Coworker complaining about me to boss. Am I in the wrong?

Hey! I'm a design lead at a marketing agency, and I’ve recently started working with a new project manager who has bad-mouthed me to my boss.

Here's the situation:

  • Yesterday, the client emailed the new Project Manager expressing confusion about the project scope and deliverables. They mentioned they understood things better when the old PM was leading the project.
  • The PM blamed me for the client’s confusion. She said I wasn’t proactive in answering questions during the last meeting and didn’t have my camera on. She also mentioned contacting my boss about my "behavior," which was honestly really surprising.
  • The PM only raised these concerns after the client’s email expressing things running more smoothly with the old PM. She didn’t mention anything to me during or after the meeting, which was three weeks ago.
  • From my perspective, I’ve told the PM multiple times that we should let the client know I won’t be handling the work (as HR directed). This is especially important since they’re still upset about old PM leaving. That’s why I let the new PM lead the call - I didn’t want the client to rely on me and then be disappointed when I step back, like they were with the old PM. I explained this to the new PM, but she didn’t listen.
  • During the last client call, they didn’t mention any confusion about the scope and already agreed to the project terms via email. The focus was on the new PM reviewing the timeline. They asked basic questions, which I assumed she could handle since the PMs on my other accounts typically answer such questions. I would have happily been more active in the convo if she asked me to lead or slacked me during the call, which she didn’t.

Now I’m worried this will affect how my boss sees me, especially since this new PM is pretty high up. Did I handle this poorly, or is the PM overreacting? Should I address this with my boss or just let it go?

TL;DR: A new PM bad-mouthed me to my boss because I didn’t take the lead on a call for a project I’m no longer scoped on. She said I seemed disengaged because I had my camera off and didn’t answer questions proactively, even though I was only planning to jump in for SME-level questions. Am I in the wrong here?

Posted Feb 21, 2025, 1:59 AM UTC

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