Maybe in trouble.

[r2010]

Hi, I found this board and wondered if you could help me.

Today at work i was told i would be paying the consequences for something i did, these consequences haven't been laid out to me so I'm left wondering and worrying.

 

When i started my job i was trained a certain way and have always carried out my job this way and it has never been a problem, today i have been told this is incorrect and i should NEVER do it this way. I had a walk around my department at work and asked other people. Some knew it wasn't allowed to be done this way, but was told to do it this way anyway, others was the same as me and didn't know it wasn't allowed. But everyone i spoke to had been told to do their job this way. So if i have been trained this way, can i still get sacked for it?

[Hacked_Off]

depends if the way u weretold do do these things is in ur contract/employee handbook

[r2010]

All it says in the handbook is that they must be followed to procedure. But as far as i was aware i was carrying it out to procedure.

[Hacked_Off]

Well if specific instructions arnt in the handbook (like mine) then you cant be held accountable for doing as you were told!! If they try to give you a warning etc id refuse it as you wernt aware you were doing whatever it is wrong.

[Sidewinder]

Basic question, but how long have you been there?

 

Generally speaking, if you don't know that you are doing something wrong then it is down to your superior to tell you, especially where written guidance is so vague. It is also extremely unprofessional to tell you that you are in trouble, but not tell you what for!

[r2010]

Been there for 6 years, doing this job (the one iv been doing wrong) for 5, so i have been doing it incorrectly for 5 years thanks to my manager misguiding me.

I come from a very unprofessional store, where everybody lies. When it was questioned today by the store manager, he let the deputy manager know who came up and questioned me also, stating "Well if you claim you've been trained that way, who trained you, Iv never told you to do that?" Which i know is a complete lie, as in the past he has told me to. But i know all managers will lie and defend each other so i don't know where i stand. He then went on to say 'I know everybody does it but it isn't allowed'

If he knows everybody does it, why am i in trouble for this?

[Sidewinder]

Been there for 6 years, doing this job (the one iv been doing wrong) for 5, so i have been doing it incorrectly for 5 years thanks to my manager misguiding me.

I come from a very unprofessional store, where everybody lies. When it was questioned today by the store manager, he let the deputy manager know who came up and questioned me also, stating "Well if you claim you've been trained that way, who trained you, Iv never told you to do that?" Which i know is a complete lie, as in the past he has told me to. But i know all managers will lie and defend each other so i don't know where i stand. He then went on to say 'I know everybody does it but it isn't allowed'

If he knows everybody does it, why am i in trouble for this?

 

Well after 5 years without being told to the contrary, you have a very good defence if they try to discipline you, for even though there is a vague reference to procedure in your T&Cs then the management should have acted before now. In allowing you to do what you have done, they have accepted this as 'the norm'. Think about it the other way, if they varied your hours of work or rate of pay and you did nothing to correct them, then you would be deemed to have accepted the change. There is no difference, so all that you have to do is to correct what you have been doing 'wrong' and they will find it very difficult to do anything more.

 

If the employer is not happy then 'everybody' must change - simple as that, and if they don't then you are within your rights to complain through the company's (or the statutory) Grievance Procedures. Just don't ignore the magager as 'failing to carry out a reasonable instruction' could be the next problem, however aggrieved you might feel!

[honeybee13]

Hello and thank you for joining CAG.

 

I can see that what you're going through looks pretty unfair and I hope we can help you resolve it. I don't think you should be frightened about this, I think the company sound unreasonable.

 

My best, HB

[Bigredbus]

Hi,

 

Procedures have been laid down for employees to follow and you are following them...

 

(a) Have they, at anytime during the last 5 years, addressed the procedure in any way, shape or form?

 

(b) How come some of your colleagues are aware about the procedure you follow is wrong and, consequently, they follow a different one? Have those colleagues started recently? and, maybe, given a different procedure to follow?

 

© You went around the shop looking at the way your colleagues were doing that job, and you state that most of them follow the same procedure as you do... could you say that the majority of your colleagues follow the same procedure as you do?

[r2010]

Hi, And thanks for everyone's reply's so far.

No they haven't addressed the procedure.

The colleagues who know it is wrong have worked there longer. The reason they know it is wrong is because the manager who trained them was a different and more professional manager then the one who trained me and other newer colleagues.

I went around and spoke to a few people, people off mine, and people off other departments, the majority of the ones i spoke to do it the same way i do, however i don't know about the majority of the store as it is a large store. Id have to speak to everybody who does the job before i could say for sure.

I just feel like iv been singled out.

[ms_smith]

Been there for 6 years, doing this job (the one iv been doing wrong) for 5, so i have been doing it incorrectly for 5 years thanks to my manager misguiding me.

I come from a very unprofessional store, where everybody lies. When it was questioned today by the store manager, he let the deputy manager know who came up and questioned me also, stating "Well if you claim you've been trained that way, who trained you, Iv never told you to do that?" Which i know is a complete lie, as in the past he has told me to. But i know all managers will lie and defend each other so i don't know where i stand. He then went on to say 'I know everybody does it but it isn't allowed'

If he knows everybody does it, why am i in trouble for this?

 

Lol, but for those 5 years they allowed you to do it incorrectly so why they are coming only now to tell you off about it? Because they allowed you to do it incorrectly for 5 years which is their problem, not yours. You are being told what to do -you do it. You are being reprimended, you do it correctly. If not, you are being given disciplinary. Do they have any papered evidence to provide you were warned so far? No, so they have no right to sack you. It is pure logic. They think you are stupider than them (don't misunderstand me here) so they are idiots already anyway.

All they can do is a re-training, that's all. Sack? LOL. Would they really be so deluded?

Edited June 30, 2010 by ms_smith

[Bigredbus]

Hi, And thanks for everyone's reply's so far.

No they haven't addressed the procedure.

The colleagues who know it is wrong have worked there longer. The reason they know it is wrong is because the manager who trained them was a different and more professional manager then the one who trained me and other newer colleagues.

I went around and spoke to a few people, people off mine, and people off other departments, the majority of the ones i spoke to do it the same way i do, however i don't know about the majority of the store as it is a large store. Id have to speak to everybody who does the job before i could say for sure.

I just feel like iv been singled out.

 

This is something you should bring up at a hearing...

 

If your colleagues follow the same procedures and protocols as you do and you are the only one being disciplined over it, you may well have been singled out...