Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Work

Chat with other users about all things related to working life on our Work forum.

Suspended Unfairly?

25 replies

WingingItEveryDay7 · 20/05/2021 18:30

My sister has been suspended from work today because its come to light that she allowed an ex employee to collect her things at the weekend and apparently things have gone missing.

This ex-employee allegedly had an email from HR confirming she was allowed to visit when the manager wasn't there as they don't get on (long story but reason she left). My sister didn't see this email, but took her word for it.

The EE also had other people with her as one of the items she collected was a desk. My sister went up to the office with them, but left them as she had patients waiting.

Roll on to today.... My sister was called into the office after lunch and questioned about it. She told it how it happened. The manager has told her that she was in charge and shouldn't have allowed it, my sister argued she wasn't in charge and didn't see anything wrong with what she did. She failed to mention the incident to the manager and when asked why, she said she didn't really think about it. She has now been suspended with pay whilst the investigation continues.

In my opinion, she shouldn't have been that naive and allowed the EE (also friend) upstairs alone. She should have said that as much as she'd like to let her, she couldn't and she'd need to arrange another time when someone else was there to oversee, but to also check it was OK in the first place.

Other family are blaming the EE for putting my sister in that situation, which I can understand but EE doesn't have authority anymore and my sister is not a child and should have said no. They are limiting people in due to covid as are most offices for a start ....

Can I have opinions, or if anyone has had experience, the realistic outcome that will happen. Thank you all x

OP posts:
anniegun · 20/05/2021 18:39

Probably not her best decision but hardly crime of the century. It probably looks suspicious as the EE was her friend. I think if she maintains she was duped by the EE then she will at worst get a warning.

Hoppinggreen · 20/05/2021 18:57

Your sister has been pretty silly, it looks very suss as the EE is a friend.
What will happen depends on company policy

SheldonesqueTheBstard · 20/05/2021 19:05

The EE isn’t much of a friend if they duped your sister. They aren’t much of a friend if they had anything to do with the items going missing, probably knowing that your sister was responsible for giving them access.

I feel sorry for your sister who made a decision on what she has been told by this ‘friend’.

I would have asked to see the email having been in a similar situation. I got threatened by the person after I questioned it.

It created all sorts of trouble.

WingingItEveryDay7 · 20/05/2021 20:25

She has been silly and I agree it does look very suss. This is what I was trying to get across to the family who are very much of the opinion it's all her 'friends' fault. This friend was suspended multiple times leading up to her leaving due to suspicions surrounding other 'thefts'. Why my sister didn't think that letting her in along with other people not connected to the business was wrong is beyond me. Maybe I'm just too suspicious of everyone! My sister is also pregnant and really can't afford to lose this job as it's hard enough getting something right now without a pregnancy thrown into the mix!

OP posts:
Hoppinggreen · 20/05/2021 20:36

So she allowed someone who was virtually sacked for theft and someone who has no connection to the company into the premises?
That’s pretty bad

WingingItEveryDay7 · 20/05/2021 20:40

Pretty much yep! The friend was able to enter the main building as they've not changed the code yet.... But my sister allowed her into the office then left her and the non connected people to get her stuff including a desk! I'm wondering if the desk wasn't actually hers and that's one of the things that has gone missing.....

OP posts:
JudgeJudee · 20/05/2021 20:44

I can see why they took the step of suspending her, TBH.

She basically allowed a group of people to walk into a secure area and left them unsupervised to help themselves to office equipment.

I hope she has a good defense to show she wasn’t an accomplice in all of this.

Have the police been involved?

WingingItEveryDay7 · 20/05/2021 20:48

I've no idea about the police, but if things have been stolen then it seems justified for them to be... It's just so frustrating that every time she does something in her life I get told 'but that's what she's like'. She's a grown woman and actions have consequences. I really hope she's learned this lesson, however it pans out 😕

OP posts:
Aprilx · 21/05/2021 11:16

@WingingItEveryDay7

She has been silly and I agree it does look very suss. This is what I was trying to get across to the family who are very much of the opinion it's all her 'friends' fault. This friend was suspended multiple times leading up to her leaving due to suspicions surrounding other 'thefts'. Why my sister didn't think that letting her in along with other people not connected to the business was wrong is beyond me. Maybe I'm just too suspicious of everyone! My sister is also pregnant and really can't afford to lose this job as it's hard enough getting something right now without a pregnancy thrown into the mix!
My thoughts are pretty much the same as yours. Your sister appears to lack any common sense. The suspension certainly seems fair to me, no way of knowing what will happen now, but if it were me and an employee had let non staff in, left them unsupervised and they proceeded to steal from the office, yes it would be a dismissal.
drpet49 · 23/05/2021 19:53

* So she allowed someone who was virtually sacked for theft and someone who has no connection to the company into the premises?*

^This would be a sackable offence where I work.

