threatened with disciplinary for leaving message

[allaboutthatsass]

I'll keep this short.

There's been problems in our department. There are several teams in this department. Myself and several colleagues have complained but no change, so several of us are looking for other jobs.

One colleague has another job and we were asked to sign her leaving card. I signed it along the lines of "congrats you lucky thing! Take me with you, lol x"

Now my manager has pulled me aside and told me my message was 'inappropriate' and could be interpreted badly by other managers in light of all the recent complaints. It could be percieved as 'stirring' and 'bullying'. He says other managers may question him and he may have to give me a warning.

I'm really upset by this. Whilst I obviously do wish I was going too, I didn't think the actual message was 'bad' or something that could warrant an actual warning. I didn't think it was much different from what other people may put in a leaving card and was really trying to be jokey.

So what do I do or say? There's no union. I can't afford to actually leave and I like my job, it offers me lots of great flexibility, I just dont like management.

I would have thought that the theat of a disciplinary for writing that message could be construed as being bullied. Perhaps you could raise a greivance against him?

(Probably best that you don't do this!)

I once posted on a MN facebook thread and another manager from my work (not my manager) saw it and reported it to HR - I got a warning. It was a jokey comment on a thread about how I liked to have a poo at work because I got 15 minutes of uninterrupted scrolling with no small person or dogs watching me....I was mortified - I honestly can't even talk about it without wanting the ground to swallow me up - I had the comment handed to me blown up to A4 size and I had to sit and listen while I was reprimanded. I had to suck it up and just take it and a very harsh lesson learned....I now have no one from my work on FB and I only comment on the pages under my username where I'm unidentifiable. I left about 18 months later, but it was horrendous and so embarrassing. Just keep your chin up, if you get a warning don't worry about it, it gets scrubbed after 6 months anyway, and I didn't use them for a reference when I left so it was fine. Big hugs

Does your manager have some kind of neurological condition that might explain how he has massively misinterpreted the intent of this perfectly normal message?

A leaving card is a personal item and place for a personal message, not part of your job role so therefore not something that can be included in a disciplinary

Speak to a union. There may be no recognised union in your place for collective bargaining etc, but if it goes down the disciplinary route they can’t refuse you having union backing.
if you joined one now the union could refuse to help you in this case as it would have started before you joined, but most unions will help anyway.

A warning is a form of disciplinary action.

💯 confirm this conversation by email.
It’s pathetic

What you've done does not constitute giving a warning - it's on someone's leaving card, not even an official document FFS! I'd be tempted to ask your (pathetic) manager on what grounds and to which policy would that relate, as I bet he'd be unable to answer. If anything is bullying here, it's him intimidating and threatening you for a jokey comment, rather than doing anything to address the real issues in your workplace.
As others have said, take a photo of what you'd written and note down details and date/time of his comments for your evidence. You can always get help from Citizens Advice or ACAS on this too.
Try not to worry OP, he's telling you a load of nonsense.

This is bs get onto the union asap

I work in HR and if a manager approached me saying that they had a concern with such a message I would say don’t be ridiculous. I would be much more concerned with the turnover in the dept and why people are leaving and what we should do about that instead that would prompt someone to write such a message!

update, colleage has left but not before writing her own leaving message (email) to the head of HR, CEO and head of our department pretty much hitting the nail on the head with all the issues in the department (mainly in colleague's team, less so in mine). I'm glad she's done so but doubt it will change anything. Have not heard anything further from manager about the leaving card message. All has gone quiet. Hope he was just all talk but we'll see what the new year brings, especially in light of colleague's email.

I’ve done similar to your colleague, given constructive yet honest feedback to a company as I’ve left but sadly despite insight from my years of experience, SMT just didn’t have enough skill to absorb and reflect. Sadly I’ve seen this often with SMT seeming limited by their own mindset!

I wouldn't write that, it's a bit stupid if your manager is going to see it, and you want a reference in future.

One of my colleagues recently left. We all wrote good luck in her card.

However one colleague wrote "you managed to survive here, and get out, hopefully I'll be next".

The manager signed the card too and she told my colleague that she was upset with what my colleague wrote .

I think it's silly to write it - if a manager is going to see it

I do think it’s a bit of a lapse of judgement on your behalf. Unless the receiver is your mate and it’s a private card you should be professional in a card that everyone will see. It doesn’t look good to badmouth the company. And technically could be a warning situation. But they’d be stupid to and you could probably contest it.

You have done nothing wrong. A polite "okay please send me an invite to the warning meeting" would have sufficed as a response rather than offering to re-write the comment.

There is no need to join a union for advice on this. It's a non event.

Whilst I would never pull someone up for writing such a message, I can totally see how some managers would. I think it's not very professional and of course they will be worried that you are being "demotivational" by also seeming to say you want to leave. I would not be contacting HR as you don't come out of it well, just hope it blows over. I'd advise to keep it bland next time with a simple "Best wishes in your new role". She also used to spin the "I'm not pressuring just looking forward to the happy event". Probably by January it'll have blown over and everyone will have forgotten.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'There's no union'.

You can join one anytime you want.

It could count as insubordination or causing harm to the company. However, I wouldn’t worry as would assume this would blow-over.

Seriously - so what if a manager sees it.

Its a leaving card - not the UN Declaration for World Peace.

If a manager cant handle seeing peoples comments on a leaving card, then the manager is simply a snowflake cunt.

Because you can get fired if you say anything negative about the company, in a place where other people can see it.

We're talking about a comment in a leaving card.

NOT comments left on social media.

Since you think you know best and are clearly well versed in all legal aspects of employment, please explain how the OP's comment:

"congrats you lucky thing! Take me with you, lol x"

...constitutes as being a sackable offence?

Look forward to your comprehensive reply and reasoning to show just why someone should be sacked for leaving that comment in a leaving card.

Over to you.

Sure

I've already said it.

In many contracts , bringing the company into disrepute is seen as a disciplinary offense.

This means writing about the company negatively anywhere that is a public space.

The card will be seen by all her colleagues.