Good for you...at least you know it's on him now and off of you. He can't deny what's going on, and if he chooses to, and work doesn't get done, he will be the one to get in trouble.

Sending hugs to you for making the right decisions. Be firm, smile and do the best you can. Been there and done that. Just document and remember screaming is not good. Crying is good......LOL
Marie

By any chance --

Can you see her desk from yours? If so, is there a clock easily visible, too? Do you have a cell phone with a camera? Perhaps you could take photos of her coming in after a long lunch wearing her golf clothes, etc. Any additional documentation can only help your cause.

I wish you the best of luck. I know all too well what it's like to work with someone who is a master at making it appear that she's working when she's not.

(((Susan)))

I don't know if I can make that work, but I will definitely be looking for ways to "bust" her, and will keep that record at home. I saw that someone went through part of my desk area while I was on vacation that nobody should have needed to go through. I really don't care if someone is goofing off if their laziness doesn't impact on me. I've got stuff to do, and I don't want to be slowed down by this crap.

i think youve done the right thing. it does not make you a rat, theres no reason why you should do the work and she gets the credit, and it sounds as though this has been going on for a while. i know how it works with "difficult" and im being nice co workers. you needed to get it all out and you did. please dont feel bad about it. hugs to you.

Document, document document!
Her slovenliness is effecting more people than just her. It's a shame your supervisor doesn't have any backbone.

You work for a government office, I know you have to follow protocol first by talking to your supervisor but I would be letting someone "higher up" know what is going on through correspondence. Send them all the documentation of what this employee has been up to. Aren't whistleblowers protected these days?

Anne

If she told me that it still wasn't working I'd go catch the guy and bring him back. Tell her to prove it to him that it's working!

I hope you can come to terms with this. I won't repeat everything from before but again, telling the truth isn't ratting someone out, snitching or anything like that. You're a witness to a crime IMO. If a witness to a kidnapping or murder didn't want to snitch... I think you're confusing the snitch part with a possibility of being petty and I do NOT think you're being petty at all. You have a serious complaint on a serious and important issue. But someone has to speak up or nothing will be done and clearly the coworkers aren't going to speak up.

I'm glad you're telling him more. I'm very glad you sent the email about it. I'm also glad you're getting some things off your chest. But.... I totally disagree that it's somehow on him and off you. Uh, no, not even close! And you didn't ask but nevertheless my opinion is you made a big mistake (those easily corrected) by refusing to meet. Think of the position in which you put your boss. He has two employees who clearly don't get along. Never a good situation but not uncommon. He's tried to meet to air grievances and work it out. One party, and let's be frank here, the party who is, albeit legitimately complaining is refusing to meet to attempt to work it out. How hard do you expect him to work to resolve this now? I think he's far more likely to feel there's nothing mor he can do and he'll just let it go and people either fight it out, learn to work together, one or both quit, or something happens to warrant a termination.

I can see this is weighing heavier on you just from your tone change from last time to this time. Maybe as you suggest you might have been a bit short with him but I don't think you said anything really inappropriate. I will say that I probably would not have responded either if someone who was upset said you must know... Remember, he's not a mind reader. You might think it's obvious but if he's not there to see it and frankly, so far he's gotten one side and people in his position often go there must be another side to the story. Actually, if it were me who was the supervisor, the meeting would be held right before leaving work on a chosen day, probably a Friday assuming you have weekends off, and attendance would not be optional. I think he made a mistake too. But there's more and more mistakes being made and they're adding up to the job not being done as it's supposed to be done.

I would urge you to reconsider meeting. I think you should prepare for it, have notes of highlights of things that are causing trouble and the calendar incident should be included. Lay out what you need to do your job, essentially I think all you're asking for is for her to do her job! That's not unreasonable. But it's like not wanting to pull the bandage off a scab because it's not comfortable. Sometimes you need to grab hold and rip it off. Maybe there'll be a little blood or maybe it'll heal when exposed to air. I suspect that if something isn't done, this situation will smolder until someone throws some gas on the fire and an explosion takes place. And certainly, she doesn't want things to change. It just hit me that perhaps she feels she has you intimidated into covering for her so she can do what she wants. It certainly has gone from giving an inch to taking a mile as the old saying goes.

