invitation to formal investigation meeting

Hi, congratulations on a very informative site!!

I have an upcoming meeting as titled above, the situation is:

I work in the leisure service industry and have forged one of my client's signatures for work not done. The reason I did this was that the prepaid service is monthly and if the client does not use what they have paid for they lose their entitlement (whilst them still having paid)

I have made a habit of ensuring none of my clients lose their monthly sessions by asking them to sign for services in advance with the intention of giving them their service at a later date (i.e. the following month). As I basically get paid per signature / session this means I get paid for something I have not done but then will do the work in the next period for free, this seemed to work well for all parties. In this one case I forged one of my clients signatures wihtout his explict consent although I had mentioned verbally and by email of me "signing off" for him in his absence.

I am already on a Satge 3 Fianl Written Warnign for Gross Misconduct (something totally different) and my realtionship with the investigating line manager and General Manger is not the best.

Where do I stand?

many thanks! What op

Up s**t creek. This is fraud - and as such a dismissable offence whether or not you already have a prior warning. I am afraid that doing it with or without the clients permission is fraud becasue you have a financial gain from the action. Your explanation of how you have done this in the past and then "made up" the service isn't an explanation - it is digging a deeper hole because you are then involving clients in a fraud being perpetrated against your employers - so I might just keep my mouth shut about that if I were in your position. I think you have handed them enough ammunition without loading the gun as well. If the terms of the service are clear and clients have agreed to those terms it is their lookout to either comply or face the consequences - you should not have assisted clients to commit fraud on the terms of their service.

sounds even worse than I thought (what an idiot), any ideas on a best course of action?

I was thinking of maybe trying to offer my resignation at the formal investigation meeting? or maybe off the record beforehand - Im suspended at the moment.

Funny thing is the Manager who is holding the meeting also once copied a client's signature (slightly different scenario as it was for one of my clients who had forgoiten to sign after I had delivered her "service" he was just tring to save on time of chasing her though she wasnt happy)...there wouldn't be any point at all in mentioning that at all would there?

well I have a client folder which may or may not have it in as proof - i dont have access to it as its with the manager

I do have the client's name and another employee as a witness to the fact

I dont want to get dragged into some sort of dirty fight - ideally I would just want to leave with an ok reference if possible but do you think this may give me some leverage????

thanks for the honest assessment Joachim

do you think I could possibly offer my resignation during this first formanl meeting and possibly ask for the case to be dropped or do you think it is too serious a situation?

There is a slight inaccuracy is what Joachim has said as you are not (I assume) in a regulated post. An employer does not have to tell the truth in a reference. They just can't lie. (well they can, but it is actionable). They are under no obligation to anyone to provide a reference and they can limit what they say by as much as they want. So, as an extreme example, if you headbutted the Managing Director and were dismissed for Gross Misconduct, your reference could still be factual - dates of employment, job title etc. They could not say "Reason for leaving - redundancy" - but they could leave it blank.

Thanks John, that is something I didn't know. No its not a regulated profession its in the leisure service industry which has a ridicously high amount of staff turnover and movement.

I have read elsewhere on this site about requesting for a "neutral refernce" if I cut a deal and resigned and I asked for this should I get it agreed in writing from HR ? Any help appreciated.

I would also like to point out another little inaccuracy in Joachims advice - even if you could prove that the manager had done this too, it STILL doesn't get you off the hook. You still did it. And no way will a tribunal consider anything but what you did. So getting into a "dirty fight" might not be your own inclination - it might also be very stupid if you want to stand any chance of negotiating our way out of this.

shikahra, I really dont think that I would want to take this to tribunal especailly as it sounds as if I definetly do not stand a chance of a positve outcome?

But to do you think it could help me in negotiating a way of leaving? Or should I not mention it at all - bit confused on this...