Whistle blower or rat?

[GraceClarified]

Tomorrow morning I am informing my department director that my direct boss has been stealing thousands of dollars from the company for months. I have suspected this since January but having proof is what I needed to let someone know. I also have a co-worker going to the meeting with me as a witness (backup).

Basically my manager has been purchasing laptops from a vendor and reselling them some how. Recently I came across the invoices for 23 Apple MacBook Pros that were purchased. We have a few of these laptops in our environment but I don't think more than 5 total. I have a long list of suspicious activity by him as well including him removing my responsibility of hardware inventory control when I brought up that we seemed to be missing some laptops.

My manager has been good to me as I have been promoted 2 times in the past 18 months under his control. I don't want to "bite the hand that feeds me" but I am at the point where I need to either find a different job or speak up to say what needs to be said. So am I a whistle-blower or a rat?

I am concerned because my director has proven to avoid conflict at all costs and I hope he reacts properly. I pray for His strength tomorrow as I will need it.

:tonofbricks:raying:

 

[matt wade]

You are doing the right thing. You have a ethical and legal responsibility to the company to report this. If you fail to report it, then you are part of the problem.

I was in a similar situation (though not as drastic) and I reported it to management. They were extremely grateful and I'm happy I did the right thing.

 

[freeatlast]

You asked if you are a whistle-blower or a rat? I would not worry about titles. If you have information proving what you suspect I would just provide the information to who should get it without making any accusations and let them do the investigating and final decisions as to guilt.

 

[GraceClarified]

Thank you for the response

 

[righteousdude2]

I Pray ALL Works Out As You Hope!

As far as being a whistle blower, or rat, that shouldn't matter. You know you are doing the right thing. I would only say this: in the past, I did several things (similar to you), and they turned out blowing up in my face.

I found out that if a person is smart enough to do what your director is doing, they usually have a cover story, or something to hide their tracks.

I once turned in a fellow Unit Manager for calling one of her black clerical staff the "N" word. It wasn't just once, and it wasn't jokingly. It was during a full dressing down of this employee, as I stood outside her office door and could hear the words as well as half the office could also hear her comments and racial rant.

When I spoke to the employee and asked why she didn't go to EEO, she stated she was afraid for her job. I asked if she'd prefer that I turn in the problem. She nodded, and hugged me for helping her.

The truth is, as a fellow Manager, I was required by law to make sure that "No employee" be racially harassed, so in a way, I was mandated to bring this to our superiors.

To make a long story short, that one, very simple violation of other employee rights turned into a long, protracted personnel issue, and EEO investigation where an office of more than 45 employees could only produce three others that were willing to go against this long time Manager. There were counter accusations made by this Manager toward me, and my name was dragged through the mud.

What did her in (eventually) was her own anxiety? She was getting antsy (as were all of us) as the investigation seemed to take a lifetime, and one day, she clearly threatened the physical life of two of the witnesses who came forward to support me and the black clerk.

She made her threat in front of two people who loved and supported her, but felt she had gone one step too far. They called the EEo office, and they sent out the California Highway Patrol, who removed this wicked little lady from the office, and within a month she was forced to retire.

There was one very interesting note. She was given party!" which was attended by a good portion of the office employees and department personnel. Go figure?

What I'm saying is, may. He be with you, and no matter what worms come out of that can you are about to open, stick to your guns. You have righteousness on your side.

Pastor Paul :type:

 

[GraceClarified]

Thank you for sharing RighteousDude2. I hope it does not blow up on me.

 

[abcgrad94]

Before you blow the whistle, make sure you have lots of documentation to prove your accusations. And no, exposing sin is not being a "rat."

 

[HAMel]

A Whistle Blower should ALWAYS remain anonymous. No if's, and's, or but's.

It could very well be that higher ups are involved in this scam and things could backfire on you.

After 28 years with the FedGov I can assure you there will be no appreciation from anyone should you openly blow the whistle.

