Co worker taking pics of documents to use against supervisor

  • Thread starter Thread starter mommy_k
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
M

mommy_k

Guest
One of my coworkers that is very difficult for everyone to get along with is taking pictures with their phone of work documents to use against supervisor.

This individual is stirring the pot. She is married to another director in the company and is using this clout to nit pick about certain things and is trying to get the supervisor fired by taking pics when the supervisor is not there.

She makes comments about others all day.

I have a great relationship with everyone at work incuding my boss. Her behavior is distracting, unprofessional and vindictive. What do I do about this? Do I let her continue to behave like this or do I let my boss know?
 
Forewarned is forearmed. If I was the supervisor, I would appreciate an employee letting me know that another employee is working behind my back to undermine my job. Of course, if the supervisor is actually doing inappropriate things, that should be made known, but it doesn’t sound like the case here. Office politics were the worst part of my job. Glad I’m retired, and I’m praying for you.
 
If someone is taking pictures or making copies of work documents, that is a problem, whatever the reason for the copying.

Tell your boss.
 
Thank u both for your replies. I know the moral thing to do is to let my boss know–but I can’t help wondering if injecting myself into this will somehow backfire on to me professionally.

The employee who is taking pics is underperforming and looking to blame our supervisor for it, and grasping at tiny little things as a reason.
 
mommy_k said:
One of my coworkers that is very difficult for everyone to get along with is taking pictures with their phone of work documents to use against supervisor.

This individual is stirring the pot. She is married to another director in the company and is using this clout to nit pick about certain things and is trying to get the supervisor fired by taking pics when the supervisor is not there.

She makes comments about others all day.

I have a great relationship with everyone at work incuding my boss. Her behavior is distracting, unprofessional and vindictive. What do I do about this? Do I let her continue to behave like this or do I let my boss know?
Click to expand...
  1. If the supervisor is doing nothing wrong then the documents can not be used against him/her.
  2. Most companies have a policy regarding sensitive documents however, and taking pics of them on personal devices can be grounds for dismissal if not legal action.
OTOH, you may not know the real motivation of the employee, they may be documenting something they need to to protect themselves. Honestly, I don’t see any way that getting involved turns out well for you…

If I were you I would stay out of it…
 
Mommy K

I think there are two questions you need to ask (though you don’t have to post the answers here! You’d better keep them to yourself.)
  1. Does her husband know about these pictures she’s taking? Is it possible he’s the one asking her to do it for him?
  2. In the event that your supervisor should end up losing his job in the light of the evidence she’s been collecting, how would that affect your own position?
Regards
Bart
 
Does your company have a “no retaliation policy”? If so, you should be able to go to HR with issues like this if deemed necessary.
 
I would take it up with HR and ask them to keep your name out of it; is there a hotline for reporting company abuse where you do not have to identify yourself?
 
tawny said:
Does your company have a “no retaliation policy”? If so, you should be able to go to HR with issues like this if deemed necessary.
Click to expand...
Human Resources departments don’t like trouble. Contrary to the myth that HR departments like to cultivate that they are there to protect the employees, their role is often to smooth out problems. If they were not aware of a problem before you showed up in their office, they may see the problem that needs to be smoothed out as you!

This certainly varies from one company to another, so know your company’s culture and the parties involved before doing anything that could jeopardize your job.

So from that perspective, let’s look at this:
This individual is stirring the pot…Her behavior is distracting, unprofessional and vindictive.
Click to expand...
Is it actually distracting to you, so that you are unable to do your job? Then it may be relevant, but if you’re not able to do your job, maybe they need to find someone who can without being so sensitive. On the other hand, if it’s not interfering with your work, why are you being a busybody? You’re not her manager, so stop trying to interfere with the manager’s work.

I’m not making these accusations, I’m just extrapolating so you see how piping up could potentially look bad for you. In a lot of cases, if you can tolerate them, such people will eventually do something egregious enough that action will be taken without you being tarnished by being involved. OTOH, that could take months or years.🤷
 
Wow. Lots of good replies.
I speak from experience.
Don’t get involved any more than you are. I agree with Hoosier.
Once, I believed I was being “loyal” by reporting a pot-stirrer.
I got burned, (by association, even though I had nothing to do with it) and yes, the pot stirrer got in trouble.🤷
But don’t make the mistake of thinking they’ll thank you. They won’t.
 
Sounds like this situation is above your pay grade; stay out of it unless it directly involves you (i.e., she asks you to provide documents so she can take pictures or something). If asked questions, answer honestly, but don’t elaborate. Sounds like a difficult position in which to work. . . 😦
 
I have decided to tell the picture taker to stop doing this in front of me, as it is annoying and putting me in a bad situation- I will take it from there if she keeps it up.

If I told any other coworker about this, they would immediately address this, and have not liked this person since before I started as she is just not a nice person and has done backhanded things.I was acutally warned at that time to watch my back-but also told her husband is a director.

I am not a busybody-but my team and other teams are named on the documents, as they are related to performance measurement of commissions. All of us are doing fine, except her team and she is nit picking to find a reason for her deficit and blame our supervisor.

Thanks again…
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top