Suspended from work pending investigation

[markl1987]

From what I can gather the fault lies with the investigating/disciplinary manager. My rep says that all I had to do was notify the managers which I did and it is down to them to liaise with the roster clerk to release my rep (he works for the same company) for the day. When he agreed to represent me he notified his roster clerk as required but she needs auth from the managers to confirm.

 

He also said that the fact it hadn't been sorted out yet was almost to be expected and had happened before

 

I'm going to call ASAP in the morning but also going to attend in person to speak to them as its a fair distance to travel last minute if they insist on holding the hearing

 

Grrrr is a polite term for what I'm thinking right now!

[markl1987]

Got hold of the disciplinary manager this morning who has said he is happy to reschedule the hearing for hopefully later this week as he is on leave next week.

 

He's already been in touch with my rep this morning and they are going to sort out when will be a suitable time to hold the hearing after consulting with my reps roster clerk, I've been told I will get a call later today to tell me when the hearing will now be

 

Thank you again to Emmzzi, Stu007 and HB for your help, I hope by the end of this week I can come back to you all with good news!

[Emmzzi]

Good news

[honeybee13]

Excellent news, well done for being proactive.

 

HB

[markl1987]

New date of 18th September another 2 weeks of waiting!

 

The manager holding the hearing said it has to be then as he is on holiday after this week so is unable to work around it, it will be 8 weeks by the time I get to the hearing that I've been off for now, 2 of these weeks delayed by managers being on holiday

 

At least it gives me more time to prepare myself I guess

[transient]

True and to be honest I am sure if he already decided to have you out he would probably have pressed for it to be this week before he jaunted off. Thats the way I would look at it.

 

You have a very strong case here Mark, so enjoy the time and be proactive like already mentioned, do not let this get you down

[markl1987]

Its very hard not to let it get me down, I find myself thinking about it and it never ends in positive thoughts. Finding myself very bored and struggling with sleep still, went back to GP today who prescribed some more pills to help sleep but trying to avoid taking them as much as possible

 

Im giving myself a couple of days off going through my notes, finding more information etc and trying to clear my head a bit, I know its important but Im literally living, sleeping and eating my case at the moment, i really built myself up to today and it was quite a blow to have to have it postponed

 

I'd never have thought that I would be wanting to go to work this much, always look forward to time off etc when Im there but 6 weeks off is doing my head in and 2 more to go at least, strange how when things come in a way they aren't mean't to they are so unwanted

[stu007]

Hi mark

 

i fully understand this can be hard but please do as you suggested and have a couple of days off working on this and just try and relax and enjoy yourself as the worst thing you can do is get worked up about this so take time for you.

 

Your health is always more important so take care of yourself and you know CAG is here anyway.

[markl1987]

Having had some time away from thinking about this I have a week to get myself ready again and be prepared.

 

Plan is to get copies of bank statements to show no irregular payments, a list of my expenditure to take in showing I am financially all ok, get all my notes relating to other posts/advice from cag, police, solicitor etc typed up and in neat form and really just go over it all to prepare.

 

Question I have is that, I know there are no time scale regulations for investigations etc but it should be completed in a timely manner as quickly as possible would the fact there have been at least 2 weeks extra delays added due to managers taking leave, 1.5 weeks added due to managers not communicating to arrange for release of my rep thus delaying the DH even longer and a lot of leaving me in the dark not knowing what is going on. Is this a reasonable cause to complain? I spoke with my line manager on a welfare call last week and she was shocked it was still going on (as is the solicitor, union etc) and that there hasn't been steps taken to speed up the process and actually bring and end to it (whatever the result)

 

Like previously posted it could be taken as a good sign that they are letting it go this long as they could have denied the re-arrangement of the hearing and just gone ahead if they were wanting to speed up dismissal but as I have already been advised it could also be a bad sign as if they were planning to let me return to work why would they be paying me for 8 weeks for not doing anything for them

 

Hopefully I will see a positive end to this next week

[transient]

any updates?

