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Dear all,
I'm a hard working individual who has been working for the same company for almost 11years. During which time even thought it has been stressful and at times almost unbearable it has never reach the levels of the past five months.
The company I work for is a French company and the file I work in is luxury retail. I've worked in different countries but my contract is uk based. Since the hiring of a new European Retail Manager my life has became hell. Instead of helping she has only harassed me as well as my previous line manager (who since has left due to this and who would have taken this matter further but was employed within the company for less than a year and there for was unable to do so). In the begging she tried to use me by asking me if I thought I was learning anything by my general manager....I found her line questioning at the time completely out of order as I understood that her plan was to get rid of him(for whatever reason...perhaps she just didn't like him, perhaps she felt threathen as he was more qualify and experienced than her ....perhaps because she was and still is on her first contract and has been working for us for only 5months and is trying to get rid of people to replace them with people she trust as to ensure her position as she is not capable or knowledgeable enough for the role...who knows may be because of all of the above) the fact remain that I initially was in the cross fire and once he left I was put in even worst position as my has quadruple due to her negligence. She is micromanaging me in such way that she has:
1-hired staff without involving or informing me at all or my previous manager, team members knew ahead of me because the hire people were working within the same store as a result I was asked by the team about the new recruits and as I was not involved and not made aware of such hiring I would say that we did not hire anyone to my knowledge (made me look like a total idiot in front of the team that I'm supposed to manage) the hired people would show up without any notice to collect uniform from me while I was not informed of in advance which I think is unprofessional once more and it shows disorganisation and lack of communication within the company to a new employee(not a good start) and made me look as a fool(their direct line manager)
I still managed to make the most of a bad situation and I'm proud to say I do have regardless of her several attempts to maintain and build my team respect and we are extremely successful in overachieving company goals
2-left me to take complete charge physically over not only my department but also the stock as well as the men department without giving me any authority or the right tools to do so (man power, space) she would tell people that I'm there to support but would than minimise my management role by telling all to report directly to her by having meeting with people without my knowledge agreeing to things that went directly against our company standards, making everyone a manager (supervisors and the administrator) but leaving me obviously to do the actual job
3-she has breached hr rule and over paid people by authorising holidays (of course without consulting me) which resulted in over payment and in the person walking away without finishing their shift. Is our policy not to give holidays during the notice period as we pay monthly from the first to the last day of the month on the 25th each month meaning that if someone was to walk away after getting pay the company can withhold any hours or days due from their holiday payments which take place the following month (I know not exactly the perfect system) this left extremely short staff considering the sickness level in the men's department which before she went on holiday I did point out was at worrying levels
4- sickness level in the men's department have been an ongoing issue which I reported to initially to my line manager and later to her especially after he left and especially before she went on holiday. She went on to inform me that the issue has been address and that I should not be concern because there was a supervisor, an administrator and our company trainer that will be handling the situation and that I was there only to support....well when the situation arised as I predicted nobody cared and left while I stayed even thought I was there from earlier than all of them and ended up working 14 hours with only a one hour lunch(no other breaks) as a result I was forced to plan action for the following days and tried to reach her via phone over 10 times that evening I called the uk retail manager (also on holiday) had her phone switched off as they have prevented me to make decision due to her micromanagement I did not have the authority to call agency staff without their permission ( ridiculous since the tipe of line of business we are in...and is not as if I ever abused it before) since they both were unavelible and earlier I did call our hr (who by the way usually can never be found, I do mean ever) and forwarded to her the rota with the sicknesses updated (she can't authorise agency staff either) as to get the ball started since I was not able to contact them I called her superior and explained the situation I apologise in advance for disturbing her (she told me to stop apologising as this was her job and that she gets paid to do it and that she doesn't do anything for free)
as a result of all this no need to say I've been suffering for panic attacks like crazy, weight loss plus I have been doing unpaid overtime since February as I have been told to take time back (if only it was true or possible. This is only the tip of the iceberg....because sice I called her superior the following day I was verbally abused by her over the phone as she proceeded to call me unprofessional, not a strong or capable manager, stupid, evil and mean for contacting her manager as obviously she is scared should any of her behaviour be reported to her (I told her that all I asked was the authorisation to call in agency staff should the situation continue (she came down but proceeded in telling me that she did not trust me and that I will never have a grow of career in the company) I went to our head office and spoke the hr manager prior to this and explained everything (I do mean everything to her) she accused me of having a nervous break down...she asked why did I not tell her earlier of this totally unacceptable behaviour I replayed that since is a superior not even my direct superior but an even higher superior I did not think it was my place to report it until now( in reality it is more because she can never be found and in all the 7 years I have known her it has always proven difficult to get hold of her fact that everyone within the company knows) she than proceeded in telling she is always there(lies) and that she was with a lawyer at present and still answer the call(why....because her boss called her and told her to...why...you have guessed right because of my call the previous day) she than slagged off both of the managers in question and asked me to make notes and come to a meeting on Monday where all the 3 of them will surely abuse me further.
i can not take it anymore, I'm exasusted and I almost passed out several times, I lost what little private life I had(due to the hours) and I'm now suffering from what I think is ansaiety and depression (besides from the panic attacks). I'm constantly crying and unable to sleep and my judgement is becoming less clear as I feel worthless and even thought as I Christian I can not commit suicide I have been prying for my death to come soon as I can't cope any longer.