Well, I'm out of cliches. Good luck. Hope things work out. And try to relax a bit. No sense getting sick over it.

I disagree with the above poster about the three of you meeting.It is not a matter of the two of you not getting along.It is not a disagreement between the two of you. It is not a personality conflict. It is a matter of one person NOT doing their job.When they don't do their job, you can't do yours. He is missing the point.

He is the boss not you. It is not your responsibility to make her do her job, it is his. You have said your piece
and now it is on him. That's why he's the boss.

You have made him aware of the situation and now it is his responsibility to investigate and rectify the situation. The three of you meeting will accomplish nothing but hard feelings. This isn't about you and your co-worker, it is about someone not doing their job. He can very well do some investigation and find out for himself what she is doing without making this into a conflict between you and her.
As an employer myself, I would never put one of my employees in a position to look like the bad guy when they are just trying to do their job.

I think you handled your conversation with him very well and by refusing to meet with her you made it clear that you wouldn't get caught up in office melodrama.

He can choose to take action or not but make sure you document your conversation with him so it can't be said that you didn't bring it to his attention.

Good for you.

While I'm not a proponent of 'big brother' - but couldn't someone just monitor her computer useage & figure out that she's not doing her work?

He knows that she is not doing her work, and has known for over a year... I know that for a fact, because in our regular "one on one" meetings, he continually brings up the part of it that relates to me, and I continually explain to him what the problem is. Then he changes the subject. He also has access to her calendar, and can look up cases to prove that she is only putting people's name's in there but not actually seeing the people (he can cross reference with the notes we are expected to add after appointments). There are a couple of ways he can verify her leaving the office for personal things.

If I agree to meet with him and her, on top of it looking like a "relationship problem" instead of a problem with her not doing her work, she will become very aggressive with me- very aggressive. She actually got someone fired once... and a friend of mine who was close to the situation said that the accusations against the dismissed employee were bogus. She's very clever.

He hates confrontation, and he is very fond of her. So we shall see what he will do now. I suspect he is discussing it with the manager.

She and I are getting along on a day to day basis, because I'm not showing my frustration to her. I am telling her some things she doesn't want to hear, but I'm keeping it professional. The things I tell her that she doesn't want to hear, are usually in response to comments she makes, like when she says she likes the "perks" of being in a satellite office, and describes the "perks" as being able to come and go as "we" please. I just tell her things like "don't say 'we', because I don't do that". And I was very direct with her about getting her calendar fixed. They're on their way to fixing it, and she is annoyed with me about it, but can't exactly complain about it.

Susan,

real simple, the supervisor should stand by co-worker's desk and say "show me you can get into your calendar"

There's another issue here that everyone seems to be missing. Your supervisor is not doing his job either. You say he knows about her behavior -- obviously he is more than aware of her most recent bald-faced lie. Unfortunately, your options are very limited here. He isn't going to do anything -- he's already proved that.

I'm sorry to say there are only a couple of things you can do if you want this situation to end -- first, resign (sorry, but that's the bottom line as I see it); OR go over your supervisor's head. Someone has to show some responsibility.

You are not a snitch, you are being a responsible employee and you should not be expected to put up with other people not doing what they are paid to do.

I've been a supervisor and a manager at large corporations, and have had to deal with all sorts of problems. I agree, this is not a personality conflict, no matter how much your supervisor wants to pretend that's what it is.

Just MHO, for what it's worth.

You and I - not pros
Her - a pro

She's a pro at what she does and ain't nothing gonna change the way it is now. New boss/management is the only thing that's going to make a difference. But bravo for you for not taking it laying down.

As I was reading this thread, I thought to myself, "it sounds like they're having an affair." But not knowing the whole story, I wasn't sure if that had already been discussed. Then you posted "he is very fond of her."

To me, that explains why he's reluctant to confront her and/or reprimand her. And why she knows she can get away with not doing her job.

If they are having an affair, there's nothing you can do except let it run its course.

Even if they're not, it seems like you'll have to go over his head to get any of the work issues resolved. Don't just "suspect he is discussing it with the manager," do it yourself.

I would like to add only this. Don't lower yourself to creating "evidence" on this co-worker. You have made your supervisor aware of the problem. Now it's up to him to rectify it, or not.