[markl1987]

Nothing to update with so far, awaiting my hearing on Tuesday. Had another welfare chat with my manager who was very strange in asking who my rep was, where do they come from etc but Im sure Im just being paranoid now.

 

Just getting myself ready going over all my notes again and trying to prepare myself really now, to be honest Im terrified of what is going to happen, all my confidence has gone and Im just hanging on to hope now

[honeybee13]

Hello again Mark.

 

You have no reason not to stay positive now. You've worked so hard on your case and you did nothing wrong. We're here for you, don't let yourself or us down now. You can do this and you deserve justice.

 

I believe in you.

 

HB [hugs]

[Debvfm]

Mark please try to stay strong we are all behind you. The very best of luck. I will be off here for a few days as I'm off to scotland to start my new job. Wishing you the very very best of luck. x

[honeybee13]

And all the best to you too, Deb. I hope it goes well.

 

HB x

[wander27]

Good luck and all the best mark! You know you can do it, totally understandable you being terrified and not confident, but you know you can do it! Give em hell....they have done so to you!

 

Deb, all the best with your new job! A new chapter n all that....

 

I am due to find out the outcome of my 8 week (coming up to 9 week) suspension "early next week at the latest" so could be asking for more advice on your own experiences.

[markl1987]

Thanks everyone it's nice to hear kind words and backing of the people on here. I plan to go in head held high and confident, I have a slight concern about my rep who seems a little laid back about the case (isn't too worried about seeing the investigation pack yet, hasn't been in contact with me unless I call him, hasn't really offered much advice everything union based has come from the local office) but he came recommended and is well known so Im sure he is going to help as much as possible

 

Going to spend tomorrow collating my notes etc and things I wish to bring up and confirm, I'll pop back tomorrow with a brief outline of what I have in my little black file of 'help me keep my job' documents

 

Thank you again to everyone 3 days and counting until decision time.

 

Deb glad to hear your off for your new start good luck and hope it all goes well, Wander I'll keep my eyes peeled for your post and any updates, HB you'll be one of the first to know the outcome

[markl1987]

Im going to meet my rep in about an hour and go over everything in preparation for tomorrows hearing. He's just been to HR Dept to collect his copy of the investigation pack to find there isn't one ready for him and he was told that it was my responsibility to get this to him. All very confusing and frustrating as I have the Disciplinary procedure, policies and flow chart that clear states :

 

"If case to answer arrange disciplinary hearing and advise employee in writing and remind them of right to be Represented.

Provide employee and representative with copies of investigation pack "

 

Lastly I received an email from the hearing manager telling me that he couldn't get hold of my via phone, it turns out that that he had lost my number and was calling one from another document which wasnt mine or in service

 

This is just another 2 examples of how so many stumbling blocks have been found along the way and something else putting doubt in my mind that the hearing is going to be done fairly and properly.

[markl1987]

Meeting with rep was appalling

 

Hes turned around and said there isn't much of a case to fight for, he's not sure what he can say or do.

 

He said that he has no problems fighting the theft, dishonesty, financial gain parts of the charge but the accounting irregularity he cant really argue against as my work was involved. The main issue falls with the missing non issued tickets and he said that its impossible to prove that I put them in the files and that someone else has had access to them, its impossible for me to prove that i did or didn't put them in the files as only some are missing

 

He pretty much turned around and said that he'll be able to clear the dishonesty, theft, financial gain parts but Im still very likely to be dismissed for being involved in an irregularity

 

Dont know where to turn now, Im lost and dreading going tomorrow now. Just got to sit and wait for the inevitable it would seem. I thought the union rep would have had a bit more of a positive outlook but he said he "doesn't bull**** people, I tell it how it is" hes taken away the investigation file so he can go over it all again and pick up on a few of the things that he noted but Im not holding out hope on him coming back with anything else

 

He added that whilst all the evidence and support for the theft, gaining financially is good that a lot of it wouldn't be taken note of and it could be quite quickly be proven that I did not steal or gain financially.

