Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Hi there,
There is an issue with role permissions that is being worked on at the moment.
If you are having trouble with access or permissions on regional forums please post here to get access: https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058365403/you-do-not-have-permission-for-that#latest

Human Resources legality

  • 27-09-2016 3:39pm
    #1
    jezzer
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 2,030 ✭✭✭


    Folks can someone help me with a question, I work for a company which has about 50 employees over 5 offices globally, there are about 10 in my office however we have no HR resource in the whole company. I am having an issue with a senior manager but I have nobody to report him to, firstly does anyone know if the company i work for has a legal obligation to have a HR resource and secondly in the absence of such a resource where can I turn? :confused:


Comments

  • #2
    silent_spark
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 461 ✭✭silent_spark


    There's no obligation for a company to provide a designated HR person, but best practice would advise having a grievance policy in the staff handbook that outlines the steps to be taken if an employee had a problem/complaint. Do you have a staff handbook? Have you discussed the issue with the person involved?


  • #3
    jezzer
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 2,030 ✭✭✭jezzer


    silent_spark wrote: »
    There's no obligation for a company to provide a designated HR person, but best practice would advise having a grievance policy in the staff handbook that outlines the steps to be taken if an employee had a problem/complaint. Do you have a staff handbook? Have you discussed the issue with the person involved?

    The staff handbook is a US handbook and wasnt adapted for EU, the person involved doesnt want to hear about it...ignorant so and so....


  • #4
    silent_spark
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 461 ✭✭silent_spark


    jezzer wrote: »
    The staff handbook is a US handbook and wasnt adapted for EU, the person involved doesnt want to hear about it...ignorant so and so....

    Is there a grievance policy in the staff handbook?


  • #5
    jezzer
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 2,030 ✭✭✭jezzer


    silent_spark wrote: »
    Is there a grievance policy in the staff handbook?

    nope


  • #6
    jezzer
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 2,030 ✭✭✭jezzer


    I have an issue whereby a member of senior management has plagerised some content and passed it off as their own, I am the one who has found this out and I feel I should do something about it but I dont know where to turn


  • Advertisement
  • #7
    livedadream
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,457 ✭✭✭livedadream


    jezzer wrote: »
    I have an issue whereby a member of senior management has plagerised some content and passed it off as their own, I am the one who has found this out and I feel I should do something about it but I dont know where to turn

    so it is a grievance or a ethical issue?

    talk to the person they report too and see if they can sort it.


  • #8
    davo10
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,926 ✭✭✭davo10


    jezzer wrote: »
    I have an issue whereby a member of senior management has plagerised some content and passed it off as their own, I am the one who has found this out and I feel I should do something about it but I dont know where to turn

    Management often take credit for the ideas of their team members/underlings. I really don't see how filing a grievance can in any way help you or your career. Firstly it will be your word against the manager's, secondly, that is what might be considered your job, to provide ideas/support to your manager so that a task gets completed, thirdly, others managers/co workers may not wish to work with you in case you do the same to them, fourthly, the manager will do everything he/she possibly can to sideline/get rid of you.

    Chalk it down to experience, when you work as part of a group your ideas/contributions are not owned by you, they are owned by the company and managers taking credit for others work is not a new concept.


  • #9
    Foxhound38
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,547 ✭✭✭Foxhound38


    There's no legal obligation for a company to have a dedicated HR function. It's probably something that should be changed sooner rather than later.


  • #10
    Lux23
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,134 ✭✭✭Lux23


    jezzer wrote: »
    I have an issue whereby a member of senior management has plagerised some content and passed it off as their own, I am the one who has found this out and I feel I should do something about it but I dont know where to turn

    I can understand that this may be a serious ethical issue, but once you have raised your concerns with your Senior Manager I don't see how this is affecting you or your work. Perhaps send an email voicing your concerns to the Manager again so you have a record in case the proverbial hits the fan and you get caught up in it, but really I don't see what you can really do here without a whistle-blowing structure in place.


  • #11
    Mrs OBumble
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 26,295 ✭✭✭✭Mrs OBumble


    If it's work you did on work time, then you have no ownership of it. What you produce, they own.

    When a senior manager says "I produced this", it usually means that someone they manage actually produced it. What the manager did was put together the time / place / environment for a worker go produce the content. That's just how the workplace works, and what managers are paid to do.

    (There are a few types of jobs where's there's a contractual exception to this - but if you were in one of them, you would know about it, and not be posting the question here.)


  • Advertisement
  • #12
    Lux23
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,134 ✭✭✭Lux23


    Mrs OBumble wrote: »
    If it's work you did on work time, then you have no ownership of it. What you produce, they own.

    I don't think that is what happened. I think the Senior Manager lifted content from elsewhere and the OP spotted and rightly pointed out that this was wrong.


  • #13
    davo10
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,926 ✭✭✭davo10


    Lux23 wrote: »
    I don't think that is what happened. I think the Senior Manager lifted content from elsewhere and the OP spotted and rightly pointed out that this was wrong.

