Would this bother anybody else?

It would bother me. it seems she is taking on decisions and responsibilities that she should be doing. I would talk to the boss about your concerns and try to get the third person’s training and even decision about whether you need them, deferred until you come back. And it should definitely be you who does any training.

It would bother me a lot as it makes accountability an issue. Talking to your boss is a good idea, maybe email them as well so you have a record that can be referred to in case there is a problem.

Good luck with this!

It would really bother me, too. Is this 3rd person the one you would have wanted to be your stand in, or would you have chosen another person?
Let us know how this turns out.
I feel she is taking too much accountability upon herself where she shouldn’t have any.

We had a similar situation at my church many, many years ago. Anyway, after a bit while of uncomfortableness it worked out in the end. The original secretary since retired, replacement still there. Have faith God will show the way, but you still have to do the walking.

Just an update, everyone…when I came into work this morning, I did address this with the Pastor. He referred me to the elder in charge of administration, and I sent said elder an email addressing my concerns. I am waiting to see how it plays out from there. I was just wondering if I was being unnecessarily wary about stuff, so I appreciate the fact that others feel the same way.

I would be greatly troubled and annoyed by this situation. The substitute worker has no authority to name and train this 3rd person, and it seems that she also lacks the knowledge to do so.

You mention someone called a “clerk of session,” who, it seems, is your supervisor. Is this individual aware of what’s happening? I hope the person will do his/her job and put a stop to the matter.

@janbb I agree that this lady is taking too much upon herself. And it’s kind of ironic because she’s the one who complains that everyone has access to the copier/printer, and yet she has no qualms about giving people my personal login without checking with me. At any rate, when I return to work Tuesday (I’m off Mondays), I will be changing my login so that once again nobody else has it. This is the first job I’ve had where people are expected to share their account information with others (other than an administrator.)

@Love_my_doggie I have already been in touch with them this morning and am waiting to hear back from them. I agree 100% that they need to be involved.

@chyna I don’t know this new person well at all. She just recently joined the church (maybe 8 months ago), so wouldn’t necessarily be my first choice. I’m also concerned about if she has a working knowledge of Gmail and Microsoft Office. There is nothing worse than someone with a little bit of knowledge who could go in and screw things up.

@Acrylic I think it will work out too. I am more bothered that nobody bothered to include me in the conversation to begin with. One of the problems with working in this type of setting, I suppose, but I am addressing this with administration.

It would annoy me but I agree cross-training is needed. Perhaps for the old clerk and a new trainee both, so you’re all on the same page.
Additionally, I do think the previous clerk is overstepping, but in their defense, anything could happen at any given time to any of you. Perhaps they would prefer the trainee to handle future emergencies and are just trying to get out of the situation completely. Just my take.

@KNOWITALL I do get vibes that the original lady is trying to step back, but we don’t need multiple people having access to my account. One of the problems we’ve had in the past is that one person gets the password to something and then they pass it on to someone else. At any rate, if something unexpected happened, the church administrator can access the account and reset the account login. In the meanwhile, I don’t want a situation where just anyone can get on my email. People send me prayer requests, etc., that are confidential (only to be shared with the pastor and the elders) and the like.

@LifeQuestioner That is absolutely valid and not allowed in any workplace I’ve had. Definate security issue, and you could be blamed for any misconduct.

Why doesn’t the admin give access to an ‘emergency’ password or set up three accounts? Seems odd.

It would bother me because I don’t have a decision when I know how to do that job well. You need to tell your boss to stay in the loop of news and decisions when it comes to this. Since you are in the hospital it will be hard but see if you can use zoom to have a few meetings about this. Also, see if you can train people to be a substitute for your job encase something else happens to you. I see that people in your church will share your password. What you want to do is ask them to keep the password between the two of you or don’t let them have the password and instead access your email from the hospital and then tell your sub the requests so she can do whatever.

I hope that this is helpful. Get well soon.

@KRD I am not currently in the hospital but was a few weeks ago. But yes, I did let him know when I emailed him that I would have liked to be part of the initial decision, or at least part of the conversation.

@KNOWITALL yes, I was actually thinking along those lines that maybe they could create her a separate account to access. That still doesn’t solve the problem of the Gmail account because any e-blasts that we send out have to be sent out from the church email. I really don’t know how to solve that problem, but I wish I could figure something out.

I haven’t read the previous answers so please forgive me if I’ am repeating something already said.

The whole point of a password is that it’s personal to each person, so if there’s a problem, the job (the employer) knows exactly who did what.

At my previous employer that I just retired from, everyone was expressly forbidden from sharing their passwords with anyone else.

If the new person needs a password, the administrator or the IT person can give them a new password that is personal to them.

As for your substitute training the third person, I would email the boss, so that there’s no misunderstanding about what your’re saying, and say that you would l ike to be the person to train the new person, and you don’t see what the urgency is because you’re not planning to be out much due to illness.

Also, you should have your doctor fill out FMLA paperwork. Under the law, the employer cannot discipline you due to your illness, so if you are out again due to illness or because you need to go to doctor visits, they cannot fire you or suspend you or anything like that.

She’s paranoid. And “paranoia strikes deep.”

@jca2 I’m responding really late to your answer, I know, but it’s been really hectic around here lately. I don’t think my employer intends to punish me at all for being out. I think the reasoning is that if I would be out in the other lady wouldn’t be available, there would be a third person to step in. But it turns out that the third lady that was supposed to come in that Friday and work with my normal sub, couldn’t make it in, not because she herself was in a car accident, but because there was a bad car accident that kept her from getting down to the location.