Disciplinary hearing at Deloitte
I’ve been invited to a disciplinary hearing following an investigation of my submitted expenses. The investigation report says about £700 of expenses (over the last three years) seem to be unsupported non business expenses. I’m not worried as much as all expenses I put were valid and within the policy thresholds. The issue is the investigation report says for some dinner orders they seem to be for more than one person (even though they were within the policy budget) and suggests that since I live with family I must’ve been ordering for more than one person. This is from 2020 when dinners were being ordered at home (approved by my Partner). In my defence, I never thought how much I ordered was a problem as long as I was within the budget. The investigation report goes through categories of expenses saying breakfast was claimed or lunch items, or purchases made near my home which looked like for more than one person. Truth is that this was all in line with how we would expense coffees/snacks before covid and our team allowed us to do that during covid too. The report makes me look like I’ve been acting outside policy which I don’t think I did. The amount of expenses in question isn’t big as it’s smaller invoices bundled into the £700. Should I be worried? I’m waiting for results on my Senior Manager promotion and don’t want this to impact that. I’ve had a pretty spotless track record and am surprised how I’ve ended into this situation. I’ve also been given the option to bring along a companion to the hearing. Do I need one? I’ve never had something even remotely similar to a disciplinary action before and I’ve been at Deloitte for 8 years across two different offices. Can anyone provide any tips or reassurance?
Dude, it’s only for 700 pounds? Just say that you did everything according to policy, and if the company feels it’s excessive, you are willing to pay it back. This hearing is a complete waste of time and will cost way more than 700 pounds to do.
Thanks for the advice! My plan is to say I was acting according to policy and all my claims were being approved so there was no reason to think otherwise.
Yeah that sounds right to me. But to think that Deloitte would care for 700 pounds, tells me something might be wrong with the company. In most companies that I know, employees would travel a few times a year, and each time for a few thousand dollars in expenses, with no questions asked.
You ask this on fishbowl?
Didn’t know about fishbowl till now…. Will post there too
Is fishbowl better than blind?
Sir this is a Wendy’s. I remember I submitted something like shoes for the wellness benefit and got audited for the 50$. Sad day when penny pinching cost cutting ends up wasting our time and effort. They really are creating maximum shareholder value tho.
At stripe?
Someone is for sure out to get you. Seems petty/unsupportable, but I would think long and hard about who would have likely first raised this concern. “It looks like food for multiple people” is so ambiguous/difficult to prove that most ethics offices would not even think twice about it. Go into the investigation in a non-adversarial, non-defensive way and tell them you have never ordered food for multiple people and always make sure to stay within guidelines. If they seem to think your expenses were extravagant, apologize and ask if there is guidance you can be made aware of for the future.
Thanks this is helpful advice. I plan to remain calm and maintain my innocence which I do feel I am.
Would also be great if you have some weight-gain to back it up 😆 good luck. This seems more like an ethical investigation than a matter of 700. Go in strong with principles and bring a record of your history of acting with principles. How you hand Will help your promo
You done fucked up bro. How close are you with your boss? And their boss ? Someone in your org chain will have the power to make this go away. Make sure you’re on good terms with them. As for proving the meals were for one person and not 3, you can’t play their game. Just deny deny deny. You can never admit it was more people or COVID blah blah. It will all go in your record. Deny till the end. Remember what you say can have legal consequences, so keep it to a minimum. As for a promotion, do you really want to be in an organization that pulls this shit ? Run …
The Partner on my team was supportive and spoke to the investigation team to provide approval for expenses. I learnt the hard way to say minimum and might’ve said some stupid things (admitting that I live with family) on the call with the investigators and they were recording. Mainly because I went in thinking I haven’t done anything wrong so why worry. Thanks for the reminder, I need to make sure I deny all wrongdoing.
I thought the whole point of consulting was that shit like this doesn’t happen
I thought it’s the exact opposite. “Consultants” are known to be super wasteful spenders - of the company’s money.
Yes. My point is that they get away with it
Don't know particulars, but is this a case where meals for multiple days were ordered?
Just one meal however since it was at home there would be leftovers. The investigators asked me what I did with the leftovers and if shared food with my family 😳 I was caught completely off guard and can’t remember what I said but the have recordings
This shouldn’t be a disciplinary process, it should just be a refusal to reimburse or a request for more information. Disciplinary means you’re already considered guilty. Someone is out to get you. You can expect the meeting to be recorded. Don’t admit to or be seen to agree with any accusations (unless they are true.) Offer to repay any outstanding amounts without admitting guilt. Can your companion be a lawyer? “I believed I was acting within policy. I was surprised that these purchases were flagged. When choosing how to spend, I considered how I’d seen money spent pre-pandemic and what was considered acceptable. I understood that the budget was for spending, and I spent it. If I’ve made an error, a simple request for reimbursement would have seemed more appropriate than a disciplinary hearing given my excellent record here.”
They’ve told me the meeting will be minuted. I will say my understanding was claims are reviewed before being approved. As I never had any issues I never thought I was doing anything outside policy otherwise would have expected claims to be refused. I don’t have a lawyer, they said I could bring a colleague or trade union rep (which doesn’t really apply as I’m not in any unions..) Your advice is really helpful thanks I’ve made a note
Hey, 1. Consistently maintain that you only spent the money on yourself as allowed by the policy. If you maintain that you ate both a burger and a pizza for dinner as you were really hungry, there is little they can say :) 2. If Deloitte is behaving this way for a measly 700£, do you even want to stay at this company? Don't worry about the promotion, start looking out and interviewing irrespective of the result of this investigation. Hope you move to a company which isn't anal about such things. Best of luck!
This is pretty bad. They are creating record. If it wasn’t such a big deal they would have just warned over email and left it there
I thought so too. I never thought this was going to end up in a hearing because it’s nothing big or outrageous…but here we are
Yeah consulting companies are notorious for using this as an excuse for layoffs. This is their modus operandi: find someone to fire, check their past expense reports, find one or more items that violates some vague policy, fire with no severance due to "violation". I know one close friend who was hit with this a few years ago, and heard indirectly about it happening to others as well.