I agree that you should make note of your conversations with your supervisor so that if things come up as to why/if you're not keeping up with your end of the job, you can explain (again) the reason, as well as to say that you've already explained this before to your supervisor and the dates that you've met with him about it.

To me, it sounds pretty clear that he's fine with whatever is going on as long as the work is getting done. You're doing the work.. so if he has a problem with confrontation, I just don't see it changing.

One last thing - you said that you are "getting credit" on the cases, right? So the harder you work, the more credit you get. The less that your co-worker works, the less credit she gets. Perhaps, even if it is frustrating, you could consider this portion of the situation a blessing in disguise. When it comes time for a raise, you really have some ammunition to justify why you'd like a good sized raise? Just trying to find the potential positive in this situation.

Good luck with this; it sounds like a real hair-pulling situation. KUDOS to you for maintaining your professionalism.

Yesterday I emailed the manager of tech support, told them about the problem, how long it's been going on and I cc'd the supervisor.

I would email the manager of tech support and CC the supervisor daily explaining that the calender is not fixed and what problems it is causing you, and ask when they expect to have things fixed.

If it does not get resolved, I would definitely, go over someone's head to get it fixed, and probably to make it known how the co-worker is stealing from the Co. If she is accepting payment for hours worked, or work performed, and she is not working those hours, that is out and out stealing.

I think a lot of the existing problems with the economy can be blamed on employees being paid for hours that were not worked, driving up costs of manufacturing, thus driving it out of the country. I firmly believe 8 hours wage for 8 hours of work performed...no more, no less. Employees that show up late, leave early, and take extended breaks should all be scrutinized and quite possibly let go.

I'm sure we all know of workers who accept pay for work not performed.

My first thought was who's girlfriend/sister/cousin is she?
They sure all sound like they are dancing around her lack of work issues.
If I was her supervisor, she would be given 30 days to clean up her act or find another job.

Trin

I'm sorry to sound harsh but I'm thinking maybe you've been in the thick of it too long to realize you're putting up with a ton of crapola. Obviously the supervisor is not only going to do nothing, but is a large part of the problem. I would definitely go to the next position over his head, however difficult that may be. It is RIDICULOUS that this has gone on so long and that you are being forced to take on her work as well as your own. Have the three of you sit down together???? Why? So they can try to convince you that the problem is yours and to keep quiet? I do hope you can do something about this, as it's completely unfair to you. Can you ask for anonymity when you speak to a higher-up? Much good luck and strength!

Well, there is an update today. I was on vacation last week, and the person assigned to cover is supposed to issue requested funds. A client called me today and told me that she called last Tuesday, and this coworker told her to wait until this week and call ME. To make matters worse, this client is one of the few I still have under HER program, so even if I was there she was supposed to do it.

So I brought this, as an example, to the supervisor. I told him there were several instances of this sort of thing but that this was the best example. He agreed that she should have done it. Even though he is usually very closed mouthed, he acknowledged that she says she does work that she does not. But the kicker is, that he made a suggestion. He suggested that we have a team meeting about coverage, and then I should SUGGEST that the person covering should issue funds instead of directing clients to wait for the worker who is off. I said "What? Why would I SUGGEST that? That's the rule, and has always BEEN the rule". He said "I know, but then it will show her what the perimeters of her job are". I said "She knows what the perimeters of her job are. At yesterday's staff meeting you mentioned that she is responsible to issue funds under her program, and you heard her say 'I know, I do that', when she clearly does NOT do that". Then he said that maybe I can find a way to ask her to issue funds for the clients she is supposed to issue for, and I told him that I have done that, and I don't feel it is my place to do more than I've done. I told him I wouldn't have gone to him if it hadn't been a chronic problem that I've tried to solve myself. Then he changed the subject and asked me to refer more clients to her (I think he is getting pressure from higher up over that), and I said that until the problem is solved, and she is actually doing the job for the clients that already have been referred, I don't want to refer more to her because then it looks like the work that I'm doing is being done by her. There's no option not to do it, because you can't let low income people suffer like that. I guess I may have to go above his head, but I dread doing that because I hate the unpleasantness, and our department has a brutal "shoot the messenger" philosophy. Also, the union will rake me over the coals.

