Disciplinary ahead of promotion and feeling unfairly treated

[Professionaldisciplinary]

I have NC as this is outing but I have only tops a few people about this I real life. I'm in a senior role in a professional post on the cusp of applying for promotion to director or partner level roles. I've been in my position for ten years and in that time I've been on mat leave twice. I've been given a formal warning for a data breach last year and I'm really upset about it. I take responsibility for the breach but what bothers me is that my role changed quite a bit when I returned from mat leave two years ago and since then I have had so much work to do I've told managers several times I have too much to do and even that I'm worried about making a mistake. I thought about putting in a grievance but didn't because I knew my manager was doing their job and not deliberately making my life difficult but I have been constantly behind and stressed with the amount of work I have to do and work part time which makes it harder. The error didn't cause any loss and did not affect our relationship with the client,

I want to appeal the decision because it impacts my pay (no rise this year) and I'm guessing no promotion. It also makes it very difficult for me to leave with a written warning on my record. However it also feels like a foregone conclusion as the hearing just stated all the positive things taken into account and doesn't explain why that mistake led to a disciplinary.

I also just found out that someone in my team made almost exactly the same mistake a few years ago and the same person who referred my error to the disciplinary process process just gave him a telling off. He was promoted last year to the type of role I'm hoping to apply for this year,

I don't know whether I'm being unreasonable and should just take this on the chin as I can't see the outcome changing but I feel it's very unfair that for a year I can't progress my career here or elsewhere.

This is the kind of thing people usually keep to themselves so I don't know whether my firm usually treats these breaches this way but I'm someone who is actively growing the business bringing in work and it is frankly difficult to feel motivated it for a year I'm unable to progress and kit even eligible for a small pay rise.

Are you still inside the appeal window if this happened last year?

Didn't the warning come with a time limit?

@ArtTheClownIsNotAMime

Thanks for reading and replying. The thing happened last year but was discovered in February. Investigation started in April then disciplinary decision was last week so I have just over a week to appeal.

the warning would be on my record for 12 months

I'm torn between thinking FU and bringing the grievance about the things that I feel put me in a position where I couldn't do my job properly but don't see that would achieve anything and the other part of me wants to be professional and not make anyone else's lives harder but I don't see how I can continue going as far as I do beyond the basics to grow the business. If I take the lower road that's the end of my career here though and I can't move for a year.

i am also waiting to hear back about another opportunity that I started before I knew about the disciplinary. I did know they were investigating but genuinely thought it wouldn't go anywhere probably naively.

Sorry to hear the stress you are under as a result of this episode but you shouldn’t compare what happened a few years ago with now - legislation around data breaches etc. continues to evolve and change and is taken much more seriously since GDPR was implemented and case law develops. While your workload is high and you say you are struggling with it and have raised with management, the fact it there was a data breach and this could have resulted in your firm being fined ( even if there was no loss to the client ) If your company have already stated they have taken circumstances into account and still found that the outcome is disciplinary then it is unlikely to change. This stays on your record for 12 months and is then removed so it wouldn’t impact future applications / references after the 12 month period. While I understand your frustration at the outcome and the 12 months of it being on your record you need to consider if you appeal and fail how will that make you feel ? Will it make things difficult if you apply for promotion just after the 12 months is up ?. You have said that the person who did something similar has subsequently got a promotion so your business won’t write you off because of this. I think on balance if it were me I would feel like you but would ultimately accept it and move forward through the 12 months. Unfortunately the facts are you were responsible for a data breach ( which you have accepted and acknowledged). What I would be doing is sitting down in a formal meeting with my manager to go through workloads and put forward the impact this is having. Ensure it is documented and involve HR in the meeting so no one can claim they didn’t know / weren’t aware and present some solutions / proposals for them so they have to respond with reasons why it can’t be done or their agreement to make some changes.

