Disciplinary Procedures

Dolphin1

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I am a senior manager in a large company. For obvious reasons I can't be too specific about details, but in general terms, here's my quandary.

The situation concerns Employee X, Employee Y and Company Z. Company Z is a preferred customer who who puts a lot of business our way and gets a special rate, one that is considerably lower than the standard charge. Each month, Employee X makes up the invoices for Company Z and sends them off for payment. It should be noted that the normal working relationship is directly between Employee X and Company Z. For months, since the inception of the business relationship, Employee X has been sending these invoices without the slightest problem.

At the end of last month, Employee X made up the invoices as usual and was about to send them off when they realized that Company Z had not sent a certain detail which needed to be included in the invoices. Employee X then phoned Company Z and asked that this detail be sent. This was on a Friday evening. Company Z replied that at that moment they were up to the eyeballs and could they scout out the detail and send it the following Monday. Employee X, knowing this to be a valued customer, said this would be perfectly fine. So far, so good.

Unfortunately, Employee X went on holiday that evening, so before leaving, approached Employee Y, and asked that they (Y) attach the detail to the invoices once Company Z sent it the following Monday and then send off the invoices as usual. Employee Y promised to do so.

On the Monday, while X was on holiday, Employee Y approached me with the invoices and said that they were for the full amount chargeable, not the special rate we give Company Z. This is a serious breach of working standards and upon Employee X's return, I was obliged to initiate an investigation, on foot of which a disciplinary hearing is now to take place.

Here's the problem. For reasons I can't go into (I don't want to post anything which may identify my company), in my own mind I have not the slightest doubt that Employee Y deliberately falsified the invoices after X had gone in order to drop X in the wotsit. It's easily done, since the invoices are done on a template on the computer and not generally downloaded to hard copy, but sent electronically. It would be no problem at all for Y to have simply changed the numbers on the computer. Unfortunately, I have not a shred of evidence that they actually did this, and while I would cheerfully drop Y off a very tall building, I am forced now to proceed with the disciplinary against X, since the only evidence at all are the invoices themselves. I intend to make it as quick and easy as I can, but I can think of no way to get around it.

My question is, how would you deal with Y? I obviously can't proceed against them though the disciplinary process, and if I start to make things difficult for them at work then I lay myself open to accusations of bullying. Short of watching them like a hawk watches a field mouse until they trip themselves up, is there anything else I can do?
 
Wow am I glad I don't work there, or for you.

It is not clear from your post whether the incorrect invoices were sent to Company Z, or if the error was rectified before they were sent.

Either way you should ensure that the correct invoices have now been issued and an apology has been sent to Company Z if the wrong invoices were actually sent.

Then you should sit down with X and Y and outline how embarrassing this is (could have been) and that we must all be careful that it not happen again.

If necessary you can report all this up the line.

A disciplinary hearing in this context is preposterous, and I am sure X would have no difficulty claiming constructive dismissal if it went against her.

You say you are a SENIOR manager, manage the situation, don't let it get out of hand.

You are paranoid about Y, that, to paraphrase the popular expression, doesn't mean she isn't a bad egg. if you really believe that she created the situation to create trouble, that is another situation you have to manage. watching her like a hawk is not the way to go. Sit down have a general conversation, why are they so unhappy that the might create trouble for the sake of it.
 
Do you not have access to nightly backups or an audit facility which would prove when the file was changed. If it was changed when X was on holidays, then you can ask Y what changes they made. Who else can log in and make changes?

If you don't, then you have no evidence that X made the mistake so I fail to see what evidence you have to proceed with disciplinary action.

If I was X , I would fight the discipliniary action vigorously.

You should make clear to both that you will be watching this carefully in future
 
Wow am I glad I don't work there, or for you.

It is not clear from your post whether the incorrect invoices were sent to Company Z, or if the error was rectified before they were sent.

Either way you should ensure that the correct invoices have now been issued and an apology has been sent to Company Z if the wrong invoices were actually sent.

Then you should sit down with X and Y and outline how embarrassing this is (could have been) and that we must all be careful that it not happen again.

If necessary you can report all this up the line.

A disciplinary hearing in this context is preposterous, and I am sure X would have no difficulty claiming constructive dismissal if it went against her.

You say you are a SENIOR manager, manage the situation, don't let it get out of hand.

You are paranoid about Y, that, to paraphrase the popular expression, doesn't mean she isn't a bad egg. if you really believe that she created the situation to create trouble, that is another situation you have to manage. watching her like a hawk is not the way to go. Sit down have a general conversation, why are they so unhappy that the might create trouble for the sake of it.