I hate this.

This problem is your supervisors. Do not let him force you into a confrontation with this woman. This has probably been done to some extent before and she knows how to play the game. You have taken the first step and it's a good one. When he tries to force a meeting with her tell him that it is his job to get it straightened and if he can't do that then transfer all her work to you and you will distribute the work load to the rest of the crew so that it can be done in a timely manner. You're tired of her holding up progress in the rest of the office just because he can't handle his job properly.

That's a good idea, and that will get his attention. I think he's trying to keep the "appearance" of the team running like it should be to his superiors right now.

Susan, can't the union look into this? (we're not union and I've never been part of a union, so I don't know how that works).

I have a very, very similar problem with a coworker. I do his work while he does personal buiness or sneaks out through the back door. I have addressed this numerous of times to the supervisor and have even told coworker directly yet professionally how I feel about doing his job. Coworker is part of the good ol' boys network in this community, as is the head honcho.

As a matter of fact, it was handled as if I was the one who had disciplinary issues and I was put on probation for, ahem, NOT getting along with him. (I still have a hard time talking about that part as it makes my blood boil and my blood pressure rise a million points) He leaves in the middle of the day walking right past everyone, practically thuming his nose along the way and is away "sick" nearly every Friday. I'm there until 6 pm almost every night and on weekends. Well, not anymore.

I am still doing his work, it was made part of my job description. But I do the bare minimum and "forget" to do certain things or run out of time, especially when he is chomping the bit to sneak out. I love watching him panic. lol I am as sweet as pie to him and what I have to do for him, I do well, I just don't adhere to his deadlines very well. ;-)

I'll be darned if I am going to make it easy for him.

Anyway, I hope you have better sucess in resolving your coworker problem. I know how bad it can be especially when the management team knows what's going on and does absolutely nothing about it.

Gee, I'm all mad again.

BJ

The union would be furious with me if they knew that I was talking to the supervisor, but they do NOT want people going to them with these problems either. They would say that I'm not being a good "sister".

Quite a few years ago, I think it was in 1995 or 1996, there was a cliquey group who harassed a couple of other coworkers. One time I saw something terrible, it was humiliating to one of the coworkers. Someone told management that I was there, and they asked me about it. I then told the truth. The union called me in and rapped my knuckles for doing that.

Susan, is there any possibility of you getting a different job? This situation sounds totally untenable. I know that the current economic situation makes finding a different position extremely difficult, but it doesn't sound like a good place to spend your work-life. The stress must be incredible. Life is short -- is this really worth it?

Well, today we all got a memo from management that our monthly "one hour training" session is about "leaving work locations on work time", and that it is mandatory that we be there. This was interesting to see, because these one hour training sessions are always about technology or legislation issues and they are never mandatory. So, knowing the place as I do, they have decided to give everyone "fair warning" about the expectations regarding leaving work. Then, I guess, they will either deal with it if it happens again, or ignore it- I have no idea what they will do. I'm sure it's because of what I told the supervisor the other day, and this is part of the problem, but it does not address her not doing her job when she's there. Maybe they have a plan for that, though.

I'd really hate to have to leave that employment because it is a job that I am very well suited to. I love my job, and there is no other similar type of job in the area. It also pays better than anything I could find elsewhere, and the benefits are good. I'd like to do a few more years and then retire. I may "job share" at some point if it really drives me crazy though... a few people have asked me to be their job share partner...

I sure hope you can hang in there. I hate the "shotgun" approach to supervison -- one person is messing up and because the boss doesn't have the guts to confront that person, everyone gets the lecture. What a wuss! I'm sending you all my good wishes and happy thoughts. I know how tough it is to put up with lazy, sneaky co-workers. Good luck!

Susan- I'm not sure how things are done in your office but I have a question. If your supervisor were to write her up or put her on probation or give her a bad review - would anything be done? Or would the union jump in and protect her?

As a former supervisor for a branch library I had difficulty trying to get one particular library clerk to do her job. I supervised 10 employees- and this one woman was in charge of the other 4 assistants and she made out their work schedule. Needless to say she gave herself the best schedule, long holiday weekends called in sick every time we had work to do that she didn't want to do and gave herself all the simple easy tasks.

