TL:DR For months a co-worker lied and reported me to my supervisor and I only defended myself. She finally went too far and was fired for her own actions.
I have this happen too. I had this co-worker (ok, she did not work for my company, but she was a contracted worker who worked in our office providing services from a different company) named Mary. Over 5 months, she worked closely with my projects and sometimes even in my office. She was one of 3 and was the first one hired, so she acted like the leader of the group. When I was hired, the office manager told me they just fired 8 people over "tattletaleing petty bullshit", and threatened me that if I participated in "tattletaleing petty bullshit" I would be fired too. This was my first job out of almost 2 years of unemployment. You can bet I did not participate in anything that would threaten my job. I have a Bachelors degree and you must have this degree to do my job while they worked a job that required a high school diploma, the reason I mention this is to let you know that I was absolutely no threat to their jobs and they could not take over my job, so getting me fired would not give them better job opportunities. The only thing that I can think of that I did that would upset her, is that I refused to accept her authority over me. She tried to boss me around and I explained that I was a licensed, trained professional and responsible for my section, she was not.
I tried very very hard to get along with everyone. Absolutely everything that I did, Mary would talk to my supervisor. She was a contracted worker who reported me to my supervisor at least once a week for 5 months. When that happened, my supervisor would run to the office manager and then all 4 of us (me, who actually worked at the company and the 3 contracted workers) would be called into the office managers office for a 'pep' talk where I was blamed for everything. I would defend myself but I did not participate in "tattletaleing petty bullshit" because I did not want to be fired.
Reasons I was reported:
"TwoTon said she was going to call my company and make complaints about me!" I never said this. I explained to the worker the correct way to do a job (because what she was doing was illegal, and I am legally responsible for the section and my license depends on it being done correctly) and when that worker argued with me, I told her to call her company and ask them for the correct protocal. In our pep talk, I was told that I was never allowed to call their company and make complaints about them. (So why where they allowed to make complaints about me? I will never know.)
"TwoTon said she was going to call my company and make complaints about me!!!!.!" Umm, for the second time, no I did not. What happened was I was speaking to another co-work as I walked past the room this woman was in. I said to my co-worker, "I need to call that reference company....(walked down the hall) and tell them to send a repair man to fix their machines." She overheard part of the conversation and went to my supervisor.
"TwoTon touched my paperwork. She can not touch our paperwork because she might lose it." Now this was bullshit. I did touch their paperwork. I worked 13 hour days and only got 20 minutes for lunch (God bless America /s). They took many smoke breaks. All 3 would disappear and I needed them to bring me their work so I could finish it before I left for lunch. If I did not finish in a timely fashion, I would get yelled at by the owner of the company. I was often yelled at by the owner of the company because I was never fast enough. I went to their desk and my work was sitting there, I searched the building for them and could not find them. So I took what I needed and left their work there. Finished my job and went to lunch. So, yes, I may have flipped a piece of paper over so I could find what I needed, but I did not impede in their job one bit. All their paperwork was accounted for. Nothing was harmed. From then on, I was not allowed to touch anything.
After 5 months of me being dragged into his office and being lectured over everything I did and did not do, never ever complaining about them, and being lied about, the final straw happened. To remind you, I was unemployed for almost 2 years prior to this. I support myself and I was terrified of losing my job. The owner of the company and my office manager threatened my job on a constant basis. Everything had to be done perfectly or they would fire me. This is a credible threat because while I was there, I watched whole departments get fired with no warning.
"TwoTon is doing my job and she should not do my job." This was complete bullshit. The owner of my company asked me to call the reference company and request some information to be faxed to my company. I contact the reference company daily as normal parts of my job duties, and I know everyone there by name. I often call them and requested information to be emailed to me or faxed to me. The owner of the company told me specifically to do this thing and I did it and I gave him the results. He was happy. I am not going to refuse to do a job that I am capable of doing if the owner of the company tells me to do this. Mary is not the only one who can contact her company. I was told to just be careful not to step on Mary's toes.
What the actual fuck? Don't step on her toes? I was livid. I caught the owner of my company and explained to him exactly what has been going on the past 5 months. That I just got counseled for doing the job he asked me to do. How I was never allowed to say anything about them, but they could report me constantly and no one spoke to me privately about it, I was always counseled in a group with them. How my job was constantly threatened if I joined in "tattletaleing petty bullshit" but they were allowed to do it to me. And they are contracted workers working for a different company while I was on his payroll, I was a damn hard worker and I had had enough of it. He said he would take care of it.
The next morning, Mary comes in and was fired. I felt bad about it that morning, but now I do not feel bad at all. She made her bed and she had to lie in it. I am only responsible for my job and not hers.