I wrote my secretary up for excessive tardiness (witnessed and well documented) after having had several discussions with her (documented). It was a letter that stated my expectations. Three days later, she turned in reconciliations for her cell phone bill (4 months of reconciliations past due). None of her reconciliations had any supporting detail about the phone use, just the amount paid. I asked her for more detail. Later she told me she was glad I asked for more detail because she had gone over her minutes and incurred $118.00 beyond her plan and that she would write a check to the company. I looked at her previous reconciliations and they all had much more supporting detail. I called her in to ask her about it (witnessed) which ended with her being angry.
The next day, I got a call from the company labor lawyer who told me that my secretary had claimed harassment and that she was being flown out of town to be interviewed. The next work day I was called to fly out to be interviewed as well. During the interview, very few of the questions were about the employees work habits and were about the relationship between us. I was asked very personal questions about the nature of our relationship historically. I admitted that there was a period of time (late last year, possibly the beginning of this year that we were very close friends and that there had been hugging and talking behind closed doors at work and some phone calls on the weekends.
All of the questions were about the relationship during this period of time. Very few questions about the employees work or ethics. I get the feeling that she claimed that we were more physical at work and stated the relationship was more romantic than it was. I was asked about kissing etc. which did not occur. I am confident that when interviewed my subordinates will all indicate that nothing was going on as they come to my office regularly and I've never answered with anything but "come in".
Another aspect is that my secretary was the secretary of my boss's boss several years ago and they are friends.
The matter is still being investigated. So far they've let us work back together. On the one day that we've worked back together, the secretary turned in an inaccurate time sheet (she's a salaried non-exempt employee) for the time period that she was disciplined for. I took the time sheet and she said "aren't you going to sign it?" I said I would review it and called the lawyer. I pointed out the inaccuracies and stated this was the time period that had been referenced in the discipline letter and that she had not noted 3 of the 4 tardies during that period. The lawyer instructed me to go ahead and sign it and to note what had occurred. The next day the lawyer called me and said that my secretary would not be in that day.
What are my rights? Should I get legal advice at this point?
The next day, I got a call from the company labor lawyer who told me that my secretary had claimed harassment and that she was being flown out of town to be interviewed. The next work day I was called to fly out to be interviewed as well. During the interview, very few of the questions were about the employees work habits and were about the relationship between us. I was asked very personal questions about the nature of our relationship historically. I admitted that there was a period of time (late last year, possibly the beginning of this year that we were very close friends and that there had been hugging and talking behind closed doors at work and some phone calls on the weekends.
All of the questions were about the relationship during this period of time. Very few questions about the employees work or ethics. I get the feeling that she claimed that we were more physical at work and stated the relationship was more romantic than it was. I was asked about kissing etc. which did not occur. I am confident that when interviewed my subordinates will all indicate that nothing was going on as they come to my office regularly and I've never answered with anything but "come in".
Another aspect is that my secretary was the secretary of my boss's boss several years ago and they are friends.
The matter is still being investigated. So far they've let us work back together. On the one day that we've worked back together, the secretary turned in an inaccurate time sheet (she's a salaried non-exempt employee) for the time period that she was disciplined for. I took the time sheet and she said "aren't you going to sign it?" I said I would review it and called the lawyer. I pointed out the inaccuracies and stated this was the time period that had been referenced in the discipline letter and that she had not noted 3 of the 4 tardies during that period. The lawyer instructed me to go ahead and sign it and to note what had occurred. The next day the lawyer called me and said that my secretary would not be in that day.
What are my rights? Should I get legal advice at this point?
