So my direct supervisor is one of those “because I said so” managers, who never has any kind of evidence (such as a written policy) for the things she says or tells you to do, and if you happen to find a policy that indicates something other than what she said, she gets pissed.
Today was one of those days. A coworker friend of mine got back from a COVID leave on Thursday. HR wanted her to fill out an RTW statement. My supervisor received the paperwork and forwarded it to my coworker with no instructions. My coworker fills it out and replies all—-meaning she replied to HR first, and our supervisor was CCed.
Supervisor calls her in a huff and says “you can’t just email HR like that, you have to follow chain of command!”
My coworker says “where does it say that in your email?”
Supervisor responds “you should just know!”
Since we are friendly and I am also the unofficial team lead, coworker calls to fill me in on the ridiculousness. I mention that last week I emailed HR directly about an FMLA leave, didn’t even copy the supervisor or inform her about it before hand (since I’m not legally required to).
No sooner had the words come out of my mouth did I see my supervisor calling on my back line. She does take a different tone with me because she knows I can’t be bullied.
“Hi, did you file for FMLA? Why didn’t you talk to me first?”
I basically said in a very professional, roundabout way “because it wasn’t your business”.
Sidebar: I do love my job and my company, in spite of my direct supervisor.