business and your professional reputation.

^I would do this

I’ve used shared email accounts before. Even if (for example) I sent an email from shared account and used a colleagues signature (as you say - easy to copy and paste or alter) it would only show up in my sent items. And IT team would be able to find out who it originated from.

If it's a c+p job from your email footer it looks unbelievably dodge- she's deliberately misrepresented something as your "work" and then framing you for the mistake.

If there have been previous issues with the same colleague in a similar vein, there would be a case for bullying.

It really depends how far you want this to go OP- this would be reasonable grounds for a grievance.

Is absolutely raise it as a formal grievance. Unless she's your PA she shouldn't have done that.

Ok thanks. I always feel my judgement is off. People like this making me feel unsure of myself, minimising.

The thing was the document didn’t have an error and I’d normally send it, it was just urgent that day. The ‘error’ was because we didn’t know for sure one particular thing at that time. That was ok and explained. However it was later used again me as if it was my error error. And now I realise she actually sent the sodding thing in the first place. Its more stupidity than cunning, but it did feel malicious - claiming I’d made an error and copying in other people, my manager included.

This needs investigating. How many other times have emails gone with your signature that you know nothing about?

She's trying to make you look like an amateur- think about it, if it had been you and you'd sent it in error with the wrong footer and then realised the "mistake", you'd be shitting yourself and hoping no one twigged on. You wouldn't instead highlight the problem and cause everyone, including the person you were impersonating, to review the email again!

Not PA just junior team member I manage - I’ve protected her mostly from this colleague, deliberately, she’s the type you give an inch and she takes a mile.

I can see sent items in the sent inbox regardless of who sent them/which computer. This was the same in a larger organisation I worked in.

I’m getting whiffs of bullying but it’s more about only pissing off the “right” people. She’s hidden this from the top management. Until now... there’s a meeting scheduled and I’ve handed over my evidence.

She totally meant to send it ‘from me’. But it wasn’t an error as such. She’s quite literal and doesn’t have a great memory. I sense she has been warned about performance so I don’t understand why she’s so smug. I’m the opposite- pretty capable but full of self doubt. Like whether I have a right to complain. My manager is very easy going so can let things go much easier than me. I don’t know how and wish I could.

Good luck OP- you sound capable and confident so hopefully in a good place to handle a chancer like this. It's the staff who she interacts with that don't have those qualities that need to be protected by taking this further.

Where i work this would be taken very seriously especially if it’s suspected that she deliberately signed the email from you to mislead people.

Will it be verifiable, electronically, that it was her who sent it and not you?

It was my junior colleague’s computer but she remembers it and can act as a witness. She seems very trustworthy and reliable, no reason to lie. She had only been in the job a couple of weeks so unsurprising she didn’t push back. I left early really shaken up. I just needed to be home and have a bit of a cry - more for the crappy emotional trauma of the past than what actually happened but it’s why I find this thing so difficult. I really enjoy my job otherwise and am frustrated by being so emotional. It’s a small office so no where to hide. I might work at home but have a meeting scheduled to discuss this so can’t avoid for long.

From what I understand it would be in her ‘sent’ and not yours. After all it was sent by her and she would have logged on. She sounds like she’s got problems if she does things like this.

Our emails must be set up in a different way as I can see anything sent via the shared inbox. Although I was copied in to the email in the first place, she clearly didn’t think she’d done anything wrong. I have the email trail to show how it happened as well as my assistant’s “witness account” - I couldn’t sleep so copied lots of emails into an “evidence” folder. There’s no IT or HR but I believe it’s well run and I can trust the top management - much more so than larger previous employers. It’s just that there is a proper process for complaints and I need to cope while it happens.

Are you a member of a union, OP? A good rep or branch member would be able to offer real-life support as well specific advice.

Can I gently suggest that you don't get too wound up about this? The incident did you no harm - she was caught out and put in her place before you even knew about it. She is also clearly not a brilliant schemer - she couldn't even mastermind a forged email without getting caught. So the threat is very low. There is no need to make this more than it is.