Would this be considered potential constructive dismissal?

[kissenger]

I'm dealing with a situation at work and I'd really appreciate some advice, because it's new to me and I don't know if I'm in the right or wrong. Without giving away too many specific details, here's the situation:

I work for a university. I recently gave a talk at a conference on an aspect of my job. There was something in that talk that my boss subsequently took to be a criticism of her personally (I was basically giving examples of good and bad practice, and one of the examples of bad practice turned out to be something she had personally worked on, unbeknownst to me at the time). It gets worse though... The person chairing the panel I was on was my boss' boss, and, because of Covid, this was a video conference broadcast online all over the world (not that many people watched, but anybody potentially could have watched)!

A couple of hours after the event I get a really passive aggressive email from her asking me to do something relating to my job and this conference presentation. Red flag number one. Then a day or two later I get another email asking me about my ethics application for this project (everything you do needs ethical clearance these days). Red flag number two. Evidently she had taken it on herself to look into the ethics application (which had been approved about a year beforehand) and, to cut a long story short, after several emails back and forth she did find a minor issue with the application that she's now using to get me to stop working on this project. Red flag number three, which is what got me to write this post, is that she's now using this issue to get me to ask her boss (the guy who chaired the panel I was on) to take down the recording of my talk (it was taken down ages ago anyway, but I don't think she knows that), even going to the length of telling me in an email what to tell this guy, of course none of it mentioning her!

On top of that, ever since, she's acted completely differently towards me, not just in meetings and stuff, but dumping loads of extra work on me and refusing to change when I'm scheduled to be in the office, which she always did in the past, and still does for other members of staff.

Anyway, what do you guys think I should do in this situation? I'm leaning towards just doing what she says for now and moving on in the summer, because if this escalates there's a good chance I won't be able to get a reference off her at all, and I might end up stuck here. Although I could make her life difficult if I told her boss everything that's gone on.

 

[kissenger]

You've screwed up by criticising your current employer and your manager. Rule #1 is to never talk about failures at your current employment; you could be deemed to have brought the organisation into disrepute. Talk to her, but start looking for another job.

I get what you're saying, but bear in mind I was aware that my boss' boss would be there, so I made it very clear that the thing I was criticising wasn't specific to my uni, but to the whole sector. My boss' boss didn't seem to have a problem with the presentation. He even emailed me a few days later with a compliment!

If the problem was that I'd disparaged my employer I think she would have went up the chain, but she's not done that. It seems like she's sort of doing the opposite, because she wants me to stop working on this, but she doesn't want me to talk to her boss about why, or let on that she's unhappy.

 

[kissenger]

Go above her head, and plan to move. She is never going to drop it and your card is marked like or not. The only out is your leaving or her boss.

Why go above her head first though? Isn't it better to just play nice and hope she'll still give me a reference (she'll probably just be happy to see me gone at this point). If I go above her head she will have two reasons to be ****** off with me.

 

[kissenger]

Can you easily get employed at a better position?
If so, go for it now.
Else follow the proper advice and hit up HR or her boss depending on how the organisation works.

I wouldn't quite say 'easily', because jobs in my field are very specialised and therefore somewhat rare, but I most likely will be able to find another one on the same or better pay this summer. In fact I was offered a job about 6 months ago at a higher grade than I'm on now, at a better uni, which I ended up turning down for personal reasons.

My worry with going to HR is that makes it very 'official', and she's been with the organisation a lot longer than me, so they might take her side unless it's 100% clear cut that she's in the wrong. I was thinking of trying to handle it by letting her boss know 'accidentally on purpose' (maybe bringing it up in a meeting about something else).

 

[kissenger]

ivry - clue: unbeknownst

Has any discussion between you and your boss taken place about the presentation?

Have you asked for an opinion? If your boss is watching you present something and you knew they were watching - they will be inclined to provide feedback, I would guess during your next review.

