What do you think about this work issue?

[lezpez]

Okay, I may well be overreacting here but please bare with me. I started at this company just over a year ago. There is 3 of us in our department, myself, my manager and a guy that started 6 months prior to me starting.

There's been a few things bugging me from the start which made me want to quit in the past but now I've come to a point where I just can't take it anymore. The problem are both my manager and the other colleague. They are both as bad as each other and kiss each other's asses basically! Firstly, he has access to my work emails(where all my payslips and personal information are also sent to). I asked my manager if he can be denied access as I don't feel comfortable wi and she said 'no, we need him on there in case you're on annual leave'. He monitors and sometimes deletes emails (especially from our manager asking me to do something) in my inbox which result in me then looking stupid saying 'I never got that email' to which she can always prove she sent it to me. There's been a lot of times in the past where he did my job without asking (he picked up tasks from my inbox) and deliberately did them wrong which then was blamed on me as this is my job. Once when I was off on annual leave, he changed something very important on a spreadsheet I was working on which resulted in me uploading it to the wrong place. (I didn't think it was him at first but I then looked at the file and it said 'previously saved by XXX on xx date'. My manager started getting very frustrated with me for all these mistakes that 'I' have been making and when I told her once in private what was going on her response was 'X would never do that, don't lie to me'

The most recent is that we are all working from
Home and after furlough, he was asked to come back long before me but that was fine with me at the time. I have now found out that our hours are meant to be split equally whereas they are not. He has more while I have less. Also fine. The thing that gets me the most is that he now keeps forwarding me emails from our manager which she sent to him privately asking him to do something. Expect, that something is always my job. She asks him to do MY JOB as if I'm incompetent or something. At this point, I've had enough and want to look for a new job but my issue is that I'm 8 weeks pregnant and therefore no one will employ me

Except* not expect

Can you set up a filter on the emails so that they are all sent to another email address that you control. That way you would have sight of all emails sent to you. If he forwards an email to you, reply and cc your manager saying no, he was asked to do this work specially and you are sure he will make a good job of it, smiley face, but you are around to hand hold if he needs help. You will be going on maternity leave soon and then you don't have to return. That might be a good point to part ways.

You need your own private email account. Otherwise I'd refuse to call it my own and just talk about the team email account, which ie clearly is. And refuse your payslips going to t a team account.
Why does he have his own?
I think you need to formalise your approach to dealing with this.

I think you need to formalise this. Email manager, outlining specific incidents. Include screenshot evidence. Don't use emotive language. Give the impression you want to professionally stop these mistakes and misunderstanding happening
Tell her you want a review of your work, your job description and role going forward.
You need a team email and your own email.
Suggest a meeting in a weeks time.
If you don't get satisfaction at that meeting, you need to go higher.
Don't give up the security of employment during Covid and your pregnancy
.

@growinggreyer how could I set this up? I will have a look when I get a minute. Thank you! With the emails he forwards, it's about an ongoing project I AM doing but she is emailing him 'please can you make sure this is added on, etc' . It's very belittling.

@StealthPolarBear thank you. Unfortunately, he has his own because he gets what he wants because she thinks the sun shines out of his arse for some reason. He takes credit for the work I have done and blames mistakes on me basically and she believes him because he is always right we are obviously treated very differently and I still haven't quite figured out why as he is definitely not my senior. I am however aware that should she ever go, he will be taking her spot for without a doubt. She already asks him and trains him on the difficult tasks which she never ever shows me or asks me if I would like to learn

@Gazelda thank you, that's helpful. The only thing that worries me is that our business was hit severely by COVID hence the cutting of hours, etc. I have managed to get out of one round of redundancies but there is no doubt in my mind that there will be another round in the coming months and I know that if I address this now I will be next to go

Is it a large company? Does it have a HR or IT dept?

Is your colleague logging into your email with your username/password or does he have delegated access (ie shared access from his own account)? If the former, it's an unwise move by your manager as it would be difficult for them to complain about your performance because they can't prove that only you have access to the account.

There's probably a data protection issue as well (your payslips and confidential correspondence), unless you are able to route those emails to a private address.

Have you notified them that you are pregnant? I would do so immediately as it may give you an extra layer of protection.

You can take maternity leave early and not return.

In the mean time I would get all your issues documented. If you have proof of work being completed incorrectly or emails accessed by him then add this.

You should have separate log ins to a team email account and these issues will be easier to track.

Is there a HR dept?

You need to take notes in a diary of everything he does from now on. Include as much evidence as possible such as screen shots etc

You can then write all of this in a grievance and include your diary and evidence. You should send it to her in the first instance and tell her you want to submit a formal grievance (if you have HR copy them in).

If she doesn't deal with it you can then send it on to her line manager.