Just over a year ago my boss (sole biz owner) accused me of something based on something a colleague had said. We work in financial services. The suggestion was that I had effectively concealed information from authorities and misreported figures.
He didn't verify or look into the accusation before confronting me about it & tearing me a new hole. I had been off a week A/L and returned straight into this. During the bollocking I was so shocked and confused that I could barely speak. I asked for the opportunity to prove it was incorrect and he kept rattling off the repercussions of my actions. When it was over I went straight to my computations printed off an audit log and anything I could to show him. He wasn't interested because he was off for the next 2 weeks and I "had already ruined it". I of course spent the next fortnight worried sick and looking over my shoulder.
Fast forward, it comes to light that it was all utter crap. The colleague who flagged my so called egregious error was then caught out having committed their own negligence. They no longer work for the biz. This colleague had an investigation before his dismissal process. I got a big "sorry, I was acting off false information". I was then flashed a huge smile, given a pat on the back and told "best not tell the team about this"
It was over a year ago but there have been so many passive aggressive digs and snarky comments about me making other (granted less serious) mistakes. Often they're his mistakes but he blames them on me. I've stood up for myself and asked him not to again. He says "look I know youre not dumb but it doesn't look good if the boss f**ks up, is it?"
I'm so fed up. I know I need to leave but prior to this I actually loved my job. I've been there over a decade and this event wrecked my confidence so much I feel like I'm crap and couldn't get work elsewhere.
Have any of you got experience with being wrongfully accused of something?
Did you leave? Did the lack of confidence ever shift? I just wish he would have investigated before causing all this harm. It was perfectly doable, I wasn't even in the buildings for the week prior.