I’m very surprised at the MYOB folks but I view this both as a supervisor and a Project Manager. Instead of coming right out and tattling I’d use one of the more subtle approaches to clue management in that they should be paying attention to her hours. I’m in consulting so any hour put on a timesheet (unless it’s admin activity) is billed to the client so even if there is sufficient budget in the project (which is rarely the case) the client is being defrauded.
The reason why I’m saying MYOB is that if it is a job where you’re signing a group time sheet, you’re probably a fairly low level worker and most likely a temp. Group time sheets are usually used when a group of temp employees are brought in to do a specific project. The manager doesn’t probably want a tattletale type person in the group.
Why? Well, let’s say the manager is breaking the rules by having the person put down 7.5 hours on a day they only work 6.5 because they’re compensating the person for unpaid overtime work done earlier. Yes, that is illegal. Yes, that does happen in the shitty work world however. Another reason might be that person was initially promised a slightly higher wage. The manager wasn’t allowed to pay that person the higher wage, but they work around it by adding extra paid hours to the time sheet.
Don’t kid yourself that a definite yes or no will make it easier for you, whatever you decide. There are a lot of variables that come into play in this scenario, and some moralist for either side cannot give you a satisfactory answer, so pick the side that seems easiest for you.
I say myob, unless you can see a direct and definite advantage in ratting her out. Being a team player rat may/may not get you into trouble, but if you can tell yourself for a certainty that you will benefit from it tangibly, then go for it. I tried both ways. The “I’ll be helpful and the boss will appreciate it” tack bit me in the butt, because the boss was a turd. OTOH, one jerk at another job was making my job more difficult. I knew if I went directly to the boss, he’d tell me to overlook it, because the jerk was helpful in other aspects. However, the jerk was making MY performance suffer, so I had to do something. Instead of going to the boss in private, I looked at the screwup in front of everybody and said out loud “Mr. Boss, somebody did this wrong.” The boss asked everybody “Who did this wrong?” I waited just long enough for everybody to respond, or ignore the boss, and I said “I think it’s Tommy Boy”. His inertia got him onto Tommy Boy before he had a chance to think of what a pearl the jerk was.
Point being, it isn’t easy to know what to do, or, for that matter, how to do it effectively.
Rambling? You bet.
Good luck,
greatshakes
What is interesting about this is I was thinking just the opposite. As a supervisor, my first thought wouldn’t be thank you. It would be "why the hell are you paying that much attention to the comings and goings of your coworker and tracking her time sheet? I guess you don’t have enough to do."
Of course now I need to look into it but I think the little brown nosing tattletale need to be given more to do as he has far too much time to be worried about what others are doing.
Maybe not, but a manager would rather want dependable and trustworthy people in a his/her group. Your opinion would mean 2 people would not be trustworthy instead of just one…as a business-owner myself who does payroll, I would find this option totally unacceptable. I would want to know immediately who is cheating on a time sheet and let me decide on how to rectify it…sometimes I find it first on my own, other times I am informed by other employees. I do appreciate those who do act instead of ignore. This has helped save money for bonuses, Christmas parties, better benefits or all; not just for an opportunistic embezzler.
Then the manager made a crucial mistake and should own up to it…not cover it up. You just don’t make promises that you can’t keep. Now having a manager that is not trustworthy would even be a bigger deal to me than an employee that would be a tattler.
The bottom line is the OP better find out what kind of manager he has before acting upon this information. I tend to frown on my people running in to tell me each and every thing that they THINK is going wrong. I personally feel like if I am doing MY job, then I should already be aware of what goes on in my company and if I don’t, it is totally appropriate that I am getting screwed out of cash because of it.
Sometimes, it only takes 5 or 10 seconds to see and understand what is happening. Even other times, it happens in front of you like a hit and run accident.
I remember one of your threads about opportunistic employees. I’m a little surprised with your stance on this thread.
Yeah, I get my share of that too, but I would rather have that than everyone turning a blind eye to something (anything) that should be corrected. I want to be that filter, not my employees.
