Unfair treatment at work

[Asurazzy]

Hi! Since 3rd/1 I've been working as trainee childhood educator at a daycare. At 17/1 I got called by my area manager that a parent raised complaints about 3 incidents that supposedly happened and i've since been advised that I am being invesitgated.  

I'm writing to this forum because I always felt stressed, anxious, constant worry about doing my job because the inconsistency of the rules compare with what other educators doing on the floor. I do not feel safe going to work and do my job, I felt like any allegations can be thrown at me at will to create problem for me at work and the company doesn't implement any measurement to prefent that happening. 

I felt like I've been personally attacked, targeted, discriminated and unprotected at work as I did not receive the appropriate training or support leading up the incidents. 

The supposed parent that raised the allegations is my workmate that's notoriously known to make problems with other educators (we educators have our lil ones as well goes to the centre where we work).

[mmMekitty]

Hello Asurazzy & welcome to the forums.

I haven't had to deal with any of the workplace issues you've mentioned, so I'm not sure what you can do about your work situation.

About stress & anxiety, there are many things which may help you, especially things to do that relax your body & give you time when you think of ways to look after yourself, care for yourself, & effectively ease the tension. They will be short-term & not be near so effective as being away from the cause of your anxiety & stress.

Work, you gotta work, right? Yes I get that. Changing jobs would be very difficult & stressful too. Spo learning about things to lessen your stress & anxiety would help there, too.

There is a lot of info on BB about anxiety. If you read some of the thing people have already been saying in that section, you'll find many ways people deal with anxiety.

We could start with ensuring you have some fun during the week. Another thing is to look at your sleep & eating habits. these basic things are important.

Talking helps too. Do you have anyone you would trust to talk with about how you are feeling?

Whether you do or not, please feel free to talk here on BB.

mmMekitty

[Weirdo_inthebestway]

Hi Asurazzy.

That sounds like a really difficult situation to be in. I'm sorry to hear you're going through a tough time. I am glad that you have sought support in BB forums though! What a great step in the direction of coping with and solving the problem. mmMekitty's reply to your post has some great advice.

I too have dealt with workplace anxiety. During that time I learned some short term and longer term skills that you may find helpful as well. 

Short term.

• Seek social support. You can tick this one off already for making a forum post! You may be able to build on this support by including others like family and friends.
• Deep breathing and mindfulness exercises. Read about and maybe try some of these strategies to deal with the immediate symptoms of your stress and anxiety. 

Longer term.

• Don't avoid the problem entirely. As much as the anxiety and stress make you want to avoid the situation (which is totally normal), avoiding it could make it worse, make it last longer, and/or result in losing your say in how it turns out.
• Try to keep some balance in your life. You could try to stick to general routine, prioritise daily self care, and spend some time working on the problem.
• Seek specific help and supports. You may want to seek support in coping with stress/anxiety through information on the BB website; a low-intensity mental health service in your area or online; or a check in with your GP. You may seek help with your specific workplace problem through a union rep or workplace advice service. You don't have to do this alone.

I hope you find some of this useful. I hope the issue is resolved quickly. And I hope you get the result you want. In the meantime, keep checking in on the forums if you find it helps.

[Mark Z.]

Hi Asurazzy,

I’m sorry to hear that, I do understand your feeling. If it’s a false accusation at workplace, there are following things you can do:

- Be cooperative with workplace investigation: A good way to start your defense is to be cooperative with ongoing workplace investigation in your workplace.
- Be professional: Always endeavor to stay calm throughout the process.
- Keep a record: A workplace investigation may ensue after you are accused of anything. It doesn't mean that it's you. It is important for you to keep a record of everything that happens during this time, especially things you think you are unfairly treated.
- Know your rights: You are entitled to procedural fairness during a case of false accusation at the workplace. Procedural fairness entails giving an employee a fair and reasonable opportunity to respond to issues or evidence that justify punishment or termination1. If needed, you can seek legal help. There are resources out there including free ones, depends on which city and state you are located, you can do some google research.

Hopefully it helps a bit.
Mark

[Asurazzy]

Thank you everyone for your support. This work place situation have greatly impacted my mental well being. I have often came home from work fully in tears and broke down. I felt so unsafe being at work, I felt like I'm threading on thin ice and walking among mine field all the time. I felt anything can happen at any moment and the opportunity for them to make more allegations out of nothing can happen at any moment at any time. I already have ongoing councelling in the past 1.5 years. My councillors said that my previous domestic violence trauma triggered again by my work situation. The feeling of high alertness, on guard all the time, wariness, fear and on mode in defence all the time at work bring back terrible memories. It's felt the same when I enter my work front door with when I entered the violence household front door. I have been feeling safe for the past 6 years now suddenly I felt this way again from a workplace. I went to 3 GPS as well to talk about my mental health and them also being immigrant can relate about the discrimination and different treatments they get from work.