Why are you assuming X and Y are women? No, the invoices were not sent because -- and wasn't this a stroke of luck? -- Y just happened to have caught the "error". Fortunately, after months of sending perfect invoices, the month that X suddenly lost the plot and started overcharging just happens to be the month that Y was on hand to save the day.

And no, I'm not being paranoid over Y. As I said, I'm not prepared to go into detail, but I have reason to believe this person has serious problems beyond mere industrial relations. And overcharging a valuable customer is not a minor issue. At least not to the people I work for.
 
Why are you assuming X and Y are women?

I am not, would you have raised a similar question if I had said "him".

No, the invoices were not sent because

Thats good.

And overcharging a valuable customer is not a minor issue. At least not to the people I work for.

The customer wasn't overcharged.

And no, I'm not being paranoid over Y.

You really are.

in my own mind I have not the slightest doubt that Employee Y deliberately falsified the invoices after X had gone in order to drop X in the wotsit. ... I have not a shred of evidence that they actually did this,

I also note that X was happy to entrust her work to Y. As I said none of this means that Y doesn't have serious issues.

You are the SENIOR manager here, you need to support your colleague X who you believe has done nothing wrong. You need to address the issues raised by the possibility that Y has "serious problems beyond mere industrial relations"

You need to make sure that the people you work for don't think that a valuable customer was overcharged. This is a minor issue unless you make a meal of it.
 
I was obliged to initiate an investigation, on foot of which a disciplinary hearing is now to take place.

Really you started this on the basis of one mistake???

I am forced now to proceed with the disciplinary against X, since the only evidence at all are the invoices themselves.

No you're not! What you are required to do is man up and take responsibility for your actions. Your behaviour towards X is absolutely despicable. You should be ashamed of yourself.
 
If you do not think X did it and all the other invoices have been perfect, why the "investigation" at all?

If you think it is Y, why don't you track the access to the invoice document and if there were any alterations made to it by Y. Ask the IT dept to do it for you.

If you think Y is devious, even having an investigation will help them achieve their goal and it X will be worried about the matter, especially if it goes on over a few days.

Make sure you have all your ducks in a row before you bring it up in front of either employee.


Steven
www.bluewaterfp.ie
 
I think you and the company stand in the dock. If there are no checks and balances and no audit trail where you can check who did what, from where or when then your invoicing process is wide open for fiddles, inconsistencies, exceptions and inaccuracies. If, as you state, this is an important customer, then rather then delegate X's work to Y, perhaps it needs "delegating upwards" in X's absence, maybe to you.

Cutting invoices is a responsible task, cutting discounted or special-price invoices to be issued to an important customer is a vital one. Why are invoices not issued as they occur, when goods are shipped or work signed off?

Did you take an oral or documented handover from X prior to her departure on holiday? What evidence do you have for the interactions about the invoices between X and Y? Personally as a former senior manager in an international company I'd have sat both of them down prior to X's departure and ensured all of the issues and the status of the work to be completed was clear to everyone and documented.

Routine work usually runs routinely, exceptions need managing.
 
I have been involved in managing a number of disciplinary proceedings in a large multi-national, if I even suggested initiating proceedings with the level of evidence you have presented here, I'd be the one in bother.

Set up a meeting with yourself and the other two employees, go into a room and talk through what happened. Don't even suggest any hint of your suspicions or there being a chance of disciplinary proceedings, just say that it was a serious error and you just need to get to the bottom of how it happened, and figure out what procedures can be put in place to prevent it happening in future.

If the error was malicious, then that may come to light during that conversation. If it gets heated (Y may get defensive if they did it maliciously and they fear they've been rumbled), calm it down, tell them you're not there to cast blame, just try ascertain the facts, and speak to them individually if required.

You may not get either of them admitting to making a mistake, but you should set the expectation that in future, they both have a shared responsibility in such situations, and errors will reflect equally badly on both of them. So that makes it clear that Y can't shaft X without blow-back.
 
I think you and the company stand in the dock. If there are no checks and balances and no audit trail where you can check who did what, from where or when then your invoicing process is wide open for fiddles, inconsistencies, exceptions and inaccuracies.
+1 If you take just one action away from this episode it should be to address this gap. As Jim said, I think your behaviour towards employee X here is pretty despicable and if I were X I would certainly be looking to move somewhere where I would be treated with a bit more respect.
 
The OP does state "after an investigation". It's also possible that an approval process already exists and that X bypassed it, the posts from the OP are not clear and understandably so. He also seems to have already convicted Y and acquitted X before the hearing for reasons around other issues that he is aware of.

I don't believe the OP should be carrying out this disciplinary. A more "neutral" manager should be doing it and it should be based on the facts. If there are other issues with Y then should be dealt with via normal performance management.
 
More than a tad unprofessional of the OP to be publishing on the internet, an account of a potentially serious employee disciplinary issue.
 
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