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UMy brother works as a project manager at a small architecture studio (6-7 employees max) in Mumbai. Recently, a new female joinee (hired as a designer/architect) seemed to have made false accusations against my brother (i wrote ‘seemed’ because this is as per his boss (F), read on). The accusations stem from a site visit where my brother and the new joinee (F) went together. During the visit, my brother and the new joinee went to grab lunch together, and they discussed personal topics, including family and relationships. This whole discussion started because she told my brother that in his absence the boss and some other employee were gossiping about him behind his back. This was her icebreaker and got him curious and made him ask more details.
The discussion then shifted to personal relationships and family etc. My brother shared some of his bitter relationships in the past etc. She too spoke about her boyfriend etc.Now while leaving the site, she asked him if she should go home or come to the office and my brother told her to inform their boss and go home if she wants. She then changed her mind and said she’d like to finish some of her work and then leave. So they returned to the office.
After returning to the office, my brother told the new joinee not to share his personal details that they discussed earlier with others, as he doesn’t usually discuss personal matters with colleagues. So he said something along the lines of ‘Please don’t tell anyone (others) that we opened up and talked so much about our personal lives as I have only confided such things to you or about our new friendship (basically he was trying to tell her formally that don’t inform others that we’re good buddies now since we bonded over doing chugli and panchayat/bakchodi within a day)…
My brother and the new joinee then worked together until around 8 – 8:30 PM. During this time, my brother’s boss called him to discuss some project details, and because of that my brother forgot to mention that the new joinee was also in the office. There was nobody else in the office.
A little background:
– The boss has a history of mistreating employees, including making threats and creating a toxic work environment. It’s been around 6 months since this company started and so far 4 – 5 initial employees (fresher designers/site supervisors etc) have been fired or asked to leave after humiliating them. One very weak ex-employee had even fainted in the office when he wanted to resign due to health issues but the boss kept on accusing him of doing free lance work elsewhere and not performing in the office and causing apparent financial damages to the company.
– The company has no HR dept.
– She had given the office key to my brother since he would come to the office before everyone else and leave after everyone due to his workload, being the sole PM when there were about 4 projects going on in parallel. Also working/visiting sites on Sundays when required.
– Travel within the city for site visits was never compensated nor was it acknowledged that travelling from one end to other end of the city was exhaustive on a daily basis during work hours.
– Boss kept undertaking new projects even though there was a clear shortage of resources for the design or management roles.
– They have camera surveillance and the biometric fingerprint attendance system for entry and exit from the office.Current Situation:
So since that evening, the new joinee would do friendly banter with my brother in front of everyone. Standing awkwardly close to him. Always wanting to sit next to his cubicle, or offering lunch or chocolates, etc. My brother took any of this in a friendly spirit because it felt that way but he’d notice how others were making faces and gossiping about them.
He tried to maintain a safe distance as he felt saying to her directly that ‘hey don’t treat me like I’m someone special’ people are noticing and thought of just avoiding such awkward situations. Even their boss had noticed such things. And to add to this drama was that twice the boss noticed that some day when my brother came early, coincidentally the new joinee came early too. So the boss thought these two would plan and come early and stay late for their flirting stuff. So she searched all records and found that on the site visit day they had stayed till 8:30 PM in the office.Now my brother is being bullied and blackmailed by his boss because she watched the CCTV video and found out that these two were gossiping while working in the office that particular evening and during their conversation heard my brother say the words – “Don’t tell anyone about our friendship” to the new joinee. The boss accused my brother of asking the new joinee to specifically keep her presence in the office a secret that evening (misinterpreting the conversation they had earlier being the reason for him saying the words “Don’t tell anyone..”) My brother had actually asked her not to share his personal details with others.
The boss claimed the new joinee told her that my brother specifically asked her “not to tell anyone she’s there”, which is a manipulation of the actual conversation that happened.
The boss would not let him clarify and would gaslight him that she trusted him with the office key but he broke that trust and used the office for his personal intentions.
The boss says she has video of him using the office for his unethical personal intentions, misuse and making a female employee wait beyond office hours without informing the owner of the company and inappropriate conduct and negatively affecting office work ethics. And that despite repeated communication, his behaviour towards this female colleague was disruptive and inappropriate. There was no repeated communication, she would only insult and humiliate him. Making it sound like a PoSH case in front of everyone. Both employees while leaving had punched their attendance that evening so I’m not sure how he is being accused of not letting anyone know that the female colleague was there.Also, my brother would always maintain a safe distance while talking to the new joinee because this girl had a habit of touching, patting shoulders, or elbowing, high fiving or literally pushing for fun.
Also, while verbally humiliating him the boss said that the new joinee has given a complaint about him and said that he was the one always pestering her and that she’s not interested in any such things.
The boss is now threatening to ruin my brother’s reputation and prevent him from getting work elsewhere.
All this drama, humiliation, and falsely accusing in front of others made my brother lose interest in working.
So he’d try and worry about not working from the office and would work partially in the office and then on the sites. Because his and the new joinee’s presence in the office also caused lots of speculation and rumours.But during all this, he found out that the new colleague was fired after a day or two. So he thought maybe the boss who was earlier very supportive might have now realised that the complaint was false and might help him get up to speed with the workload.
But now the boss would mentally harass him about pending work updates and kept bringing that complaint and penalty as a blackmail.
My brother is unable to resign due to the boss’s threats.
The boss is also accusing my brother of causing financial damages of reputation and asked for a penalty of 15 lakhs, but the specifics of these allegations are unclear. She still thinks my brother’s work performance dropped because she fired that girl and he’s being rebellious. She still hasn’t realised that false accusations can scare men beyond imagination. And that exhaustion of being insulted earlier everyday without his fault was the reason for his lack of interest..So I’m reaching out to seek advice on how to navigate this situation. Has anyone else dealt with any similar situation? How can we protect my brother’s reputation and well-being? What are our options for seeking justice?
This boss even stooped so low yesterday that she called my mother (who’s not in great health) and told her about this situation in her manipulative way where she frames my brother as Female colleague harasser and then switches the topic to the new joinee being very pretty and then switches to work not being done on time and his actions causing the company to incur a loss and damage of company reputation of 15 lakh rupees which he must immediately pay to leave the organisation or finish the 4 projects + 3 more ongoing projects’ planning and preparing related documents. Only then the company will consider his resignation.
Apologies for any grammatical mistakes or flow.
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UTLDR: My brother, a PM at a small architecture studio in Mumbai, is being bullied/blackmailed by his toxic boss. The boss falsely accused him of misconduct with a new female colleague, misinterpreting a conversation. The boss is threatening to ruin his future, demanding a penalty of ₹15 lakhs for damaging company reputation, and refusing to accept his resignation unless he completes pending projects.
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