Suspended from Work

[Dan_1981]

I've fked up.

Received a gift from a supplier over xmas and forgot to declare it.

4 of us recived the same gift, three didn't declare it, one did.

So i've been suspended while they investigate.

My problem here is, one of the 4 who recived gift and didn't declare was my boss. I know (from the supplier) that he returned the gift on friday, the other two of us who didn't declare it were suspended yesterday.

The guy doing the investigation - is our boss.

I'm quite happy to admit i've made a mistake, i find it od however that i'm being investigated by a guy who has done exactly the same thing as i have.

I don't know if he knows that i know he received the gift and returned it.

Any advice?

Cheers

Dan

[AB]

What was the gift?

What area of work?

Seems a bit harsh to me but I don't work in an industry/company where these are the rules.

Best of luck.

[Dan_1981]

AB said:

What was the gift?

What area of work?

Seems a bit harsh to me but I don't work in an industry/company where these are the rules.

Best of luck.

Cash (boss got slightly more than the other three of us - not that it makes a difference i don't think)

logistics

Company policy is to declare gifts - however it isn't in the company handbook, and was emailed around before xmas that this was policy. I didn't recive this email directly, but had it forwarded on afterwords.

[guffhoover]

AB said:

What was the gift?

What area of work?

Seems a bit harsh to me but I don't work in an industry/company where these are the rules.

Best of luck.

I'm guessing customs and excise officer gifted a 40 kilos of cocaine.......................or an elephant.

[AB]

I think cash is one of those 'gifts' that needs to be handled carefully.

I think my company would want to know if a client/customer gave me cash as a gift, whereas the wine/whiskey was not of any concern.

I hope it goes well for you.

[AB]

JacksHereR said:

yeh ^

for your boss to have returned the gift to the supplier - he obviously felt it was inappropriate - ie not a bottle of scotch.

But at the same time it was pretty stty of your boss not to recommend the same course of action or at least warn you?

He sounds like a bit of an arse.

[Dan_1981]

The problem I have is he only returned it on friday, the gift was given to him a week before xmas.

It seems he has only returned it when the st has hit the fan so to speak.

[SunnyD]

That seems rather harsh that he returned it to save himself, then without giving you the opportunity to do the same he gets you into trouble for it. Wasn't exactly the decent thing to do on his part. Has he got something against you?

[Dan_1981]

SunnyD said:

That seems rather harsh that he returned it to save himself, then without giving you the opportunity to do the same he gets you into trouble for it. Wasn't exactly the decent thing to do on his part. Has he got something against you?

I've recently changed departments so no longer report directly into him.

other than that no major problems at all really.

[prand]

Bad luck for having a crappy ex-boss, who seems to have looked after himself and not given you an option to do the right thing - which seems to have been offered to him too. I would imagine he's not exactly in the clear either.

Now proceedings are underway, all I can see you can do is claim ignorance and apologise profusely - and refer back to your record of performance and good behaviour to show this is a one off and you are, apart from this mistake, a loyal servant to the company and are worth retaining.

I would find out if you can get advice from anyone like a staff association or union or a senior colleague to sit in on any hearings if you don't feel confident on dealing with this by yourself. Your current manager's ought to be able to help you too if you play it right, at least if you tell him the truth and what you know he can represent you at higher levels.

I must admit though, accepting a cash gift from a supplier is not the cleverest thing to do, as much as it seems a bit bizarre a third party would be offerring such a thing as a gift. I would be having serious words with the supplier for doing this and putting my staff in this position.

Edited by prand on Tuesday 12th January 12:28

[MoonMonkey]

We have an ethics policy here where certain things can be accepted like calenders etc without declaring but anything of reasonable monetary value like bottles of scotch need to be ok'd with the boss.... I think the fact you received cash is the main issue.

How much are we talking about here..??

[prand]

Interesting though that one of the managers potentially at fault is doing the investigating. Far fetched it migth be, but his investigation could cover up a systematic bit of bribery that was blown when the guy declared the gift. And unfortunately you might take the fall being at the bottom of the pile.

You don't work for the Police by any chance?

[Dan_1981]

It wasn't a bribe, the supplier is one we have used for a long long time, business has been very good for them this year and they are now at capacity so don't need any extra work from us.

It was nothing more than a thankyou.

the one who declared is safe - abided by company policy. however what is really getting to me is that our boss, a guy i know who took cash, and has taken other gifts in the past is the one doing our investigation!

[Dan_1981]

MoonMonkey said:

We have an ethics policy here where certain things can be accepted like calenders etc without declaring but anything of reasonable monetary value like bottles of scotch need to be ok'd with the boss.... I think the fact you received cash is the main issue.

How much are we talking about here..??

300 quid to each of the lowly ones and 500 quid to the boss.

[prand]

Dan_1981 said:

MoonMonkey said:

We have an ethics policy here where certain things can be accepted like calenders etc without declaring but anything of reasonable monetary value like bottles of scotch need to be ok'd with the boss.... I think the fact you received cash is the main issue.

How much are we talking about here..??

300 quid to each of the lowly ones and 500 quid to the boss.

I would say that is a suspiciously large amount of money - and this is quite a bit more than just a thankyou.

If this copany can afford to throw this sort of money about to even "lowly ones", then I would be pulling them in and asking for even bigger discounts on goods and services.

Edited by prand on Tuesday 12th January 12:42

[Dan_1981]

prand said:

Dan_1981 said:

MoonMonkey said:

We have an ethics policy here where certain things can be accepted like calenders etc without declaring but anything of reasonable monetary value like bottles of scotch need to be ok'd with the boss.... I think the fact you received cash is the main issue.

How much are we talking about here..??

300 quid to each of the lowly ones and 500 quid to the boss.

I would say that is a suspiciously large amount of money.

Not compared to our weekly spend with them.

[birdcage]

£100 notes to take other half out for a meal would be okay in a card (still weird but doable) Anything else does seem like a George Galloway style payment..

And any excuse to post.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrdFFCnYtbk&fea...

[mybrainhurts]

Dan_1981 said:

I've fked up.

Received a gift from a supplier over xmas and forgot to declare it.

Are you a police officer...?

[Dan_1981]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

I don't disagree. As i said in my first post. I've fked up.

I just don't like the way things are being handled.

[prand]

Dan_1981 said:

prand said:

Dan_1981 said:

MoonMonkey said:

We have an ethics policy here where certain things can be accepted like calenders etc without declaring but anything of reasonable monetary value like bottles of scotch need to be ok'd with the boss.... I think the fact you received cash is the main issue.

How much are we talking about here..??

300 quid to each of the lowly ones and 500 quid to the boss.

I would say that is a suspiciously large amount of money.

Not compared to our weekly spend with them.

Well if you think you deserve a wodge of cash for something your company spends, then you do deserve to get done over for taking the money!

Pure cash has a nasty smell about it, and this is exactly why there are policies for it. A £3-500 payment is more than a lot of people get paid in an annual company bonus (if they get anything at all), and I can't see what you have been given is a bribe to keep you sweet and ensure you give them preferential treatment over others.

As I said before, I would get your story straight and speak to your current manager and also look for potential representation at hearings etc. It sounds like you are likely to dig yourself a bigger hole if you don't.

Edited by prand on Tuesday 12th January 12:49