 

[Don]

Just a weird question from a weird outsider: Are you positive he didn't have authorization to re-sell those on behalf of the company?

If you're not positive, then I'd counsel you to take the matter to the individual himself, and let him know of the discrepancy you've discovered. If you don't have anything that shows that he was directly involved in their disappearance, then all you have is evidence that equipment is missing. Then I'd document what was said, and *then* I'd take it to the next higher supervisor. And by all means, keep the other individual with you at all times, and have him/her also document everything that's said.

Unfortunately, this happens all too often in the military, and we have to chase down who signed for receipt of the equipment when it arrived from the purchaser to the primary logistics storage area; who signed for receipt of the equipment from the storage area to where it was specifically purchased for; on down to which particular individual finally received the piece of equipment. I've had to chase down receipts that were two years old for people who "specifically remembered giving that equipment back," but there was no documentation indicating that. A Report of Survey was then filed, investigated, and the commanding officer made the final decision as to whether it was bad logistics management processes, or if the individual was at fault and was then charged for the missing items.

Just saying: If you don't have documentation showing that this particular individual was the last person in control of the laptops, then he/she will be able to say it was someone else's responsibility/fault. So thus, my suggestions to you above to identify the missing property, report it at least two levels above you, and document everything *just in case*.

 

[blackbird]

Before you blow the whistle, make sure you have lots of documentation to prove your accusations. And no, exposing sin is not being a "rat."

I'm gonna side here with abcgrad----------document---document---document-----not just one piece of "evidence" but the whole "paper trail"---gather it all up and then check and double and then triple check the information

And be ready for hardship-----not that the evidence will boomerang---but that the person you are ratting on will become somewhat---lets say----on the violent side

 

[SaggyWoman]

You are in my prayers. Call it what you want, but you have to live with yourself if you are or not being honest and doing the things you are or not supposed to do.

The principle of sowing and reaping is always true.

 

[freeatlast]

GraceClarified let us know how it goes.

 

[HAMel]

Here's a story..., and subsequent link of a whistle blower on a terrible travesty created by government operatives (?) to supply military style weapons to drug cartels in Mexico. The plan was to place the blame on American Gun Stores who would have ultimately come under blame in an effort to shut them down. In the aftermath of this plan, one Border Patrol Officer was killed.

Story;

'Project Gunrunner' Whistleblower Says ATF Sent Him Termination Notice

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is being accused of retaliating against an agent who helped publicize the agency’s role in allowing thousands of guns to cross the U.S. border and fall into the hands of Mexican drug gangs.

The agent, Vince Cefalu, who has spoken out about the ATF's so-called "Project Gunrunner" scandal, says he was served with termination papers just last week, and he calls the move politically motivated.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/06/27/atf-to-fire-gunrunner-whistleblower/

There is really "No Justice" in America anymore. There's "Just Us". Our Lord does look after his children but at the same time we must use discretion. This agent did the right thing and will now suffer for it the rest of his life. Whistle Blowing is a slippery slope.

 

[GraceClarified]

So far

Monday was a gut wrenching day. I guess a moment like that is supposed to be that way. I laid out all of my findings on what I had found missing and the mass amounts of laptops purchased for no apparent reason with my director. When he asked me I had informed my manager I told him that I believed it was my manager doing the stealing. It was a shocking moment for him. I think he was cautious to believe it was a fact at first and probably even maybe doubted me a tad bit. Having another manager with me in the meeting helped my cause.

My manager was tipped off from a vendor that I was doing research on laptop serial numbers. He was pretty hacked off about that with me over the phone. During the day his communication with numerous people showed obvious signs of fear and cover-up. Honestly its looking like his responses, triggered by guilt, have been the biggest mesurement on whats going on. (Proverb 28:1)

I have been asked to come up with a an exact listing of all missing laptops and iPads in the past 6-9 months. Firing the guy is going to happen at this point but bringing criminal charges against him looks to be tougher because there is no "smoking gun." He is currently on vacation in South America and comes back on July 5th.

