I’ll try to make this long story short…
I work for a large corporation in a shipping/receiving managerial role at one of there most important/profitable locations. The freight carrier company we primarily deal with recently starting making major errors with our delivery schedule. Shipments were “missing” or “misplaced” or “unable to locate.” The past few days shipments that were never delivered appeared in our daily schedule update email (from the carrier) as delivered, with a date indicating a delivery the previous day or two. I of course knew these shipments did not arrive. Upon going on the shipping company’s website to track the shipments, my name appears as the signatory. What they were doing was taking the name of the on-duty manager that signed for the morning’s shipment (that did actually arrive) and attach their name to undelivered shipments and claim they were delivered the same day/time.
To try and wrap this up (sorry for the length), my supervisors were coming to me demanding to know why I had so much unaccounted for freight-- that I signed for. Needless to say this is nerve wracking. I spent a good deal of time researching this and when I brought facts to my supervisors and the shipping company, suddenly the shipments supposedly already delivered are now “found” at the freight carrier’s warehouse and scheduled for delivery in the next week.
Do I have any legal recourse against a company that–I feel-- fraudulently “signed” my name multiple times, and caused trouble for me at my job, and had I not figured out the shipping company’s shady business practices, could’ve realistically put my employment in jeopardy?
You need to document this clearly. It sounds like you have all of the evidence you need to show that you aren’t in the wrong.
They are saying you signed for shipments that never arrived, and they have admitted that these items are at their warehouse. I don’t see how a person could reasonably conclude that you screwed up - it’s not your warehouse records that show the discrepancy, is it? (that is, the actual records being kept at your firm don’t show these shipments arriving. The company that sent them has admitted they were never actually sent and these boxes are physically somewhere else and there is cut and dried evidence of this)
Just put all the pieces together into a log that clearly and unequivocally shows who’s fault it is, write up a summary, and let your bosses see it. If they still discipline or fire you, now you have legal recourse - maybe - because they would be disciplining or firing you over something they know is not true.
Your company has legal recourse - you can very easily show they fraudulently claimed items were delivered that were not. You might be able to obtain some compensation for this if you can show losses. Make sure to take some photographs of the boxes at the warehouse when you pick em up - photographs these days provide a much stronger argument in court than some easily messed with documents. I don’t think you personally have legal recourse unless your company punishes you.
You could have some cause under “stress and duress” arising from their criminal actions. Good luck finding a lawyer that hungry.
Frame every scrap of paper - both screen prints and hardcopy - anybody can mess with paper these days, but showing the original electronic form backs up the document.
Of course, find a way to get in all on CD/DVD.
Keep all this OFF SITE.
If stuff hits impeller and you are the sacrifice, you will probably not be given access to the data.
I’m no lawyer, but it doesn’t sound like there are any pecuniary damages to sue over. What’s the dollar value you’re putting on “causing trouble for you at work” and “could have cost you your job”?
IANAL, but sometimes shit happens, mistakes are made, and if you can clear them up (as you seem to have done) then once you do so it is time to move on.
If you feel someone was specifically targetting you, my response might be different, but the situation you describe sounds like it is up to your company to either change shippers or to pressure that shipper to put in more rigorous controls to ensure this problem doesn’t recur, and it is up to the shipper to implement those controls or possibly discipline someone on their staff.
I don’t think you personally can really pursue any action on the basis of “somebody somewhere cut corners or screwed up, and it was a stressful hassle for me to do some digging and find out what happened.”
personal considerations aside, shouldn’t this be driving an investigation in to whether your company need a new vendor for this service? Having the shipment missing, but considered as signed for (via under the table signature assignment) and only finding it when challenged with supporting evidence sounds shady as all hell to me? Is the freight in question specialised stuff only of use to your companies production processes or is it intrinsically valuable and prone to “falling off the back of a lorry”?
I don’t know about the legal recourse bit, but if I was in your position I would alter my signature for all future deliveries from this vendor. Maybe add a middle initial or such. It’s a pretty low tech way to catch them out, fudging your signature. (Make sure to let someone else in on your scheme so you have backup when the time comes. Someone who is aware of when you began the new signature and why, plus a document if possible.)
IANAL either, but I also don’t see any cause for civil action as there was no real loss to you. Forgery, however, is a criminal offense. I suppose you could turn your evidence over to the police for investigation. Since your comapny apparently still has a vendor relationship with the carrier, I would most certainly clear any such action with senior management first.
What’s going to happen is that a couple of years from now when some management committee meets to discuss promotions/pay raises/force reductions, your name is going to come up for consideration. The conversation will go something like, “Hmm. Junior18. Didn’t we have a lot of screw ups on the shipping dock while he was in charge?”
“Yeah, I think I remember that. Lost packages he signed for or something like that?”
“Hmmm. Yeah, I think you’re right.”
“Well. we don’t want to promote him/give him a pay raise/keep him on staff if he can’t handle the shipping dock.”
On the official paperwork, they’ll note something like “there was a more qualified candidate” or “only met minimum standards for job.”
Yeah, if you could show a direct connection to adverse job action, you might have a case for defamation. But if they haven’t already fired or demoted you or whatever, you are going to have a really hard time making the connection. And even if you do have a case, you are not going to win many friends by getting the company (directly or indirectly) entangled in lawsuits with its suppliers.
The best thing to do right now is to launch a campaign to associate your name with straightening out the mess in the shipping department. Make sure everyone in management hears about what HEROIC steps you took to correct the problems. Write a post-mortem analysis paper detailing the problems and making sure that the blame goes right to the shipper. Suggest a detailed plan revising shipping and receiving procedures to protect the company from future losses caused by shippers. If there are any changes in procedure that you can implement without management input, implement them, and document them in a memo circulated to the right people.
IMHO, you, personally, don’t have enough real damages at this point to have much point in a suit against the shipper.
Whether your company wants to do anything is up to them. Frankly, I’d get all my ducks in a row with documentation showing how they screwed up/tried to cheat you, then be sitting down with my boss saying “Why are we paying these people?” (even better if you’ve researched an alternative you can propose)*.
[That conversation accomplishes three things: makes it clear to your boss that you were not responsible, shows your boss you’re looking out for the company, and (maybe) makes your life easier in the future if you start working with a shipper that actually does their job.
This assumes your company is the one paying the shipper. If the shipper is paid by someone sending you things, then the question for your boss is “Does <Company we’re buying stuff from> know how much their shipper is screwing up and costing us money? Can we have someone here complain about that to them?”
It it was me, I would contact a manager at the shipping company and flat-out ask him/her if someone at their company was stealing my shipments and forging my signature. And I would record the call.
If you start a big rain dance of outrage about legal action against the shipper for effectively putting you in a stressful and embarrassing situation you are begging to get fired. The shipments are found and honestly no one in your company gives a rat’s ass about your feelings.
You do need to write a non-emotional memo without any whiff of "I told you so’ to your superiors indicating that this shipping company has (it appears) a sketchy way of confirming delivery and to have heads up about it in the future. No one wants a drama queen in the shipping dept. Don’t be that guy.