Maybe you could phrase it innocently. “I wanted to know if there’s a way I can work an hour or two at home. I know some people are picking up extra hours and I wanted to know if there’s anything I can do.”
That would prompt either the answer “what are you talking about? X isn’t working extra” or “that’s the kind of initiative I like to see.”
Gosh, you sound like a dream to work for.
I had a similar situation some years ago - a coworker was authorized overtime, and she spent the time doing her taxes, reading magazines, filing her nails… I was on overtime working my ass off on a large project on a tight deadline, and every time I passed her desk, I wanted to smack her.
I went to my boss and said “Would you want to be told if someone was committing time card fraud?” and he said yes. Turns out he suspected she was cheating, and her overtime was halted immediately. I don’t know what, if anything, was said to her, but she never gave any indication that she thought I was responsible. And if I’d thought my boss would have been vindictive, I’d have probably done the anonymous note.
I was thinking something along the same lines, Foxy40. I bring to you a concern that I think someone may be cheating you out of a few grand (yes, I know, depending on hourly rate, etc), and I’m met with, “You meddling brownnose! More work for you!” 
In the linked thread, you were actually pretty steamed that no one had told you that people were RSVPing with multiple guests to your holiday party.
Just to make some things clear: She and I work at a bank on a permanent part time basis. We are CSR’s and very entry-level. We don’t take work home with us so I know she isn’t doing that.
Claiming hours that you aren’t working could be grounds for firing and I really don’t want someone to lose their job over it.
For those of you who say that it doesn’t effect me, you are right. It does make me a little resentful though. She still needs help and often asks me to help her and she’s getting paid for more hours than I am.
I guess I’ll just wait and see if anyone notices. Someone should notice if they’re paying attention. We receive schedules and then write our hours down at the end of the day. So the person doing the hours at the end of the week should be able to see the discrepancy between her schedule and her hours. The schedules we receive are for everybody, not just for one person (if that makes sense) .
Oh and because some people are wondering about wage, it’s $13.00 an hour.
I worked with a guy who brought in a tacky piece of masking tape. We started at 7 am. He showed up at 8 and got the same hours I did. I passed the timeclock when he punched in and saw what he did. He took the tape at 759 and covered up the 59. Then punched in. All that showed was a 7. He then moved the tape and covered the 7. When 8am came he punched in again. The clock punch read 7:00.
I would have never thought of that and I would never do it.
In this case, I would totally hang her out to dry. What sways me in this case is remembering how I pounded the pavement to find my first entry-level job and how glad I was to get it. Also the fact that she’s impinging on your time is unacceptable. That’s time you could be spending polishing your own performance, not propping up some slacker. Also, it’s highly unlikely this person will ever be in any position to help you or harm you in the future; you’ll probably never even cross paths again. Free up that job for a hungry newcomer, and free up some of your own time.
She’s engaging in theft. She should be turned in.
If you’re nervous about any repercussions that might come your way as a result of reporting her, open an anonymous email account and send an email to her supervisor that describes in detail what’s going on. Make sure the subject is written such that it won’t be rejected as spam by her supervisor.
I wonder if a bank cares more about thieving employees than other businesses.
Sailboat
And if it were me, your second thought would be, “Crap, now I have to hire and train someone new” when I gave you my two-weeks notice.
Either you are this person’s manager or you aren’t. I would assume that nobody in this tread is. Don’t come spying on my house either. Let the managers do their job however they see fit and let them spot the issue if there is even one to begin with.
Do you remember Gladys Kravitz as the spying, oppressive neighbor in Bewitched? Those types of people exist in real life and I have had to deal with their baseless accusations many times. It has nothing to do with you and no good can come from it either for you or the person in question.
There are actual people that have responsibility for managing this type of things. I get the impression that this does not fall under your own job duties. No one likes a tattle-tail and it will certainly not help you to pursue this.
Bet you’re wrong. I know my employee handbook requires me (and all employees) to report problems like this. I’d wager good money the OP’s does too.