I will post a follow up response later on but for now its back to research.

 

[freeatlast]

Well I am glad that you were able to bring this to light. It sounds like the vendor may have some involvement in this as well. Hopefully they will get to the bottom of it and take care of the problem.

 

[davidoregonJr]

Well I am glad that you were able to bring this to light. It sounds like the vendor may have some involvement in this as well. Hopefully they will get to the bottom of it and take care of the problem.

The Lord bless you a 1000 times more as much as you have in your life now.
amen

 

[Pleasant_Bill]

Item 1.I have a long list of suspicious activity by him as well including him removing my responsibility of hardware inventory control when I brought up that we seemed to be missing some laptops.
Item 2. My manager has been good to me as I have been promoted 2 times in the past 18 months under his control. :

I'm glad you handled this as professionally as you did and pray that you suffer not one bit for doing the right thing. I think you've also removed any cloud of suspicion from yourself should your manager have tried to pin this theft on you as he likely would have if someone else reported it.

Item 1. This might be more incriminating than a lot of the physical evidence and it covers you in case he tries to blame you for the missing inventory. It also shows that as others have pointed out, you tried to follow the 'chain of command' in reporting this discrepency. You brought your concerns to your frontline manager and he basically removed you from the process.

Item 2. Aside from you probably deserving them (given your work ethic), your promotions could be interpreted as he was trying to buy your silence. Of course since you're the one exposing this scandal, it would be hard for him to point to these promotions and say you were in on the theft.


This is similiar to my last church's situation where the Finance Team including the CFO (a friend of mine) has no idea who is making what for salaries nor everything that is being spent budget wise. I hope he (CFO) resigns that post but then in doing so, can be blamed for any discrepencies that occurred during his watch.

If you're responsible (as in your case of inventory) you have a duty to report such things for several reasons; not the least of which is to avoid being the fall guy when the inproprieties are uncovered.

 

[GraceClarified]

This past Monday the manager came in and boxed up his belongings and placed a letter of resignation on the director's doorstep. Our offices were closed that day for the 4th. We conducted a complete inventory company wide this past week and submitted this information along with the list of missing equipment to the legal department. They are saying we have a lot of solid evidence and will want to press forward with legal action this week. It's been a roller-coaster of a week and I am glad this is past us. Time to move on.

:godisgood:

 

[righteousdude2]

Congrats on Exposing the Darkness with the Light!

This past Monday the manager came in and boxed up his belongings and placed a letter of resignation on the director's doorstep. Our offices were closed that day for the 4th. We conducted a complete inventory company wide this past week and submitted this information along with the list of missing equipment to the legal department. They are saying we have a lot of solid evidence and will want to press forward with legal action this week. It's been a roller-coaster of a week and I am glad this is past us. Time to move on.

:godisgood:

You deserve a :applause: for exposing the corrupt darkness of fellow employees. If more folks were like you, American would be a better place.

It is time to move on, but you deserve praise. You did the right thing, and evil was put in its place. There may be a chance, at some time in the future, to share the love and forgiveness of Christ with this fellow employee. If that door presents itself, I pray you are bold enough not to think twice about knocking!

Again, you made a lot of honest people proud! Thanks! :thumbsup:

Pastor Paul :type:

 

[freeatlast]

You deserve a :applause: for exposing the corrupt darkness of fellow employees. If more folks were like you, American would be a better place.

It is time to move on, but you deserve praise. You did the right thing, and evil was put in its place. There may be a chance, at some time in the future, to share the love and forgiveness of Christ with this fellow employee. If that door presents itself, I pray you are bold enough not to think twice about knocking!

Again, you made a lot of honest people proud! Thanks! :thumbsup:

Pastor Paul :type:

Yes well said I totally agree. :thumbs: