I Have Been Stitched Up at Work - Please Help

[Concerned Membe]

Hopefully some legal expert/employment law specialist out there can give some advice regarding a fabricated allegation against me at my work, which whilst further investigation is taking place I have been suspended.

An anonymous letter was sent to my employer stating that they (female) picked up a blank disc from my desk, took this home with them and watched, and was then shocked to discover that it was of a pornographic nature, the letter went on to say that they were shocked and then claimed to know that I was openly distributing this amongst staff.

Now this is complete and utter rubbish and it is obvious there is someone attempting to get me into as much bother as possible.

I have my suspicions who is behind this, but I have no proof at all, and even if I were to raise my suspicions at the coming disciplinary, my only evidence would be that, me and this person (male) had an argument about a year ago, and no longer talk as a result.

There is absolutely no evidence to connect me with this DVD, and whilst I am suspended they will investigate the matter further i.e. attempt to ascertain from other members of staff if I have been supplying pornographic DVD’s around the work place.

I have no qualms that the end result will be that there is no evidence to support the anonymous allegation and the matter will be dropped, however I am still very concerned that this has happen, I am probably still in shock and not thinking straight either.

I do loan & borrow normal DVD’s with other staff, including management but to suggest that I am distributing porn to staff is a bloody joke, but as you will guess I am raging.

Now I don’t even know what advice I am asking, because as I said previously nothing more should come out of this, I guess I am surprised that I have been suspended considering it was sent to my employer anonymously with the actual disc, surly they could see that this is an obvious malicious attempt to get me into trouble, but my employer say it’s the process.

So, I have obviously denied the allegation, denied that the disc belonged to me in the first place.

Do I raise my suspicions and name this clown, even though I know I have no evidence and that this person would obviously deny any responsibility to being the culprit who sent the allegation etc.

I mean, even if it was true, surely it should more of a concern that someone has admitted to stealing someone else’s property, and would a thief also be shocked at watching porn too, these are just some of the things floating around my in my head, on how laughable and flawed this whole matter is, but as I said I am not really thinking straight and feel like inflicting as much damage to this clown I can.
Any advice welcome.

Regards


PS

I have used a new members login and not my own as I would rather conceal my identity at them moment.

Given the seriousness of this situation, I really think you need to see a solicitor.

[Lawrenzini]

Even if this were true there would be no grounds to take action against you. Someone stole something from your desk which later turned out to be porn. You are perfectly within your rights to have porn on your desk in dvd form, this would in no way violate any rules/laws. It is utterly stupid.

Edit: I missed the allegation about distribution, even so... the stealing of the disk and the distribution are two completly unlinked events. This is absloutly mad...

[Concerned Membe]

Yip - mental eh!

[Lawrenzini]

Are you in a union?

[Lawrenzini]

If they interview the staff then surely everyone will just say that they have never recieved any porn from you, there will be no evidence and this whole thing will be dropped. I even think you would acctually be within your rights to distribute porn to your workmates, so long as it was not happening in work time, and it was mutually conscential. Also if it was on dvd and wasn't using your work computers etc...

[Concerned Membe]

Lawrenzini, no, I am not in a union, and yhea I doubt it will go further as I havent distributed it.

Hi why I said talk to a solicitor is that you never know if this creep has done something else. I heard of a similar situation where a girl had a grudge against a guy and actually used his workstation to access porn while he was at lunch so that there was a 'paper trail' to back up her false allegations. You could also claim unfair treatment and distress (which you are obviously in) from your employer for suspending you over this matter.

[M-C-P-M]

What my concern would be mate is, if in fact there was porn on the DVD she took home, that although you did not create or distribute it, the person who did will now have a very convenient scape goat to blame!!!!
Go to a solicitor and or join a union! you should cover every base. Good luck

[sbowler]

Deny all knowledge of it, anyone could have put anything on your desk. If there is no link to you then there is no case and you will be cleared. Good luck.

[unique]

if they have suspended you on full pay, it sounds like they are at least taking reasonable steps to follow good practice. if they follow this, and you are innocent as you say, and the disc didn't come from you, then they won't have sufficient evidence fire you for gross misconduct. thats not to say they can't still make that decision and fire you for gross misconduct, but you would then have grounds to take them to a tribunal for unlawful dismissal. it would then be up to your employer to convince the tribunal they have taken reasonable steps in thier actions

as the letter is annonymous, they have less evidence of the matter as there are no witnesses of the specific case. whatever happens, you should press for them to investigate and take action against the person who has done this, including legal action if you can. depending on how they have treated the disc, it's probably unlikely they will get a fingerprint match (if the people at work investigating played back the disc they will add prints), or even attempt to go down that route, likewise fingerprinting the letter, which i presume is also typed rather than handwritten

if they follow this through appropriately, they will ask you questions which you will have to answer, you should also get a chance to add other comments. if you are completely guilt free, you should say this and tell them that it is up to them to proove your guilt, and if not you want a full apology in writing, and you want that communicated to all your collegues and line management. you should also advise who you think is behind the matter and ask to raise a formal complaint to be investigated in the same way as you have been, as that matter is far more serious than your case

even if you did leave a disc left on your desk, as long as the material is not illegal in this country, and doesnt break any copywrite laws (not that breaking copywrite should be a matter of gross misconduct in most workplaces), then i personally wouldn't normally consider that an offence serious enough to warrant gross misconduct. for someone to remove a personal item of yours without your permission may however be considered gross misconduct, as it's amost, if not, theft, even if the item was later returned. if the person who sent the letter and disc was later named and admitted to sending the disc, you could ask for action to be taken against them for theft of the disc in the event they believe the person who sent it in

a solicitor would be a good idea, however costly. you could try contacting both ACAS and citizens advise, and perhaps ask if you had to get a lawyer involved, can you get the costs recovered.

if there is a company union, and union representatives, even tho your not in the union, you can ask them for help. they can only say yes or no. they may offer to help you in return for you joining, or you may be given the option to join and they will take up your case

i'm pretty confident if you are innocent as you say, then a reasonable employer taking the appropriate steps shouldn't find you guilty without a shadow of a doubt and thus gross misconduct would be appropriate. if they are unsure, they could give you a formal warning, even if it's a final written warning, and you would still be employed. so it doesn't necessarily need to result in you being fired even if they did think you were guilty. you also have the right of appeal even if things go wrong, and ACAS should be able to help you

and i hope the discs you have been swapping about are both legit (not copies) and not pr0n in the slightest, otherwise you could also have difficulties there

[unique]

btw, this person you fell out with, what was the argument about that was so strong that you don't talk to them? where you friends previously (ie. good friends), or was it just someone that you normally wouldn't care less if you talked to them or not?

i mean, do you really think someone would do this to you after such a long period? someone would have to really hate you to do this. has there been another event more recently that may have upset that person enough to arise further upset in them to pursue the matter? ie. you get a rise/promotion and they don't?

if there is something like that going on, you can add that to your story

also, did they give you a letter to advise what is going on? did they tell you how long you are fomally suspended for, and when you are to come back for a formal hearing?

[lynx]

Being suspended is not part of the disciplinary process, it does however give the employer an opportunity to investigate the allegations and it can reflect positively on yourself as you won't be around to influence any part of the investigation.
If management decide they have evidence to support progression to a formal disciplinary
you are entitled to copies of evidence that management intend to use against you. To enable you to test the evidence you should insist on cross-examining any wittnesses/evidence...and your accuser.

As a point of interest...
In employment tribunal case UKEAT(0056/05),Brien T/A Merafield View Nursing Home v Crisp, the tribunal found the employer acted unfairly in dismissing the employee on the grounds of an anonymous complaint.

[Londondecca]

In the circumstances, suspension on full pay is not unreasonable although it might depend on the firms procedures on misuse of computers etc.

I do not know if it possible to identify which computer made the DVD or any other features such as time or dates, maybe a computer expert might be able to help.

As for solicitors, this can be useful if you find an expert in employment law, these are not so easy to find, there are plenty of lawyers who have some knowledge but tend to be useless in serious matters.

It is an offence to deliberately and misleading claim someone else has committed an offence, if the other person could be shown to have acted vindictively, this would constitute a disciplinary and depending on the circumstances it could be gross misconduct.

The place to start is always with the company handbook or policies/procedures - don't read them, study them. Do not assume the evidence will find you innocent, you will need to be much more proactive but do not panic either.

Study any relevant procedures such as the grievance, disciplinary and any computer related documents, this is all the employer can rely on unless the porn was of a sufficiently serious nature which would require the Police to be informed eg child porn.

[unique]

Originally Posted by Londondecca

In the circumstances, suspension on full pay is not unreasonable although it might depend on the firms procedures on misuse of computers etc.

I do not know if it possible to identify which computer made the DVD or any other features such as time or dates, maybe a computer expert might be able to help.

As for solicitors, this can be useful if you find an expert in employment law, these are not so easy to find, there are plenty of lawyers who have some knowledge but tend to be useless in serious matters.

It is an offence to deliberately and misleading claim someone else has committed an offence, if the other person could be shown to have acted vindictively, this would constitute a disciplinary and depending on the circumstances it could be gross misconduct.

The place to start is always with the company handbook or policies/procedures - don't read them, study them. Do not assume the evidence will find you innocent, you will need to be much more proactive but do not panic either.

Study any relevant procedures such as the grievance, disciplinary and any computer related documents, this is all the employer can rely on unless the porn was of a sufficiently serious nature which would require the Police to be informed eg child porn.

i dont think you can tell which computer a disc was burned from, but i would guess it was done at someones home rather than them risk getting caught copying pr0n at work. they might not even have dvd burners in the office

but even if you could, as with fingerprint tests, most employers won't go to those lengths, and in the eyes of ACAS i doubt think they would consider those having to be reasonable steps in the matter. (you cant expect employers doing fingerprinting and dna testing etc on employment issues, it's not like someone has comitted a serious crime)

your right about solicitors, it's easy to tell someone to do it, but why should the innocent pay the costs, particularly when someone is trying to play a trick on you. employment law specialists cant be cheap either

if your accuser becomes known (which i would doubt it) then you can press for charges to that person, even pending the outcome of disciplinary matters as it's technically a seperate issue, but i doubt they will, so as per the nursing home case i doubt they can find you completely guilty without a known accuser/witness