system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Jealous postdoc coworker accusing me of faking data, not showing up to work; reputation and career at stake

I'm a relatively new postdoctoral fellow who works at a large institution, been here about 18 months. I have an abrasive co-worker who I've clashed with multiple times, socially and scientifically. I've blocked her phone number because she berates me after hours via texts. I have mostly just tried to keep my distance from her because we are just too different in our work ethics.

We work on similar projects in the same department. I was hired for a specific role/expertise, and given specific tasks by my PI. This pre-existing postdoc/co-worker is obviously not happy about the similarities.

My PI recently discussed with me a patenting opportunity about some of my recent lab work. My co-worker went ape shit. I guess she was gunning for a similar thing. Today she openly accused me in front of others that I have faked my data, that I conned others into performing the work for me, that I barely show up for work (we're salaried, so some days I finish at 3pm and other times I'm here on a Saturday night, but this is still a damning accusation). It's insane. 

A fellow postdoc is spreading incredibly harmful rumors about me that would be very damaging to a scientist's career. I don't know how many people will listen to her since she has historically been a little nutty, but I'm not good at confrontation and I don't know how to handle this. 

I have emailed my PI and demanded some mediation. I'm thinking of going to HR too but I don't know. 

Just wondering how other postdocs out there handled conflict and what I can do to protect myself. I'm very new in this field; I don't want to have my future jeopardized by a senior postdoc spreading rumors.
gpt
If she is knowingly making false accusations about you in order to sabotage you, then she should be fired. This type of petty behavior cannot be tolerated.

The main thing you need to do is to *document everything*.  Every time she makes an accusation, an insulting comment, or takes any other unprofessional action against you, write it down, including exactly what happened, the time, date, and location where it happened, and the names of anyone else within sight or hearing.  If you still have the berating text messages from before you blocked her, find a way to print them out on paper (but keep them electronically too).

You have taken a good first step by informing your PI that you want some kind of mediation or formal process to solve this problem.  Meet with your PI in person (not by email) and explain that, in your opinion, the situation is out of control and intolerable, and above all that you want some kind of *formal* resolution to this situation.  Don't let your boss or the department chair try to sweep this under the rug or make it quietly go away by giving you vague promises about looking into the matter or taking care of it, etc.  Make it clear that you won't tolerate this situation, and if the department doesn't handle the matter satisfactorily, you will be escalating your complaint to the next level.

Finally, and this should go without saying, *make sure your own behavior is beyond reproach*.  Do not engage with the problem postdoc in any way that someone could mistake as you both being equally at fault, etc.  Furthermore, if her allegations include data falsification, then a formal investigation (if it comes to that), will probably want to see your notebooks and raw data, etc.  Make sure your notebooks, computer files, and analyses are all up to date and can withstand the scrutiny of someone looking for possible reasons to doubt your word.

This is a very unfortunate situation, but hopefully your PI will take care of things without you having to escalate the matter.  Good luck, and let us know how it turns out.