Yes, thank you, I agree, quite harsh.. No swearing, just chatting about what we thought about him (and he was in my opinion bullying me so I had an opinion!!) And yes, that was another question I was going to ask before appealing, could my punishment get worse if I appeal.. And if you say it can, it really isn't worth appealing.. I need a salary to pay my mortgage, if only to keep a roof over my children's heads...

Thank you.. Long term it really will be.. Just got to get on with it now..

Thank you.. It's not been the best few weeks, but todays result is so much better than it could have been, so will look on the bright side...

Yes geographically, but not enough to cause me any problems... and no.. I'm being moved right away from him.. Completely new department, hopefully no more contact with him.. So best to let it lie for now.. It's up to the people left behind to stand up to him now.. Meanwhile I shall apply for jobs externally... but at least I am still employed meanwhile..

demotion (no loss of salary) and moving teams away from the boss I complained about (and therefore also working location)... And yes, will wait till tomorrow and for the dust to settle before deciding on exactly which bits to appeal against.. I assume if I appeal it won't result in my punishment being even worse? As for the boss I complained against, it appears that he'll get away with it...

Thank you...

Hello again Well, I escaped being dismissed, got a final written warning and various other punishments... And have learnt a very huge lesson...

...think I'd better start crossing my fingers.. and hoping...

Yes I agree.. I accompanied a colleague to all their disciplinaries a while back (they got sacked and eventually won unfair dismissal at tribunal) but feel that since then management may have had it in for me.. The management know how much work I do.. And also I mentioned it at my first disciplinary as they were concerned about how much time the chat had taken (I estimated ten minutes of my time!)... I will mention it again Monday if I need to. I will ask about my complaint too. I feel now it probably wasn't taken seriously as the IM had already been seen by then, and was imminently about to be produced... I didn't take the complaint any further before all this, as historically, if people raise grievances about managers where I work, they do tend to end up being disciplined back. It is a sad state of affairs. If I do get sacked, I think the company can be named and shamed?

Please feel free to butt in.. I've found all the answers so far quite worrying, in as much as I don't really want to be sacked for something that the majority of people do... I don't think they have a policy. Obviously we're not allowed to forward personal joke emails around, not allowed to look at porn on the internet, not allowed to bring the company into disrepute as you say etc etc.. Not sure if using IM for general chit chat is definitely allowed.. Not now we all come to think about it. We all assumed it was.. It is however "accepted". Everyone does it.. Well, not quite so many people now, this has scared lots of people. And this is the first time any one has ever been disciplined for what has been said in one of these IMs.. I do think management are over reacting. We said nothing that we wouldn't have said out loud had we been in the same location. Obviously we'd have said it discreetly.. I have no problems being disciplined as such, I just don't need to lose my job over something that I don't think can be a sackable offence really, but I think that management may try and do it anyway..

Just treating me differently to other people, picking me up on the most minor things he thinks I do wrong, etc etc.. I always work lots more hours for the company than I am paid for, and am totally dedicated to my job, always try my hardest if not harder, yet it still isn't good enough.. But still, all I did in return was talk about him (just in the wrong place obviously).. And yes, I can appeal against dismissal and go to an employment tribunal. To be honest, I'd rather just be able to get on and do my job.

The person I complained to about my manager, was their immediate superior. And their superior totally discredited everything I had to say about my manager (one of the reason I was holding back from complaning for so long, I knew that would happen).. And it was their superior that then, straight after I'd complained, produced this saved conversation, as my manager had escalated it to them as their first course of action (rather than my manager dealing with it).. We are now very concerned we will be dismissed..

Yes, we're both being disciplined... My main concern is that it was a private conversation, between two people, and was our opinions. The unfortunate thing was that it became public.. If they want to discipline every one who chats either on line, or in the office, and discuss either their boss, or other people, then there wouldn't be many people left.. And yes, I did finally give in and complain about my boss (I don't like to complain officially, so had been holding back for ages). Strangely enough as soon as I complained about him, this conversation was produced.

not quite but we did discuss the boss. The boss is the person who has been treating me badly, so surely better to do that than tell them outright in the office my opinion of them? Anyway, any idea what they might do to me (and the other person involved since it was a conversation between two people)?

Ok, the basics are.. We have an instant messaging system at work that is used for general chat as well as work issues (when people are in different locations). One such chat between myself and a colleague somehow (we don't know how) got saved onto a place where other people could potentially see it.. And it was found. The person who found it didn't like the content as we had been talking about other people in it.. So this then got escalated to higher management who decided the disciplinary route was their only option.

Thank you for your reply too.. I would definitely keep it general, but even if I tell you the basics of what happened, anyone who knew, would know it was my case... that's why I was a bit worried..

Thank you for your reply. I have already had one disciplinary meeting before Christmas (how nice is that dragging it out over Christmas, so that Christmas and New Year was spoilt this year for myself and my family ?). Monday is the verdict (I think). So I did take a colleague last time, and will be doing so on Monday. They definitely said to me in the meeting that I wasn't allowed to discuss it with anyone apart from the colleague who accompanied me to the meeting? Is that incorrect then? I do hope so, as I really need some advice on what they could do to me.

Hello, I need some advice.. I've worked for the same company for about 20 years, with no problems at all, until my new boss came along a year or so ago.. He has given me bad annual reviews and is always finding things I'm not doing right.. On the same day I finally decided to complain about him, they found something to use against me in a disciplinary meeting (surprise surprise). I was told I can't discuss the disciplinary with anyone, so thought I'd check if that is correct before I start posting the detail on here..(and potentially ending up in more trouble)? Thank you in advance for your help..

Thank you

Hello, I am new here.. I have joined as I have strange disciplinary goings on at work for the first time in the 20 or so years I've been there.. I will be posting in the Employment section soon...