Ex employee has emailed our COO saying I'm not fit for my role. Internal investigations involved.

[Knotnowdear]

I'm having an absolute nightmare. I engaged a specialist firm to help with a large programme of work I'm responsible for. He was part of that engagement. After a few weeks I got reports of behavioural behaviour issues from the stream lead and reported it back into the firm after validating with another team member.

After another few weeks the behaviour hadn't improved so I raised it again with them with a view to coaching and they said immediately we'll pull him out (the engagement is worth a lot to them) and replace him, which effectively lost him his job.

Cue absolute mayhem. He started contacting everybody involved, screenshotting and recording messages. He emailed my boss, his boss and his boss (the COO) saying that I was mismanaging the programme, I was wrong, we were doing it wrong and that I didn't have the experience to do the role.

I got hauled in front of internal investigations to explain and justify myself and my role and behaviour. My boss, his boss and the CEO have all been involved, along with peers at the my bosses boss level to do independent adjudication. The investigation has been going on for several months now.

He pulled a SAR request under GDPR and so they pulled every single communication I made about him via Teams and Email.

So over several months, he's been able to make these allegations against me with impunity and I've had no right to reply. Predictably my org worked on 'what's best for the org'. I'm sure my reputation is irreparably damaged in a firm that I've only been with for 12 months. I took a pay cut with a bonus instead and I'm sure that's now trashed.

I've considered going legal re defamation (the internal investigation found me fit for the role) but he's so batshit (I think narcissism at play) I'm not sure I want to engage any further.

Any ideas? Do I just suck it up and deal with the loss of reputation and remuneration, or fight because these people shouldn't be able to do this with impunity?

can’t believe that your bonus has been impacted for not living by company values. It sounds as if the values only go one way - protecting the org

Is it A well known big 4 accounting firm? That can definitely affect bonus there - one reason I ignore bonuses since I don’t think their interpretation of their own values is fair or inclusive…

OP I'd be inclined to spend a few quid getting legal advice here. I know of a couple of lawyers who would be able to help you as I've seen them getting involved with something similar outside an employment context. They might send your employers a letter as a shot across the bows. However, that might not be the best way to smooth things over, but it might at least give you an idea of any other action you could take.

If you look here and scroll down to the two lawyers listed under "litigation": www.phillips-law.co.uk/meet-the-team

Also, if you are reading this and want to criticise anyone, never name them in emails, Teams messages etc. Start a new email and say "the person/matter we were talking about". It means it can't form part of an SAR as there is no identifying information.

Work solidly on improving your personal reputation and in time consider moving companies if that’s what it takes. Sometimes no matter how unfair it seems you cannot come back from these types of circumstances.

I would work on relationship building in your own sphere with your boss and above and hope the rest takes care of itself.

I will say though it makes almost no sense to me that an employee for a bought in service would have this sort of leverage over your company but that is probably me being naieve.

Also, if you are reading this and want to criticise anyone, never name them in emails, Teams messages etc. Start a new email and say "the person/matter we were talking about". It means it can't form part of an SAR as there is no identifying information.

Also make sure you always include "I believe" and/or "in my opinion" (this advice came from a barrister friend of mine when discussing a potential defamation case)

@KleineDracheKokosnuss

can’t believe that your bonus has been impacted for not living by company values. It sounds as if the values only go one way - protecting the org

Is it A well known big 4 accounting firm? That can definitely affect bonus there - one reason I ignore bonuses since I don’t think their interpretation of their own values is fair or inclusive…

I don't work for a Big4 anything but if I wrote an email/Teams describing a colleague/contractor as a narcissist I'd be in big trouble. My understanding is that's what affected the OP's bonus - not the allegations he made about her competence.

And fair enough, I'm sure she's aware that as a manager you address the behaviour and its effects when dealing with poor performance, you don't attack the person.

But you got somebody sacked. That's a big deal. Now you aren't happy its you who is under fire.

I was shocked you called somebody a narcissist. That is totally unprofessional. I should imagine you would be in big trouble in most workplaces. It just simply isn't done.

SAR =? What does it stand for please?

Subject Access Request.

Move on, he’s now fish and chip papers.

The less you give it time the less your team will.

I think I have met this guy, he did the same thing to my old organisation. He was completely whacko, just out to destroy the lives of people who he thought had wronged him. The police had to get involved in the end.

Your company has done a shit job in defending and protecting you. You have done nothing wrong. Keep your head up and look forward. Consider looking for a new job with a better boss.

@Viviennemary

But you got somebody sacked. That's a big deal. Now you aren't happy its you who is under fire.

That's utter bullshit. There's many people who absolutely deserve to be fired!

@HundredMilesAnHour

Also, if you are reading this and want to criticise anyone, never name them in emails, Teams messages etc. Start a new email and say "the person/matter we were talking about". It means it can't form part of an SAR as there is no identifying information.

Also make sure you always include "I believe" and/or "in my opinion" (this advice came from a barrister friend of mine when discussing a potential defamation case)

Agree with this.

When we had a SAR at work (from an ex employee of a supplier funnily enough) we only searched for her full name because she had a common first name shared by other members of our team.

But the most important thing is to only describe factual behaviour and certainly not ‘diagnoses’ like narcissism.

It sounds like you’ve had a rough time OP. I’m sorry. Some good advice in this thread I think.

All of this within a year of being with your employer? You talk about months relationship of investigation? They showed a lack of faith in you and were unsupportive.

Draw a line under it, move on, but look for a new employer.

This all sounds very confusing. You work for Company A and you engaged Company B to provide services on a project you are responsible for, yes? So the 'ex-employee' is not a former employee of Company A. Company B provide a staff member who isn't performing, as independently verified by other team members. There was no need to offer coaching, you're paying them to do a job and it's not being done. But that's by the by as Company B then took the decision (as I would) to remove the person from the assignment.

Unclear how that then resulted in the person losing their job, did Company B put the person on a disciplinary and then fire him, or was he a contractor they had taken on to deliver services on their behalf? If the latter, he was no-one's employee and will rapidly be finding no-one will take him on again.

Why didn't Company B handle any kind of complaint he subsequently made? He had no direct relationship with Company A. He's their problem. If Company B felt his complaint had some merit, they should have raised that privately under the terms of their engagement with Company A. Do Company B really think they're going to win new business if this is how they carry on?

The whole thing sounds very strange (and incredibly stressful), OP - but I'm at a loss as to why this has been treated as a grievance raised by one Company A employee against another Company A employee.

@tribpot

This all sounds very confusing. You work for Company A and you engaged Company B to provide services on a project you are responsible for, yes? So the 'ex-employee' is not a former employee of Company A. Company B provide a staff member who isn't performing, as independently verified by other team members. There was no need to offer coaching, you're paying them to do a job and it's not being done. But that's by the by as Company B then took the decision (as I would) to remove the person from the assignment.

Unclear how that then resulted in the person losing their job, did Company B put the person on a disciplinary and then fire him, or was he a contractor they had taken on to deliver services on their behalf? If the latter, he was no-one's employee and will rapidly be finding no-one will take him on again.

Why didn't Company B handle any kind of complaint he subsequently made? He had no direct relationship with Company A. He's their problem. If Company B felt his complaint had some merit, they should have raised that privately under the terms of their engagement with Company A. Do Company B really think they're going to win new business if this is how they carry on?

The whole thing sounds very strange (and incredibly stressful), OP - but I'm at a loss as to why this has been treated as a grievance raised by one Company A employee against another Company A employee.

Yep, very strange.