Prgenant colleague made huge mistake

LegacyUser

i job share with another woman who has just gone on maternity leave. ive just figured out that she has made a massive mistake before she went that will potentially cost the company 45k. the boss hasnt seen it yet. im worried that if i show him and blame her will she get fired or will she not be able to be fired because of being pregnant. and if i dont tell him will this come back to me as there wouldnt be data recorded of what she or i did so its just coming from our position? normally she does her job reasonably well but she let the ball slip a lot when she was pregnant and i picked up the slack for her, this is something i cant fix as the client has signed off on it and its all wrong, she didnt bother getting anyone to double check it before she left. even now on her desk theres different baby catalogues and no files. she just talked about babies non stop and another pregnant girl is the same, i know being pregnant is exciting and all but its a place of business and they would be looking up baby stuff on computers and getting catalogues delivered to work and going through them on work time constantly, even the two of them went to baby shops when boss wasnt about a couple of times. we work to really tight deadlines and dont have the time for anything like this. so has anyone any advice for what position im in or what i should do? im really worried i could get fired for this if the boss thinks its my mistake and i thought for discrimination they couldnt fire her cos she pregnant

mood

As far as I am aware they can't fire a pregnent woman for any reason.

jimoc

Regardless of her pregnancy or not, you need to make your boss aware of this mistake, because if you don't its gonna be your head on the block and not hers.

Its not your responsibility to decide whether anything is gonna happen to this woman or not, but it is your responsibility to make sure its notified to your boss.

wmpdd3

Def make the boss aware, try get as much evidence that your colleague was responsible for the task. Once you tell the boss you may have to fight your corner.

flash harry

being pregnant is not a free pass to negligence - if while she was working she cocked up severley enough to be disciplined, that is what can happen.

The question is more does the employer want to do it, I mean the how it may be perceived etc.

It amazes me also that people think that people on sick leave cant be fired

mood

flash harry wrote: »

being pregnant is not a free pass to negligence - if while she was working she cocked up severley enough to be disciplined, that is what can happen.

The question is more does the employer want to do it, I mean the how it may be perceived etc.

It amazes me also that people think that people on sick leave cant be fired

She is not on sick leave. She is on maternity leave. There is a huge legal difference.

OP you need to tell the boss but as someone else said be prepared to prove it wasn't you who f*cked up. You can't take the blame for this.

theg81der

The longer you hide this the worse it will look. I would tell your boss immediately maybe he can do something or maybe he will think he could have if you leave it too long.

gandalf

Unfortunately you have to let your boss know. You have now discovered it and you will be negligent if you do inform him and that could have serious consequences for your job.

From your description this woman normally is diligent and does her job well. I am sure that will be taken into consideration as well.

prof_frink_2000

You have to let your boss know or you're in trouble.

Firstly, obviously there would be a proper investigation and disciplinary procedure, which may not result in anything more than a written warning. Don't assume she would be fired.

Secondly, if you have been having issues with fellow collegeues not pulling their weight you should have brought it to your manager's attention. There is no point complaining in this forum and saying nothing in work. Your boss can't fix a problem you haven't made him aware of. If you ignore things like this in the office they will bottle up inside you until one day you snap in a spectacular fashion. You have a professional relationship with your collegeues in the office, don't mistake this for a personal one. Your critism isn't personal its professional.

I hope this helps!

flash harry

mood wrote: »

She is not on sick leave. She is on maternity leave. There is a huge legal difference.

OP you need to tell the boss but as someone else said be prepared to prove it wasn't you who f*cked up. You can't take the blame for this.

that's great but I never said otherwise, that's why I said it amazes me ALSO...

Maternity leave, as I said, does not make someone untouchable. If you discovered she had been stealing, it would still be gross misconduct, fired immediately

mood

flash harry wrote: »

that's great but I never said otherwise, that's why I said it amazes me ALSO...

Maternity leave, as I said, does not make someone untouchable. If you discovered she had been stealing, it would still be gross misconduct, fired immediately

OP said she made a mistake he/she never said anything about stealing.

partyguinness

I qualified as a few years ago with a professional training courseand during the first few days one thing was made very clear to us:

Rule No. 1.

- Cover your own ass at all costs.


OP thats what you need to do here....she made the mistake...fúck her

Yes technically.....she can be fired during pregnancy but all dismissals are prima facie unfair unless the Employer can show otherwise....if she takes an unfair dismissal claim she would 99.99999% win.

What I suggest you do is this:

1. Come up with solutions, ways to fix the problem and approach the boss with your ideas. They may only be token gestures but it's about taking a pre-emptive strike and showing the initiative which your boss will appreciate...;)

Sitting on it is the worst thing you can do

flash harry

mood wrote: »

OP said she made a mistake he/she never said anything about stealing.

I think we're not getting each other mood!!!! I meant this as a comparison, being sick, pregnant, whatever isn't a free pass to incompetence is all I mean

FoxT

This sounds like a mistake that could cost your employer 45k. You need to alert your manager urgently. The sooner your manager knows about it the better the chance that the damage can be rectified or at least minimised.

If you have a poor relationship with your manager, then it may be appropriate to do this with a via a HR person, or with a HR person present. If you do not have a HR department, then you could do it with a colleague present.

You should also contact the colleague who is out on mat leave & ask her to forward any information/details she has that are pertinent. Ideally she would be present when you have the discussion with your manager - but if she refuses to engage then you should proceed anyway.

Your goal here is not to drop your colleague in it - but to highlight a risk to the company.

It is critical that you do something - This is a serious situation that will cost your employer a lot of money. It will likely come out in the wash anyway & you may well be implicated if you remain silent now. Even if that does not happen, employees have a duty of care - maybe not legally, but certainly morally.

Best of luck with it,

-FoxT

longhalloween

Its your unfortunate job to tell the boss. If it goes unnoticed more people could lose their jobs if the company got a bad reputation. So just make it known immediately and sort out damage control later.

It'll only get worse the longer it goes unnoticed.

ScouseMouse

mood wrote: »

As far as I am aware they can't fire a pregnent woman for any reason.

Completely and utterly wrong.


A woman cannot be fired for being pregnant. That is discrimination.

If a pregnant woman is guilty of gross misconduct, or negligence, as may or may not be relevant here, she can be disciplined like any other person.

LimeFruitGum

Exactly. I have heard of pregnant women in various IT companies in Dublin getting made redundant/fired, so it does happen.

I agree some women really do take the p1ss at work when they get pregnant. Or worse, when they're getting married and spend hours on the phone to the florist and bridesmaids. But that's a whole other thread! :cool:

artielange

Make sure you can prove it was their mistake otherwise it might be a case of you being blamed and the company getting rid of everyone, if they can't determine who was actually at fault.

Firetrap

Tell your boss as soon as you can. That 45k could cost your employers dearly and come back to bite you in the form of a pay cut or even job cuts.

delos

It's a bit strange that there is no "paper trail" to show who is responsible for an error that could cost 45k.

As everyone else here has said you need to bring this to the attention of your boss so the mistake can be recitfied or at least mitigated - this isn't dropping anyone in it so you don't need to involve the other party. Just get all the facts together - if you can suggest a way to recitfy the situation all and good if you can't just give all the information you have to your boss and give them a chance to do something about this. It's what they are paid the big bucks for

If you leave this any length of time you will have lots of explaining to do and it will look like at worst complicity and at best incompetencey....

the_syco

Cover your own ass, and report her.