If the review discussion turns to the presentation, explain your example and rationale for slating, why it was bad practice... Carefully rationalise why you honed in on as an example - might win them over. Will be awkward though as you might come across as a know-it-all, factors such as extenuating circumstances, were not aware of the full picture could have resulted in the less perfect practice etc. If its a case of genuine bad practice, well, there are normally formal escalation / reporting routes...

No. The snarky email I got immediately after made me want to just avoid the issue, hoping it would blow over. Then at our first one-to-one later she didn’t seem interested. She wanted to talk about the ethics issue. In hindsight though I probably should have forced the issue.

I do find that really strange though, that she would reopen an old ethics application that she had nothing to do with initially, where there was no pretext for doing it, and where the outcome was to shut down this project she didn’t approve of. She did eventually find an issue with the ethics application, but why would you investigate in the first place unless you wanted to find something?

 

[kissenger]

How bad (or not) was the negative comment!?

It sounds really stupid to be so offended by something if indeed it's an industry wide issue. I work in construction and every now and again I attend presentations on continuous improvemtn and the only way to improve the industry is to put your hands up and admit when things are being done improperly, so that everyone can learn from it. Admittedly, the presenters never name the company or persons, but only the issue at hand.

It wasn’t that bad. I explicitly said, “here’s and example from my department, but this is by no means atypical. Virtually every university does it the same way.” And I was very complimentary of my workplace in other respects.

The thing is, I can see how if you had written the exact document you would be annoyed at it being used as a bad example. Not to this extent where you would launch a vendetta (it’s not like her name was on it, and I know she based it on guidance she’d got elsewhere anyway), but still.

 

[kissenger]

I’ve been thinking about this a lot, and all the advice you guys have gave. It seems like my options are:

1. Say nothing and seek a move ASAP.
2. Meet with my boss 1-to-1 and try to smooth it over. I can still look to move in the summer.
3. Go straight to my boss’ boss. This might **** her off, but he might be willing to help.
4. Go straight to HR.

The more I think about it, the more I’m favouring option 3 or 4. Someone who’s going to the lengths she is isn’t going to suddenly start being rational and nice again. Like several people have said, my card is marked.

The question is, do I trust her boss to do the right thing, or is it better to go straight to HR?

One other complication is that I should learn the outcome of a promotion application within the next few weeks. I’ve been told I’ve got a good chance, so maybe I wait until then? Fortunately my boss is on annual leave for the next couple of weeks anyway.

Edit: I do have a ready made excuse to talk to her boss, so if it’s better to keep it informal I could bring it up in a meeting with him about something else.

 

[kissenger]

Don't have any conversations without having someone from HR present

Any conversations with her, or with anyone (including her boss)?

I was hoping to talk to her boss before HR, but if that’s not advisable, I won’t.

 

[kissenger]

Is it not a good idea to speak to her boss first? What do I lose by doing that before going to HR?

The more I think about it, the more I think he will support me, not because he’s my friend but because she’s doing reprisals against me for something her organised and was in charge of. That potentially makes him look very bad if he doesn’t address the situation the right way.

 

[kissenger]

edit: I read your opening post again - could you have made the examples you gave not mention the specific organisation that they took place in? Since the talk was broadcast to the world you could have been seen to critisise the place you work for and other universitys...

edit 2 - get external impartial advice from someone who knows what they are talking about. Don't make a decision based on what some randoms in a forum are saying...

edit 3 - the more i read you opening post the more i think you've made a mess for yourself. Maybe your boss is trying to save you from yourself, maybe your boss has been told by their boss to take you off the project.

It’s possible, but doesn’t feel like it. If my boss was acting on behalf of her boss then why would she try to get me to email him to take the recording down, and without mentioning her name? Why would he have complemented me after the fact? And why the need for the other reprisals from her?

In the presentation, I didn’t mention my employer, I just said, “this is an example from my department, but it’s the same at virtually every university.” I suppose I could have used an example from another university, but that would have seemed like I’m denigrating “the competition,” which can be a bad look as well.

Who would be good to speak to in this scenario? A lawyer? My uni offers a free legal advice service but I suspect they’re not that impartial.