This is always a very very unpleasant situation to be faced with in the workplace – and it is things such as these which can very quickly break down the relationships between employees and between employees and management.

It is not clear from your question whether you have copies of the actual e-mails or whether you have just had sight of the e-mails concerned. I would have liked some detail on the content, but I do realise that it may be difficult to include the detail in a question to an open website. The reason for my wanting some detail is to ascertain what the nature and the possible impact of the gossiping and comments might be – this can have an influence on your future conduct.

There is a concept in our law called “constructive dismissal” where organisations create or fail to deal with a situation where the work situation becomes so intolerable for the employee that they have no alternative but to resign. I am obviously in a position to comment if the situation which you have sketched would fall within this aspect. If you feel that you are being very severely prejudiced in the workplace by the issues which are occurring around you, I would like to suggest that you consult a labour lawyer in your area to discuss your situation more fully – this will enable you to take an informed decision about your future career in the organization.

It may also be possible to resolve this issue by meeting with your manager and the HR manager and to tell them that you feel (and you must stress the feelings) that there are people who are gossiping about you and that their attitude towards you is hurtful and is affecting your work and your working relationships with colleagues and management.

I trust that this has been of help to you in this matter – please do feel free to submit another question to the website should you require any further information or assistance.

Good luck!