He said the fact there is no cctv of ticket offices, lots of people have access, non issues are not secure and all my other reasons and mitigation wont be enough when it comes to balance of probability

 

I feel so disheartened now and feel that everything I have worked to document and prove is worthless as they can still dismiss me over something I wasnt involved in but cannot prove :/

Edited September 17, 2012 by markl1987
More to add

[Emmzzi]

Really? From what you say I think it's evens. He may just be having a "brace yourself" chat "in case."

 

Don't lose hope. it isn't over until it is over and it sounds like thier systems are wide open!

[markl1987]

It certainly didn't seem like that sort of chat, he said there isnt much he can say to represent me regarding the irregularities, he said he can argue about the financial gain etc but its a case of my word against that of the reports from the audit. I know I filed tickets away. The rep told me that police, solicitor, advice from here etc its all good and well for the financial gain side but being involved in the irregularity side is going to be very difficult to argue against.

I went over everything and he really doesn't seem to have much hope and almost put this into his "lost" category just from the conversation that we had

 

A big part of me wishes now that I went in without my rep before when I was feeling confident and strong and prepared, Now I feel like all my preparation hasn't really got much hope of helping me out

 

Ive got really worried because he said if it was to go to tribunal then for union to back me up they would need to be sure that they have a 51% or greater chance of winning otherwise they wouldn't help me and his not so positive comments don't fill me with any confidence really. My rep just kept referring to times where he had cleared people of the financial gain/theft charges but not been able to prove anything to do with the irregularity/missing tickets:|

[markl1987]

Anyone got any words of advice I can get into my head before tomorrow?

 

Im in a huge pickle now after today :/

[Emmzzi]

"I fully appreciate that you cannpot say 100% I did or did not file the tickets as required by my job. I would point out that these are a few transactions in many months of work. Also that there are flaws in the control of documents meaning up to x people had access to the tickets.

 

I have shown I have made no financial gain; there is therefore little logic behind my appropriating tickets.

 

I would be more than happy to undergo further monitoring of my work for a period of time to reassure you; also to assist in process redesign to prevent this happening to others in the future."

[Pusillanimous]

Markl1987 I shouldn't worry about the union. They are notorious for only taking on "high profile" cases at the tribunal anyway.

 

I would recommend you ask your boss what internal controls they have in place. As someone who handles cash via ticket sales, you were entitled to be safeguarded under the Health & Safety Act, so ask them what risk assessments they have carried out on the systems to protect you from wrongful blame, should fraud and deception come to light. It is their responsibility to ensure irregularities cannot happen - or at least not for any length of time - so demand an answer. It looks like you might have been set up. Identify the holes in their systems and point out that any would-be crook will have also identified them and taken advantage.

 

Are you able to take a legal advsier with you?

[markl1987]

My union rep has been the only negative person all the way through this investigation (apart from me on down days) and he's going to be representing me tomorrow. I don't think I can take anyone else with me now with the hearing already being postponed once before.

 

The union rep did say he has dealt with cases pretty much the same as this before and this would imply to me that nothing has been done after previous issues with this, its also proving very difficult to get other people to realise that although sometimes its a single person shift there are other staff around, ie agency gateline staff who have access to the ticket offices via their own keys to use rest room/facilities.

 

There is a particular member of agency staff who works on the gates and does have access to the ticket office as they use the same rest area and he has been at the two stations where I have had the issues brought up with me and he is overly nosey and is always in my face asking questions, who, what, why etc all the time and on a number of occasions Ive seen him looking through things that don't really concern him and although I don't think he is being dishonest he shouldn't be looking through but if he can do this on a regular basis it shows just how easy it is for people to access sensitive/valuable items

 

I feel better after both your reply and Emmzzi's, its given me another step in the right direction and i feel like cant really rely on my rep tomorrow. I met with him today for advice and some help for tomorrow and he just asked me questions about what I want him to do and said Im probably going to be dismissed

[honeybee13]

Hi Mark. I think the guys here earlier have given you great advice. Believe in yourself, tell the truth and go for it. You've prepared really well and thoroughly, we're all with you.

 

HB x