    Why would the op be looking for HR or raising a grievence if it was taken from an external source?


  • #14
    Lux23
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,134 ✭✭✭Lux23


    davo10 wrote: »
    Why would the op be looking for HR or raising a grievence if it was taken from an external source?


    Because the Senior Manager is refusing to acknowledge there is an issue with plagiarism and it could very damaging to the reputation of the organisation. That's just what I read from the OP's posts.


  • #15
    jezzer
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 2,030 ✭✭✭jezzer


    davo10 wrote: »
    Management often take credit for the ideas of their team members/underlings. I really don't see how filing a grievance can in any way help you or your career. Firstly it will be your word against the manager's, secondly, that is what might be considered your job, to provide ideas/support to your manager so that a task gets completed, thirdly, others managers/co workers may not wish to work with you in case you do the same to them, fourthly, the manager will do everything he/she possibly can to sideline/get rid of you.

    Chalk it down to experience, when you work as part of a group your ideas/contributions are not owned by you, they are owned by the company and managers taking credit for others work is not a new concept.

    No they took credit for a published article by some0one else


  • #16
    jezzer
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 2,030 ✭✭✭jezzer


    Lux23 wrote: »
    I don't think that is what happened. I think the Senior Manager lifted content from elsewhere and the OP spotted and rightly pointed out that this was wrong.

    that is exactly correct


  • #17
    jezzer
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 2,030 ✭✭✭jezzer


    Lux23 wrote: »
    Because the Senior Manager is refusing to acknowledge there is an issue with plagiarism and it could very damaging to the reputation of the organisation. That's just what I read from the OP's posts.

    correct, the senior management passed off published content from someone else and passed it off as their own, this undermines their own credibility (should it be made known) and the credibility of the company and it sits very uneasy with me yet I have nobody to report it to


  • #18
    Lux23
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,134 ✭✭✭Lux23


    Does you manager have a manager? Do you know them?


  • #19
    davo10
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,926 ✭✭✭davo10


    But what difference does this make to you? Why would you be going out on a limb with a HR complaint if it does not involve you? What do you hope to gain beyond your manager having it in for you afterwards? The injured party is surely the person who produced the article and it is up to them to complain.

    I thought the way you were going on that he/she plagiarised your work.


  • #20
    Old Perry
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,511 ✭✭✭Old Perry


    You could try contact the author or organization and let them take up the issue


  • #21
    davo10
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,926 ✭✭✭davo10


    Old Perry wrote: »
    You could try contact the author or organization and let them take up the issue

    Why? What does the op get from that apart from a boot out the door? What is the issue here? If the article is published, it won't take long for the author to spot it, if it's an internal memo or a paper related to company planning/policy then the chances of the author seeing it if they work outside the company are zero.


  • Advertisement
  • #22
    Old Perry
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,511 ✭✭✭Old Perry


    davo10 wrote: »
    Why? What does the op get from that apart from a boot out the door? What is the issue here? If the article is published, it won't take long for the author to spot it, if it's an internal memo or a paper related to company planning/policy then the chances of the author seeing it if they work outside the company are zero.

    Why does there have to be something in it for the op? If i recieved an email one day from somebody reporting that another party had stolen my work my first reaction wouldnt be 'why you doin this, wat do u get outta it?'. Id say thanks for doing the right thing, many may not have.


  • #23
    intheclouds
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,175 ✭✭✭intheclouds


    davo10 wrote: »
    Why? What does the op get from that apart from a boot out the door? What is the issue here? If the article is published, it won't take long for the author to spot it, if it's an internal memo or a paper related to company planning/policy then the chances of the author seeing it if they work outside the company are zero.

    Eh, integrity?

    I certainly would not like my name to be associated with a company that was known for plagarism.


  • #24
    jezzer
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 2,030 ✭✭✭jezzer


    Old Perry wrote: »
    Why does there have to be something in it for the op? If i recieved an email one day from somebody reporting that another party had stolen my work my first reaction wouldnt be 'why you doin this, wat do u get outta it?'. Id say thanks for doing the right thing, many may not have.

    exactly, i have integrity and it doesnt sit well with me working for a guy who passes off other peoples work as his own, there is nothing in it for me except doing the right thing


  • #25
    jezzer
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 2,030 ✭✭✭jezzer


    intheclouds wrote: »
    Eh, integrity?

    I certainly would not like my name to be associated with a company that was known for plagarism.

    that is my thought exactly


  • #26
    Lux23
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,134 ✭✭✭Lux23


    davo10 wrote: »
    Why? What does the op get from that apart from a boot out the door? What is the issue here? If the article is published, it won't take long for the author to spot it, if it's an internal memo or a paper related to company planning/policy then the chances of the author seeing it if they work outside the company are zero.

    What about the company's reputation? As an employee would you not be concerned that this guy could create a PR issue for the company? It is not simply about protecting yourself here. I find your viewpoint baffling.


Advertisement