u/Front_Associate_1700

I have raised concerns about questionable work that a senior leader has been asking me to perform.

This senior leader invited me to a one-on-one meeting and asked me to carry out this work. I tried to distance myself from the situation by explaining that I was busy with other work.

This person later invited me to another one-on-one meeting and accused me of having performance issues, as well as having a personal issue with them because of their gender. They also made several other accusations. I became uncomfortable during the call and ended the call before it could continue.

I am male and this person is female.

This person is not my direct manager. I emailed the claims this person made to my manager, explaining that I was not comfortable having one-on-one conversations with this person.

Following this, my manager removed me from all of the projects I had been working on, some of which barely involved any interaction with this person. I have been reallocated to new projects.

The concerns around the questionable work were never acknowledged by my manager when I had a conversation with him. I did not put them in an email because I was worried it may escalate the situation a lot further.

I may have also made the mistake of not writing the email properly, as I was very emotional, and my manager may see it as a threat that I will escalate the issue even further.

He also asked me to hand over my work to other people on the team, who subsequently presented the work to the rest of the team as their own.

My performance could not be questioned because only a few days earlier, two people had provided me with written feedback praising my work on same project

I am now concerned that my manager may target me because he works closely with the senior leader I raised the concerns about. I am also concerned that he may not provide me with a fair reference if I try to move to another role.

I feel stuck and suffocated in my current situation, and I want to move away from this role.

The senior leader has made accusations relating to gender against me without any proof or basis.

What options do I have to move away from this role? What can I do if I believe my manager may try to damage my reputation or provide an unfair reference? Could I have done anything differently?

I was asked to produce work that I believed was questionable. For example, I was asked to fake the data in a report/dashboard so it could be used for a presentation.

This request was made verbally by a very senior person in the organisation (EL2+).

I was under significant time pressure, as the work was assigned to me only few days before the presentation and I was expected to complete it within that timeframe.

The work was presented to very senior leaders in the organisation, and they were very impressed. However, as mentioned, the data had been manipulated.

After the presentation, I was asked to continue working on the project. I tried to distance myself by explaining that I had other work commitments and was already busy.

The person who assigned the work did not respond well. They invited me to a one-on-one meeting and accused me of having performance issues, claimed that I disliked them personally because of XYZ reason (reverse bullying ) and made several other accusations. They also said threatened to have me removed from all data projects

I reported the matter to my manager. However, my manager refused to acknowledge that the work was questionable and stated that management has the right to allocate work and that sometimes employees have to complete work they are not interested in.

Following this, I was removed from all data-related projects, not just the project in question.

Fortunately, my work performance has never otherwise been questioned. I received written recognition from another team for my contribution to a similar data project just a few days prior to this.

I am unsure what to do next.

I believe my manager works very closely with this person, and I am concerned that my future opportunities within the organisation will be limited. I am also worried that my manager may provide an unfair or negative reference if I apply for a role in another agency. Feeling stuck and suffocated