She'd been getting away with this for years under the previous head who looked the other way and gave her great annual reviews. Unfortunately I was unaware of her history and I wasn't permitted to see her previous employee reviews. I came into the library and tried to make changes that were fair to everyone. She resisted my suggestions. She would call in sick and then we'd see her on the sidewalk with her friends or she'd call one of the girls in the office and tell her that she was out shopping.

I wrote a detailed employee manual and job description based on our library's policies and Civil Service (union) descriptions and then had a meeting and asked everyone how we could implement this to make the library more efficient, eliminate work backlogs and create a more pleasant work environment. Everyone agreed to the proposed changes and willingly worked to improve our library.

Everyone except one. When the time came for her annual review I tried to go a little easy on her, it was honest without being brutal and I praised her for the things she did well (not many) and made suggestions for improvement.
She went to the union and complained that I was harassing her and since her previous ratings had been good it was difficult to argue against that. The union representative went to my supervisor and complained. My supervisor gave me my annual rating and critiqued me for being too harsh on one employee.

After a year of that I decided to transfer to another branch. It just wasn't worth the hassle especially with the union backing her.

What options are available to your supervisor? Is there a written, detailed job description that lists all the duties your coworker is expected to perform? Is there a daily or weekly checklist that he could use to measure her performance? You're right that you boss is responsible for making sure she does her job. It not only affects your work but also the moral of the entire office. Good luck.

I didn't know you were union! That's a whole nuther thing. My experience with unions is they DEFEND the dregs, lazy and worthless and don't help the good workers. Obviously that's the dillemma with the supervisor. Firing union people isn't easy.

Since you won't do some of the other things, about the only other thing I can suggest is to go to Human Resources, Personnel or whatever they call the department. Otherwise, prepare yourself for the situation to continue. It IS a good sign that they're having the job responsibility reminder meeting. But, IF it is done properly and IF it's going to work, it'll be a long time before they can really do much. And she'll probably start taking all her sick leave if she has any, or get a "doctor's statement" that she's too stressed to work, or claim a hostile work environment or any of a myriad of other things that slugs in the workplace do all of which results in you doing more work.

I too hate the penalize everyone with a lecture when it's one person type of thing. I understand their theory but disagree with it.

But that is some positive news. Maybe someday things will improve. I'm just glad I don't work there! LOL

I was going to post what litereader said. You have a weak management team. Then everyone is going to have to suffer from one person's doing. All this meeting is doing to do is have staff point out others' actions. So, she'll win again.

Well, management here still clobbers people when they want to, despite having a union. A couple of people were fired recently. But there are a couple of snags for me here. This coworker is well connected. We are accountable to Regional Council and her mother was on it for years. Her mother is no longer on Council, but there is a huge connection there. Also, my supervisor really is fond of her, he used to light up when he saw her. I first noticed it and then others saw it too. The last few months though, I've noticed that has diminished. But then there are a couple of other problems. He hates conflict and confrontation and so it seems that he feeds information to his superiors to support his position that everything is "fine". This has happened before here, and he was greatly embarrassed when something blew up.

There are reports that come off the system, but the problem is that because of our STUPID structure, all work completed or not completed falls under my name. There is no way to separate it with the current structure... we need to REstructure, but top management is resisting that. The only thing the supervisor can do is to go through her calendar, and look up cases and see where she is actually faking it; as she puts names in her calendar of people who aren't scheduled and then it looks like she's busy. And even when she does see people, she doesn't do the mandatory work. This is a HUGE no-no when you work for the employer I work for, but I don't think he WANTS to see it because then he'd have to deal with it. And I heard that he's got a problem in the other office he supervises right now, and knowing his personality, he doesn't want to take anything else on.

Btw.. most of us here have always HATED that shotgun approach too (good description). We feel like we should be addressed personally if we've done something wrong and if we haven't, we don't want to be involved.

I am so sorry to read about the situation you are in. Been there, done that.
All you end up being is a snitch, and she continues to fluff her job.
I see where you mentioned her mother used to work there. That says a lot. I am not sure if you can win this battle in all honesty.
Keep your chin up, fight through the last few years, and retire with dignity.

Trin