My last straw was when there's people from the college asking why I'm behind my study, the centre manager try to put me in the corner painting me as a bad employee that didn't do my study. The centre is always severely lacking out of staff, they almost never give us time to study. They got me 1 time when 1 day the centre have electrical problem, they put us study at home in which I didn't because I just can not concentrate to do study because of my allegations and mental health ordeal. The college people told my Centre Manager to not give anymore time to study which we never get at the centre anyway but telling her to keep me open  so I can be counted as their ratio. In that moment I realise I am nothing more than a number for their ratio. I went home and distraught again that I decided I will not go back to work. That day I went again to a GP and I broke down in front of her. I felt ashamed, embarrassed, I felt weak. 

The Centre always lack of staff, in less than 2 months there were 5 educators that got out from the company. It's so confusing that how this centre try to attract educators but they always provide toxic working environment and treat their educators like trash. I don't understand how this industry always so lacking out of educators but when they do have educators there's no protections against allegations. People can just accuse other people with absurd allegations just because they don't like that people. The environment is so toxic full of gossips, backstabbing and dramas. For all my years working I have never seen anything like it.

As for help and legal advices, I have reach out to 2 different law firms. There's nothing they can do. They only refer me back to safe work and fair work. I tried calling them as well and always transferred to different sections. The allegation interview will be happening on Wednesday and I was hoping to get legal representative to be with me but I have no one. No one think my case is serious enough. I'm just a former educators against a big company.

[Guest_1055]

Hi, I am truly sorry for what you are experiencing. It sounds so distressing for you.

Is there anyway you could leave, maybe find another college or Tafe and another childcare centre. The other staff there do not sound very caring. I actually would not send my child there because of that. Childcare places should be nurturing, caring, safe, loving and fun. 

Could you possibly get out of there? There might be other jobs you could do. Maybe even a private nanny in a lovely family.

You could transfer to another training organisation. Most Tafes would have free childcare courses now.

[Asurazzy]

Hello!

I already got out of there. I filed my 2 weeks notice more than 2 weeks ago. I felt that's the only thing I can do to preserve myself and my mental well being. My councillor, husband, GPs already suggested me to get out of there months ago but I felt like in this time I need to keep paddling on to have income to help uphold my family. You know how it is to be a woman and a mother. I am obligated to assist and uphold my family as I can. But at work I was just deteriorating. My husband said a few hundred dollars per week will never justify the damage of the work done to me. He told me to throw my uniforms because he will not let me to go back there and so I did. The next day is the day that I went again to see the GP and I broke down in front of the GP. She gave me sick certificate and extension sick certificate so I don't even have to attend the last 2 weeks of works.

Ofcourse in the last 2 weeks of works there that I didn't work, I did not send my 3.5 yo daughter as well. How can I send her alone in there where I'm not even felt safe to go there? We want to pull her right away the same time I stop going but they say they need 2 weeks notice for her as well. We decided we won't sent her there and still pay for the 2 weeks daycare fee with the CCS. But they said yesterday that they will charge us the full fee without CCS for the 2 weeks she's not even there because she's supposedly "absent" and that is the Centrelink policy. Now they going to charge us $128 per-day that my daughter is NOT THERE! This place is like a recurring nightmare. They've put me through so much and now the will charge us thousands of dollars. I can not believe that nothing can be done about it. How many other educators and family have face this kind of condition? And these centre and companies just get away with it. 

It's so hard just to shut off my mind. I've spoken about it with my councillor and she said I need to let go so I can go forward. I just felt this whole unfounded allegations, different treatments, discrimination, feeling unsafe just affect me so much and I'm worry it can affect my future and my family. I felt like there's no consolation and there's no support for me. Like I felt They've done me wrong and they get away with it and now they're affecting us financially as well with all those extra cost and so many lost of income because I took many absent from work because if my stress. I felt it's so hard to shut off and let go, so hard to shut off the voices in my head. I feel so weak and so incompetent letting my self and my family being stomped around like this.

[Guest_81126429]

I am glad to hear that you are leaving. You will succeed. Life is full of challenges meant to make us stronger. 

I wish you good luck !