I have a friend who tried to play the peacemaker between two at-odds co-workers. One of the co-workers dissed the other. Other complained about dissing by the one. Emails sent.
At the end of the day, peacemaker was written up for ‘instigating’ the dissing. He was the only person who was written up.
Is there some sort of recourse for the peacemaker? He was written up unfairly, (if his account is to be believed), just because the real disser jerked a knot into the HR reps tail, and put the fear of God into him, mol, and HR had no one else to blame.
So, assuming that the HR guy was at fault, and unfairly put into the peacemaker’s file a bad report, what can the peacemaker do? Will the Labor Dept/Board intervene for something like this? Can a lawsuit do anything? At this point, peacemaker wants to cause trouble for HR, and get the unfair report pulled, not necessarily to keep his job. (His wife has big $$).
Has your friend got any actual evidence about what really happened? Will either of the other people involved back up his version of the story? If not, he is screwed (but very possibly lying, to you and/or himself, anyway).
What is there is a copy of the complaint by the dissee, so he does have a witness (there is/was no conflict of what happened, only the interpretation put on it by HR) and the complaint/form/letter/whateverHRkeeps saying that he instigated the thing.
To me, it appears that he is telling the truth. However, he is a wonderful person who will say what is on his mind, and be more agreeable than disputing; unfortunately, he is also a bit of a sap, who can also be led around by people who are used to jerking other peoples’ chains (as this HR person is noted for doing) into agreeing, at the moment, with something totally implausible. (Our office regularly presses some of his buttons for amusement purposes). Only later, will reason and his silliness be made obvious to him.
Why don’t you explain it to me then. Because we don’t have that sort of thing at places where I’ve worked. If someone where I work is doing something they shouldn’t (or not doing something they should), typically their manager will speak with them directly to correct their behavior. We have regular performance reviews that affect your raises, bonus and promotions, but no one gives you a formal “write up” for some stupid office spat. Not that people are “dissing” or “giving props” or whatever at my office. We’re expected to act professional (ish).
Aside from escalating within the company (his boss, the HR guy’s boss, then on up the ladder), there is really nothing he can do. He can file suit, but what is there to win? As long as he’s paid correctly and not discriminated against according to the law the Labor Board is not likely to get involved.
Really, a single “write up” at most companies means nothing unless one is bucking for a promotion in the very short term - and sometimes not even then. I would advise him to drop it.
Your friend is screwed, there’s a mark in his permanent record. HR was invented by Satan. They’re really pissed at your friend because he stepped on their toes, resolving problems between employees is HR’s job to screw up, not the job for random employees who haven’t been trained in how to make employee relationships worse.
I have an idea what “written up” means but I have no idea what happened in the actual incident. I would also request that the OP describe the actual events rather than using vague phrases like “play the peacemaker” and “dissed” and “instigating the dis”
The thing the peacemaker can do is write a memo to the HR guy, copying the peacemaker’s supervisor, describing the situation as he saw it and ask that the memo be placed in his employee file as well.
This is extremely common; anybody who has worked for a large firm is subject to a disciplinary process that documents incidents so that upper management can review them.
Say a clerk at a grocery store fails to wash his hands repeatedly. His manager may give him a verbal warning the first time, but will then give written warnings for subsequent failures to wash hands. Then, when the clerk is finally fired, if the clerk calls the president of the company complaining of being unfairly fired, the manager needs only to present copies of the written warnings to justify the dismissal.
Nearly every large company has a similar procedure. To resort to profane language at not understanding such a common procedure shows ignorance on your part.
Well he is coming at this from the perspective of a professional employee, not a clerk at a grocery store. In most professional situations, disagreements are worked out without being “written up” like a wayward high school student.