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Help--what to do with incompetent boss trying to destroy career
Posted by: Michelle48111
Date: 3/25/2005 11:34:39 PM
Hello all, I've worked for four years for a person who is widely known to be incompetent in my company. I did ok, using most of the strategies on this site, then my boss was reorged under a powerful person at the company who does not like me. At the same time, I attracted the attention of the new president of the company and became recognized as a company leader. This threatened my boss even more than he already was and he has done his best all year to make me invisible by actions such as blind copying me on projects in which I am directly involved, refusing to permit me to attend meetings or be part of discussions etc, OR keeping me in the communication loop, which in general, was always part of his incompetence. I have also been threatened by him and indirectly by his boss not to talk to the President or other high level leaders. Recently, my boss gave me the lowest MBO rating I have ever received and then refused to discuss his rating in any detail with me. I have been trying to get a transfer to another department for almost a year now with no success. At this point I would take anything. I have discussed these issues with HR as well. Finally, as a measure of last resort I wrote to the President and asked for help confidentially. In short, he and the head of HR want me to make a formal complaint and have a mediated discussion with my boss in the room, yet will not offer any promise of transfer to another department. Basically, I was told that my boss also has rights and there are two sides to every story. I have a file of email messages where my boss has blind copied me or and/or taken me off email chains on projects for which I have direct responsibility. Obviously, I have been as not been as effective this year as I could have been because of this. & my boss has cost the company a lot of money over the years but like I said, has been protected. I also know that at least one other employee has discussed similar issues with HR and her boss has sent documentation to HIS boss on what he did to her (basically scapegoated her for her department's failure). I mentioned this to the President and the head of HR but they said that since I was the one who had come forward to the President, I must be the one to make the formal complaint. I feel betrayed because I don't think HR can do anything or else they would have already. The President said this would be different because his office will be involved but would not make any guarrantees of anything. I feel that I am being made the sacrificial lamb here with not guarrantees of any safety. Yet if I don't go through with it, there's no way to prove any of my allegations, even though I had my folder with documentation sitting in front of me in the President's office. Thoughts, please? I'm desperate enough to resign but really can't afford to and my family and I wanted to stay in the area.
| Reply from: |
panseyrose |
| Date: |
3/27/2005 2:34:00 AM |
| Reply: |
There are bullying sites that describe the way you're boss is acting to a T. I had a job where my boss acted in a similar matter and I should have quit but instead I was fired. Now I am in a tough situation because it's hard to find a job once your fired, it would have been easier if I had just resigned. You might consider finding a new job because your boss takes worse actions. |
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| Reply from: |
pr3l1m |
| Date: |
3/27/2005 10:57:00 AM |
| Reply: |
Mediation meetings are always versions of "let's all hold hands and sing 'Kumbaya'," where the person with the grievance is allowed to vent, the person whose behavior is in question will feebly defend themselves or verbally crawl around licking everyone's shoes and promising to be good and never do it again (depends on what the offense was, and how good your case would be if you hired a lawyer), and in the end, no action is taken, and the management is shocked when you point this out. "But -- we had a MEETING. We all held hands and sang 'Kumbaya.' What more could you possibly want?" <<<>>>
Most of the passive-aggressive stuff you list is merely annoying, and you must know how insecure bosses can be. But the low MBO rating is not only playing dirty, it affects your future prospects to some extent. It's also slander, and is actionable as such. <<<>>>
If you want HR / the Prez to pay attention, find a good labor lawyer. Tell them ( HR / P) that you have done so. Don't show the Prez your documentation (in situations like this, the higher-ups only serve as fire extinguishers, not as change agents), show it to the lawyer. See what kind of a case can be made. Do NOT try to work this out through the usual channels -- I have done that at least three times in the past, at three different corporations -- only to learn what I have told you above the hard way. I got mollified, placated, we sang 'Kumbaya' -- and the offender (who, in each case, had a *list* of similar prior offenses with other employees) got off without so much as a handslap. <<>>
Bottom line -- if I had it do do over again, in each case I would have gotten a lawyer. That's a power move that will make Those in Charge sit up and actually Deal with the problem.
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| Reply from: |
panseyrose |
| Date: |
3/27/2005 3:13:00 PM |
| Reply: |
So should I get a lawyer for mine even though I live in a state where they can just do that? Help. |
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| Reply from: |
pr3l1m |
| Date: |
3/27/2005 3:41:00 PM |
| Reply: |
Welllll --- I'm not sure what you mean by "I live in a state where they can just do that? " Where they can just -- harass you? (no, that's illegal) -- file false MBO reports on you? (illegal, and as I noted, slander) -- keep you out of the loop on emails ?(that sounds more like pass-aggress, and more annoying than actionable) -- fire you? (depends on what you were fired for, and whether you have enough documentation to make a good case that you were fired without just cause -- the C'mpny can always come back with whining about "the budget," but if you were given some other reason, AND YOU HAVE IT ON PAPER, and it's either false / unjust -- you could at least have a labor lawyer look over your documentation and decide if you have a financially lucrative case).
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| Reply from: |
panseyrose |
| Date: |
3/27/2005 4:13:00 PM |
| Reply: |
Mine is not the first person in the case listed. Mine is different. They did not give me any paperwork and they would not tell me the reason why. I have no documentation. Do I have to list it on my resume do you think? It was a teaching job. Help me. Do you think I will be able to ever get a teaching job again, or did they ruin my life/credentials? In addition, will I ever be able to get any job ever again? |
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| Reply from: |
pr3l1m |
| Date: |
3/27/2005 7:51:00 PM |
| Reply: |
Oh, yes, I answered you on another post. As you'll recall, I said that teaching is not valued anymore -- in this country or anywhere else. With all due respect -- you are making WAY too much out of this. It's not like you were arrested for child molestation or drug dealing. You just got let go from a job where it sounds like you weren't happy anyway (at least with you boss, whom you described as cold). <<<<<>>>>>
If they wouldn't even give you a reason for your being fired, then it wasn't a good place to work to begin with. At the very least, you should have had a couple of warnings, meetings with your boss, etc., if you were doing something that the school didn't like (whatever it might have been), so the problem could have been addressed that way. That you were simply canned without a reason sounds to me (as I mentioned before) like they were just budget cutting. <<<<<<<>>>>>>>
I would question why you would *want* to get a teaching job again, as you seemed to be in agreement with the facts that the pay stinks, the class loads are ridiculous, and the treatment of many teachers is very poor (as you have found out -- can you imagine a corporate lawyer just being "let go" without a massive golden-parachute package to go with it?) <<<<>>>>>
No, your life is not 'ruined.' Yes, you can get another job. It sounds like you need a hot bath, some milk and cookies, and possibly a two-week vacation in Barbados. Again, you are making WAY too much out of this.<<<<>>>>
Since you have some free time, why not look at other career fields? Why jump right back into this mess (teaching), especially considering your recent experience?
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| Reply from: |
panseyrose |
| Date: |
3/28/2005 12:38:00 PM |
| Reply: |
Do you think that I would have a problem getting another teaching job? If I put on there that I worked there and it stopped before year end, that raises so many red flags that it isn't even funny. I should be more upset than I am. Yes, I am upset but you know, I know for a fact that I tried my best and did not do anything wrong. It is all so strange and it hurts. I wish I never would have taken that position. If we knew then what we know now. No one seems to care. Life is not fair. |
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