Nasty email (sorry long)

[Tallgirl]

I wasnt going to post about this but i thought i may as well to see if anyone has any advice on how to handle this.
I found an email about me written by personnel to my manager and his boss (used to also be my manager) relating to when i was on maternity leave (but before i'd had the baby). What happened was that the girl i had trained to take over my job walked out after a few weeks (she was a bit up herself but that is another story) and although i had left full job instructions and copies of documents etc at one point i was phoned at home by a colleague. I can remember not being that happy about it (i was about to give birth a week later). HOwever according to this email i was completely unhelpful etc and she made various other comments about how she would expect this sort of behaviour from me and how this should be remembered for the future. This email had been stored in one of the public folders on our outlook system therefore could be accessed by anyone in the company. When i saw this i felt sick and was horrified - no one has told me anything about this or there being any problems with my behaviour or conduct at any time. I havent spoken to my bosses about this yet (they have been out of the office) and do not want to confront personnel directly. I think this is outrageous and completely unacceptable - seems to be alluding to other things that may be on my file etc and contain a veiled threat.

I am hoping to have a meeting about this tomorrow and would appreciate any advice on how to handle.

TIA

The best way to make them sit up and take notice is to quote the Data Protection Act and the Freedom of Information Act at them.
It looks like they have broken the Data Protection Act by putting the personal e-mail in a public folder, and you can request the information they hold on you under both the DPA and the Freedom of Information Act.
If it were me I would be making noises about taking action against them to see what they offered to make amends.

What am I talking about? Ignore the bit about the Freedom of Information Act, I'm talking rubbish. Just concentrate on the DPA.

Tallgirl, how awful for you but at least you know that the author is not someone whose opinion is not generally respected within the company.

You have been given some great advice so far but I think the hardest part will be staying calm - maybe practice saying what you want to say at home and make sure you take lots of deep breaths so that your voice stays nice and calm (mine tends to go into a high pitched squeak when I am stressed!). make some notes if it will help.

I would go in and tell them what you saw and why it upset you (eg it was personal, insulting aboout you, implying that your employment with the company could be affected by your alleged reaction to being contacted at home during a stressful and hormonal time, accusations are made about you without anyone asking you for your side of the event etc..) and then, if you know what you want from them (eg a personal apology from the author) then ask for it and if you don't know, then ask them what they intend to do about it. I suspect they will want to investigate the matter, so ask them for a time scale for a response and ask them to confirm the meeting in writing by the end of this Thursday - if they don't do this, then on Friday, you write to them and tell them what was said/agreed at tomorrow's meeting.

I would use the DPA as a casual thing along the lines of "At this stage I am very upset and just want the matter resolved quickly and amicably without having to raise formal grievances and looking into the rules on data protection.." and then, if you can manage it, with a steely glint in your eye to show you mean business, say "but if it is not dealt with quickly and to my satisfaction, please be assured, I will take it further because I cannot let something so very unprofessional remain unaddressed"

I hope that helps with some pointers - feel free to ignore it if it is not your style. Whatever you do, good luck for the meeting.

Thanks for all your advice which i am trying to take on board without getting a bit worried that i'm going to blow it etc basically i cant rehearse too much as wont be able to read it out - however i have been going over this in my head since last week so have probably had enough practice by now.

thanks again

Just to let you know after getting all psyched up today neither of the people i need to speak to are in today (they were due to be) so will have to wait another day - that will be a week from when i originally saw the email!

Will keep you posted.

Oh now that is an intriguing coincidence Tallbird. Best of luck with this, keep us posted.

Thanks for the mail - but i think it is just that - think they are totally clueless about this (in spite of obviously having originally read and discussed it back in September). By the way - like your interpretation of my name - think might change my nickname to Tallbird!

All good advice. Sis has a super summary; particularly not getting embroiled too much with the DPA.

If it were me, I would demand / politely request

• a written withdrawl of the allegation of unhelpful behaviour - on headed paper - signed by someone-important
• an apology for the wrongful publication of the allegation to all who might choose to read the public folders - and immediate removal of the offending item if it's still there when you start the meeting
• (and without encouraging everybody else to find out what caused the problem) - commitment to issue a reminder to everyone, particularly all managers (eg by an all-users e-mail) about confidentiality of personal information and its publication in the email system - signed by someone-important (CEO / MD or whoever)

Of course, if this went to an employment tribunual, you would probably be seeking compensation - so asking for £200, say, would be a token of their apology - otoh might make it more difficult to swallow. If you do ask, remind them how expensive lawyers are!

Good luck.

hello Tallgirl, have only just seen this thread. Good luck for tomorrow. xx.

Tallgirl, are they in today?

Yes I am here but have been rather distracted. Cant go into much detail now (got loads of work to do) but will try and post later. Basically my bosses insisted that they didnt have a problem with my actions at the time but that everyone was in such a flap because of what had happened (apparently this girl deleted loads of file and generally mucked everyone about) - however this was not the point and i did say inspite of this i still thought it was completely out of order to send such an email and make such comments about me. To cut a long story short - they then spoke to the Personnel mgr (who wrote the email) and i then had to go in to 'clear the air' which was really unpleasant. I'll have to go into details later but she is sticking to her guns (suprise suprise) that she is justified making the comments she did (which she insists were not personal) about my behaviour. Unfortunately i somewhat lost the plot a couple of times and did get upset. Had to go back home and put my face back on. Still cross about this but think i have made my point for the timebeing. Will post a bit later.