Thanks for your reply.The thing is it's a specific type of breach, more privileged information than data as such, so I don't think the position has chamfer that much, the person who suggested it go to disciplinary isn't a supporter of mine I fear and finding out she treated someone in the team I know she does support just adds to this feeling, II don't think it will impact promotion necessarily after this year but what is annoying is that I was going to apply last year and couldn't as I had an unmanageable workload and couldn't fit in another thing. This year they've agreed to take work from me (after the disciplinary process started) and I still can't apply. It also feels like all the good I do is disregarded if I can't get a pay review despite all I do. It doesn't exactly make me feel like going the extra mile so it puts me in a very awkward position.

@Aligirlbear I don't know if appealing and failing would make me feel any worse than I do now in reality. I feel bad about it but at least I will know I tried.

Sounds like you may be a lawyer? And may have discussed privileged information?

I wouldn’t compare you and your colleague as your colleague “almost” did it whereas you actually did. I guess the issue is the firm found it serious enough to go down the disciplinary route so you need to have grounds for arguing why the outcome was unreasonable when compared to the breach, there’s new evidence to consider or they didn’t consider all evidence. Without those points, I’m not sure on what grounds you can successfully appeal.

But I agree with PP - meet with your manager and have regular meetings so that your concerns are recorded and you’re making the issues that led to what happened the firms problem rather than yours.

Perhaps your industry is very different to mine but admitting to a data breach that resulted in a formal warning when you’re in a senior role would mean dismissal where I work. I’d be thanking my lucky stars that I still had a job and keeping my head down rather than complaining about lack of pay rise and promotion opportunities. Sorry to sound so harsh as it may be totally different where you work.

I should have been more clear. When I said "almost" I didn't mean he almost did something similar, I meant he did something that was almost the same thing as in practically the same.

There are grounds that I think make it unfair such as it's not clear the basis one which the decision is made for example the report says there was a breach then lists positive things noted like my attitude to the breach (taking responsibility, resolving it, no bad outcome for the client and acknowledging my workload but then concluded a warning. It doesn't say the reason why it resulted in a warning which could just be the nature or seriousness of the breach but doesn't say that and again the colleagues breach wasn't even referred to discipline by the same person. Also nowhere was is stated an outcome is no entitlement to pay reviews until after the warning was given. That's my feeling. I don't think the outcome will change.

Also @SummerIce I did have regular meetings about workloads before and even went to my manager's manager and nothing was done. I even specifically said and recorded that I have too much to do and I'm worried about making a mistake but there was no support.

@HundredMilesAnHour Yes maybe it is different as people have data breached every month where I work and I know that as we have people talk about them every meeting. And also as I mentioned someone did something very similar with no consequence so it feels unfair.

Thanks everyone for the input. It helpful and I take it all on board. I am upset about it but that doesn't mean I don't take responsibility.

I would assume it’s quite a significant data breach to warrant a disciplinary.

Also they’ve clearly decided to investigate this as conduct rather than capability, did they explain why?

If you don’t agree with the outcome then you should appeal rather than submitting a grievance, at this stage.

As much as I would say you should do XYZ, the reality is if I was in your shoes I would be fuming. So other I would appeal and if you’re willing to damage relationships, put in a grievance, or wait until the 12 months are up and find a new job (and perhaps by then you may be over it and happy to stay there or still annoyed enough to move).

The problem is there was a data breach and you admitted it was your fault. What they have done may be the minimum 'punishment' available to them, rules and worries about data breaches are considered really serious these days. You could try to get them to consider the similarities between yours and the previous data breach and why the outcomes are different, if you want to rock the boat.

I think you should appeal. Have you gone to ACAS?

@LeaveTaking Thank you please can you explain what you mean by "as opposed to capability"?

Yes I think it's better to appeal.

@SummerIce Yes exactly. I had started to think about moving but of course it is difficult for me to do so with a warning on my record. I am tempted to put in a grievance but I do feel I will burn all bridges doing that.

@dogcatkitten Thanks. I don't think it is the minimum because some data breaches go unpunished or presumably with an informal warning.

@ThreenagerCentral I have read a bit on the Acas website but that was before the outcome, when I was preparing for the hearing.

Conduct is chosen behaviour and managed as disciplinary.

Capability is someone’s inability to perform their role, which can include due to health.

Thanks. I'm not sure why they would treat it as capability but I have been there a long time so they are unlikely to suggest I simply cannot do the job.

Sounds like you would regret not appealing it