WingingItEveryDay7 · 24/05/2021 13:13

I've seen my sister today and she has told me a few more things I was unaware of (which makes the situation even worse!). She's in complete denial about how the part she has played was wrong on any level. She is blaming HR, who we don't know even played a part as she saw nothing, and the fact she wasn't the only one there that day. I've tried to explain where her company are coming from but it ended up with her arguing with me so I gave up. She mentioned that her so-called friend actually messaged her the day before checking if she was working, and said OK, see you tomorrow when she confirmed she was. My sister didn't think to mention this to her boss.... I tried to explain that at the end of the day she was the one who allowed her friend and the others to be alone upstairs. HR weren't physically there so she can't blame them. Neither can she blame anyone else in the building because it was her own doing that she left them alone.... If she gets a warning she'll be lucky I think. Gross misconduct was mentioned at the interview prior to her suspension.... I don't understand what goes on in her head 🤯

OP posts:
Hoppinggreen · 24/05/2021 13:33

Sounds like your parents have spent her life finding excuses for her and now it’s come to bite her on the arse.
I doubt there is anything you can do to make her see she’s not the victim and everything is always someone else’s fault.

GreyhoundG1rl · 24/05/2021 13:38

Gross misconduct was mentioned at the interview prior to her suspension....
That absolutely would constitute gross misconduct, I'm afraid, which is a sackable offence.
The whole thing is quite confusing, tbh; why was she removing a desk from her work premises and getting a friend to do it for her?
I'd struggle to think of a possible defence for her behaviour, it's bizarre.

WingingItEveryDay7 · 24/05/2021 13:53

Sister 'allowed' ex-employee/friend (plus non related people) to retrieve items, which bizarrely included a desk 🙄 Sister hasn't taken anything but has clearly been duped by said friend into unintentionally assisting with potential theft..... I am just gobsmacked at her stupidity!!

OP posts:
GreyhoundG1rl · 24/05/2021 13:58

@WingingItEveryDay7

Sister 'allowed' ex-employee/friend (plus non related people) to retrieve items, which bizarrely included a desk 🙄 Sister hasn't taken anything but has clearly been duped by said friend into unintentionally assisting with potential theft..... I am just gobsmacked at her stupidity!!
Her stupidity is indeed gobsmacking. Her employers are unlikely to take the "duped" thing seriously. Why would they? She sounds like a liability as an employee anyway, if she really doesn't understand what she's done wrong.
WingingItEveryDay7 · 25/05/2021 10:36

So apparently the police have been notified, but the 'friend' hasn't heard anything.... Sister has a hearing on Friday. No idea what they're going to say....

OP posts:
Mabelface · 25/05/2021 11:12

Your sister needs to stop deflecting blame and accept responsibility, with a clear plan on how she'll ensure this doesn't happen again if she stands any hope of keeping her job.

VodselForDinner · 25/05/2021 20:22

@WingingItEveryDay7

So apparently the police have been notified, but the 'friend' hasn't heard anything.... Sister has a hearing on Friday. No idea what they're going to say....
Is she bringing someone with her? Union or a colleague to support?
WingingItEveryDay7 · 26/05/2021 21:49

She's not allowed in the building so it's being conducted via teams. She's allowed someone but there isn't anyone available she could ask to go round her house so she'll be alone. Pretty sure she's going to be fired. She's come round to realising (finally) that she made a big error in judgement but I don't think it's going to help this time.... She's still pointing blame at certain members mind you..... 🤦‍♀️

OP posts:
GreyhoundG1rl · 26/05/2021 22:09

@WingingItEveryDay7

She's not allowed in the building so it's being conducted via teams. She's allowed someone but there isn't anyone available she could ask to go round her house so she'll be alone. Pretty sure she's going to be fired. She's come round to realising (finally) that she made a big error in judgement but I don't think it's going to help this time.... She's still pointing blame at certain members mind you..... 🤦‍♀️
There's no helping some people 🤷🏻‍♀️ It's extremely unlikely she'll keep her job, especially since she doesn't seem to understand that the fault lies with her.
WeatherwaxLives · 27/05/2021 15:11

I can kind of see where she's coming from, in that if the friend didn't lie (I presume it was definitely a lie and not an HR cock up?) about having permission and hadn't robbed the place she wouldn't be in so much trouble.

But it's like if it was her job to lock up in the evening, and she forgot, and the place got burgled. Yes people shouldn't be out stealing stuff, but she'd still be deeply in the shit for not locking the door!

Would an analogy like that help her 'get it' do you think? My worry is any hope she has for keeping her job would be to unreservedly apologise and say she understands completely how she screwed up. And she'd still need a hefty dose of luck on her side!

Onesnowynight · 28/05/2021 18:20

I’m more interested in the fact you mentioned ‘patients’, and they allowed people in unaccompanied. Wow.

rwalker · 28/05/2021 18:27

She wasn't suspended unfairly.

SeasonFinale · 05/06/2021 06:24

Can't get over the fact that your sister didn't think it weird that EE took a desk!!

Assume she was fired at her hearing.

Bluntness100 · 05/06/2021 06:29

What’s her friend got to say about it? Has she robbed them?

New posts on this thread. Refresh page