I do not know what to do? Do I have grounds to take legal action? I'm scared and I'm completely alone in this. Please help
I'm a hard working individual who has been working for the same company for almost 11years. During which time even thought it has been stressful and at times almost unbearable it has never reach the levels of the past five months.
The company I work for is a French company and the file I work in is luxury retail. I've worked in different countries but my contract is uk based. Since the hiring of a new European Retail Manager my life has became hell. Instead of helping she has only harassed me as well as my previous line manager (who since has left due to this and who would have taken this matter further but was employed within the company for less than a year and there for was unable to do so). In the begging she tried to use me by asking me if I thought I was learning anything by my general manager....I found her line questioning at the time completely out of order as I understood that her plan was to get rid of him(for whatever reason...perhaps she just didn't like him, perhaps she felt threathen as he was more qualify and experienced than her ....perhaps because she was and still is on her first contract and has been working for us for only 5months and is trying to get rid of people to replace them with people she trust as to ensure her position as she is not capable or knowledgeable enough for the role...who knows may be because of all of the above) the fact remain that I initially was in the cross fire and once he left I was put in even worst position as my has quadruple due to her negligence. She is micromanaging me in such way that she has:
1-hired staff without involving or informing me at all or my previous manager, team members knew ahead of me because the hire people were working within the same store as a result I was asked by the team about the new recruits and as I was not involved and not made aware of such hiring I would say that we did not hire anyone to my knowledge (made me look like a total idiot in front of the team that I'm supposed to manage) the hired people would show up without any notice to collect uniform from me while I was not informed of in advance which I think is unprofessional once more and it shows disorganisation and lack of communication within the company to a new employee(not a good start) and made me look as a fool(their direct line manager)
I still managed to make the most of a bad situation and I'm proud to say I do have regardless of her several attempts to maintain and build my team respect and we are extremely successful in overachieving company goals
2-left me to take complete charge physically over not only my department but also the stock as well as the men department without giving me any authority or the right tools to do so (man power, space) she would tell people that I'm there to support but would than minimise my management role by telling all to report directly to her by having meeting with people without my knowledge agreeing to things that went directly against our company standards, making everyone a manager (supervisors and the administrator) but leaving me obviously to do the actual job
3-she has breached hr rule and over paid people by authorising holidays (of course without consulting me) which resulted in over payment and in the person walking away without finishing their shift. Is our policy not to give holidays during the notice period as we pay monthly from the first to the last day of the month on the 25th each month meaning that if someone was to walk away after getting pay the company can withhold any hours or days due from their holiday payments which take place the following month (I know not exactly the perfect system) this left extremely short staff considering the sickness level in the men's department which before she went on holiday I did point out was at worrying levels
4- sickness level in the men's department have been an ongoing issue which I reported to initially to my line manager and later to her especially after he left and especially before she went on holiday. She went on to inform me that the issue has been address and that I should not be concern because there was a supervisor, an administrator and our company trainer that will be handling the situation and that I was there only to support....well when the situation arised as I predicted nobody cared and left while I stayed even thought I was there from earlier than all of them and ended up working 14 hours with only a one hour lunch(no other breaks) as a result I was forced to plan action for the following days and tried to reach her via phone over 10 times that evening I called the uk retail manager (also on holiday) had her phone switched off as they have prevented me to make decision due to her micromanagement I did not have the authority to call agency staff without their permission ( ridiculous since the tipe of line of business we are in...and is not as if I ever abused it before) since they both were unavelible and earlier I did call our hr (who by the way usually can never be found, I do mean ever) and forwarded to her the rota with the sicknesses updated (she can't authorise agency staff either) as to get the ball started since I was not able to contact them I called her superior and explained the situation I apologise in advance for disturbing her (she told me to stop apologising as this was her job and that she gets paid to do it and that she doesn't do anything for free)
as a result of all this no need to say I've been suffering for panic attacks like crazy, weight loss plus I have been doing unpaid overtime since February as I have been told to take time back (if only it was true or possible. This is only the tip of the iceberg....because sice I called her superior the following day I was verbally abused by her over the phone as she proceeded to call me unprofessional, not a strong or capable manager, stupid, evil and mean for contacting her manager as obviously she is scared should any of her behaviour be reported to her (I told her that all I asked was the authorisation to call in agency staff should the situation continue (she came down but proceeded in telling me that she did not trust me and that I will never have a grow of career in the company) I went to our head office and spoke the hr manager prior to this and explained everything (I do mean everything to her) she accused me of having a nervous break down...she asked why did I not tell her earlier of this totally unacceptable behaviour I replayed that since is a superior not even my direct superior but an even higher superior I did not think it was my place to report it until now( in reality it is more because she can never be found and in all the 7 years I have known her it has always proven difficult to get hold of her fact that everyone within the company knows) she than proceeded in telling she is always there(lies) and that she was with a lawyer at present and still answer the call(why....because her boss called her and told her to...why...you have guessed right because of my call the previous day) she than slagged off both of the managers in question and asked me to make notes and come to a meeting on Monday where all the 3 of them will surely abuse me further.
i can not take it anymore, I'm exasusted and I almost passed out several times, I lost what little private life I had(due to the hours) and I'm now suffering from what I think is ansaiety and depression (besides from the panic attacks). I'm constantly crying and unable to sleep and my judgement is becoming less clear as I feel worthless and even thought as I Christian I can not commit suicide I have been prying for my death to come soon as I can't cope any longer.
I do not know what to do? Do I have grounds to take legal action? I'm scared and I'm completely alone in this. Please help
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