Hi all,

A bizarre situation. A Team Manager and a store manager told me somebody was getting invited to an investigatory for having forgotten they had swapped a shift with another colleague a week or so previous.

Then he tells me it's not him that's doing it, he's getting an SM from another store to come and do it. And surprise, surprise it's moved to disciplinary.

Is it wrong of me to assume that it was always planned on it being a disciplinary by not doing the investigatory ?

Similar, somebody left my personnel file alongside all investigatory paperwork in a desk drawer that isn't locked and all mgmt team use for stationary.

Anyway, the fact that someone else was already doing the investigatory with me had alarm bells ringing immediately.

Thanks all.

Somewhat harsh methinks

I'm unsure of the disciplinary procedures concerning managers, as previously the P.M. would have done the investigation and the SM the disciplinary. Was an explanation given as to why your area P.M. was not present??

With regard your Personnel file. I would suggest you take photographic/ video evidence as to its unsecured location and the contents available for anyone to read. If your file contains any information relating to a medical condition, or any medical correspondence from your doctor, hospital ( including fit notes ) then it comes under the data protection act, and should be grievanced as such.

Or you could just take them and the investigation notes, and accidentally drop them behind his filing cabinet, for him to explain how they have gone missing from a locked personnel drawer, that he only has access to 

Did nobody call you when you didn't turn up and ask you to come in so that you could have made your shift, even slightly late?

My thoughts on this...
You were AWOL,Your lead manager should of then sent a letter to invite you to make contact.
At worst this is a conduct issue and you should have 2 informal let's talk documents before any disciplinary process is started.

This is the process as per policys for people anything otherwise is total nonsense

Over kill here, it had clearly had an impact on the store operation and your no show needs to be addressed however to be invited to an investigatory then to be disciplined is majorly over the top; yes it could be classed as AWOL however common sense should’ve be the main factor not this over the top reaction - unless there is more to the story than you are letting on??

If they are playing the AWOL card, did they follow process and send out letter ect and a welcome back on your return?

You and all other colleagues need to be treat fairly and consistently and this is not any of these!

No one died,it's a shop carry on.

Firstly as a manager you should know that this is classed as misconduct as you were Awol and didn't notify store so could be described as a none notification issue which is also misconduct.
Secondly I'm presuming that your in a smaller format store or your lead manager would conduct the investigation. (unless your lead team)
Imagine the scenario... You have a member of staff that does this.... What would you do?.... Investigation? Yes..... Disciplinary? Maybe..... So this is the correct course but its strange that another SM is coming and doing it for sure so does sound pre-emptive which is against policy but you'd have to prove that
As for the privacy issue.... There is none in tesco

I'd agree the right process is being followed. You were AWOL and some form of corrective action should be taken. A disciplinary has a lot of outcomes not necessarily a warning.

Where is the desk with your personnel file? As a manager you would have access to personnel files anyway as would other managers. Being locked in a managers office or locked in a filing cabinet not sure what the difference is?

I'd agree the right process is being followed. You were AWOL and some form of corrective action should be taken. A disciplinary has a lot of outcomes not necessarily a warning.

Where is the desk with your personnel file? As a manager you would have access to personnel files anyway as would other managers. Being locked in a managers office or locked in a filing cabinet not sure what the difference is?

I would expect line manager personal files to be locked and restricted for the viewing of senior team and store manager only. GA's files should be stored in a locked secure area, and a line manager should only be viewing documents relevant to the meeting they're conducting and not able to take the whole file to peruse.

The difference being the personnel file wasn't locked away anywhere, but left in an unlocked drawer along with the replenishment stationery, for anyone to see!

What can you expect you were not in work when you should have been, would you accept a member of your team simply saying I forgot I had swapped shifts with Fred for example.

The point you make about the file being left in an unsecured location wont affect this, you could raise the issues separately if you want but it really seems as if your clutching at straws by bringing that up.

Also your wrong that people cannot have travel time and expenses paid, if it has been correctly approved and authorised then it is allowed and bringing that up will again not get you anywhere.

You might think I'm being negative but the fact is you have messed up, best thing to do is admit your mistake, take whatever comes from the meeting and move on.

Does policy really say you must have two lets talks before any conduct disciplinary?

That being said, unless this has caused serious issues or there is a history of this I would have thought a lets talk on the first occasion would be adequate.

No this is for AWOL process only

"Is there a code in there"
No Lucgeo, it's not a code.
It is a picture of the stores GA's trying to understand what the heck is going on with the company.
:-)

Strange the moderators aren't as proactive on removing this post (clearly a bot posting an advert) compared to others for quoting immediately prior posts and other reasons.

Administrator Comment

Post deleted and member banned. Nothing strange we do not eat, sleep & breathe VLH 24 hours a day. I won't try to explain why we delete immediately prior posts as it is to obvious to those with a little understanding, as for "other reasons" if you have a gripe with Admin or Mods let us know what it is. Nomad.