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Help with employee complaint

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BennyD

Guest
California:

Hi Everyone,

There was recently a complaint filed against me via email that was sent to my manager and the senior manager of my department from a fellow employee. I know very well what the complaint was about before they even confronted me about it, however I have one question. If the senior manager brought the email into the meeting with him, had it face down, and used that as evidence AGAINST me, do I have every right to read that email and see what it entitles? Is it too late to ask to read it? Or can I confront them about it today and ask to read said email in question. I suspect that if an employee sends an email requesting confidentiality that management would NOT bring it into the meeting with them. I'm not really sure how this works. Please help!

Also, the contents of the email were a copied/pasted instant message which I had sent to a fellow employee using company resources (internal instant text messaging program). The contents were intercepted by another employee (access to computer) and then copied/pasted into the email to my managers. Are instant messages considered to be confidential sort of like emails, and can this information aquired be used against me? Instant messages are also easily edited and manipulated.
 


cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
"If the senior manager brought the email into the meeting with him, had it face down, and used that as evidence AGAINST me, do I have every right to read that email and see what it entitles? " No. Nothing in the law requires them to show you the e-mail.

"it too late to ask to read it? Or can I confront them about it today and ask to read said email in question." You can ask. They have no legal obligation to agree.

"Are instant messages considered to be confidential sort of like emails, and can this information aquired be used against me?" Yes, this information can be used against you.

From what you've been saying, it sounds as if the IM did not have anything to do with work. If that is the case, then it doesn't matter whether it is considered confidential or not. You have no business using company resources for personal messages and you can be fired for this alone, regardless of the content of the messages.
 
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BennyD

Guest
cbg said:
"If the senior manager brought the email into the meeting with him, had it face down, and used that as evidence AGAINST me, do I have every right to read that email and see what it entitles? " No. Nothing in the law requires them to show you the e-mail.

"it too late to ask to read it? Or can I confront them about it today and ask to read said email in question." You can ask. They have no legal obligation to agree.

"Are instant messages considered to be confidential sort of like emails, and can this information aquired be used against me?" Yes, this information can be used against you.

From what you've been saying, it sounds as if the IM did not have anything to do with work. If that is the case, then it doesn't matter whether it is considered confidential or not. You have no business using company resources for personal messages and you can be fired for this alone, regardless of the content of the messages.
On the contrary. It has everything to do with work and my employer provides a program called "Sametime" to instant message other employees. My IM to the other person was a vent, or complaint about the person who allegedly intercepted it.
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
Doesn't change my answers except for the last. You STILL don't have a legal right to see the e-mail and your employer STILL can refuse to show it to you. They STILL can use the information in the IM against you if they so choose.

Whether or not a vent about another employee is considered being "about work" however, is going to be situation-specific.
 
B

BennyD

Guest
cbg said:
Doesn't change my answers except for the last. You STILL don't have a legal right to see the e-mail and your employer STILL can refuse to show it to you. They STILL can use the information in the IM against you if they so choose.

Whether or not a vent about another employee is considered being "about work" however, is going to be situation-specific.
I see your point, but I still think however that this so called information that was copied/pasted into the email is inadmissable for ANYTHING because text messages, especially when being copied and pasted, are so easily tampered with and changed. My reasoning for wanting to see the email is to, for myself, check the accuracy of the allegations being held against me.

The vent about the other employee was a general complaint about her phone etiquette and the way she handles herself under stress, granted, I was not as professional as I could have been about my complaint, which is why I got in trouble for it.
 
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cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
Your employer is not a court of law. They are not bound by what would be considered "admissible" in court.

When you end up in court, you can argue about what is "admissible". Until then, the employer can use anything they find appropriate.
 

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