Employer broke my confidence

buttercups88

I was recently diagnosed with an illness which would require regular time off for hospital appointments. I went to my boss to discuss it with her and told her the situation. She was very understanding and told me there was nothing at all to worry about. It would be all fine and let me leave early for day. (It was a Friday). On Monday I went back into work as usual to find she had called a short staff meeting after I left (very small company in a small town where everyone knows everyone) and told everyone the full details of my situation. I am so upset of this, I really thought I could confide in her. Especially as when I was talking to her I had said I hadn't told many people yet outside immediate family and one or two friends. One of the people she told is the town gossip and I know she will blab to everyone and anyone.

When i confronted my employer she was very unapologetic and said that she needed to let them know that I would be needing time off and when they asked why she told them.

I've no idea if I can continue working there after such a breach of trust. But I don't think I could go through job hunting process at the moment.

Darc19

That's called constructive dismissal.

Basically her actions have created an environment where you find it difficult to work in and she may well have done it purposely.


It's also a flagrant breach of confidentiality.


If you feel that you cannot work there anymore, you can sue for constructive dismissal, but I'd have a chat with a solicitor

Dublinandy3

Darc19 wrote: »

That's called constructive dismissal.

Basically her actions have created an environment where you find it difficult to work in and she may well have done it purposely.


It's also a flagrant breach of confidentiality.


If you feel that you cannot work there anymore, you can sue for constructive dismissal, but I'd have a chat with a solicitor

I agree with this comment. On the face of it it sounds like that, it doesn't matter who (the gossip you mention) it's the fact it was done. However we don't know all te details and possibly best you don't share them on here. Speak to a solicitor and take it from there

NIMAN

buttercups88 wrote: »

I was recently diagnosed with an illness which would require regular time off for hospital appointments. I went to my boss to discuss it with her and told her the situation. She was very understanding and told me there was nothing at all to worry about. It would be all fine and let me leave early for day. (It was a Friday). On Monday I went back into work as usual to find she had called a short staff meeting after I left (very small company in a small town where everyone knows everyone) and told everyone the full details of my situation. I am so upset of this, I really thought I could confide in her. Especially as when I was talking to her I had said I hadn't told many people yet outside immediate family and one or two friends. One of the people she told is the town gossip and I know she will blab to everyone and anyone.

When i confronted my employer she was very unapologetic and said that she needed to let them know that I would be needing time off and when they asked why she told them.

I've no idea if I can continue working there after such a breach of trust. But I don't think I could go through job hunting process at the moment.

I don't think she did anything wrong by informing the rest of your work mates that you might be needing some time off, as it probably would affect them in that someone might have to cover you.

But she had absolutely no reason to tell them the details. That was out of order. Wasn't her right to do so, imho.

horse7

Wouldn't it be worse if you were told that they no longer needed you,be positive about the situation,at least you don't have anything to hide now.

Field east

I hope that your health improves and that you return to full health . What was done was extremely inappropriate and very wrong. Some managers/business owners/supervisors an be very good at the technical/economic aspects at their job but could be ‘blind’ with regards as to how other aspects should be handled. You are in the best position to know the reason why confidentiality was not respected. BUT be careful as to what you now do for three reasons:-
- if you go down the road of constructive dismissal, and whether you succeed or not, you will always have that tag attached to you whether you like it or not. Ireland is a very small world and news gets around. A telephone call here and there re background can find out a lot
- if you ever leave the company ,or any other job irrespective of the circumstances, you would hope that you would get a very positive reference, written or not.
- ask yourself how you would feel in the long term depending on which action you take.
I suggest that you continue to report for work, behave as you normally do - very professionally I assume, see how things pan out and if you are still not happy to stay with the company THEN pick your time with regards to resigning. In the meantime discretely look around for other possibilities but maybe not immediately.

Mrs OBumble

She made a mistake in not agreeing with you first what and when your colleagues would be told.

At a minimum, they had to know you will be going to medical appointments. And if they don't know what for, they would speculate, perhaps guessing worse than you've got.

Will there need to be accommodations made to your job? Will colleagues need to pick up extra work?

PCeeeee

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

At a minimum, they had to know you will be going to medical appointments. And if they don't know what for, they would speculate, perhaps guessing worse than you've got.

No. They do not need to know the nature of the appointments. Medical or otherwise.

WoollyRedHat

buttercups88 wrote: »

I was recently diagnosed with an illness which would require regular time off for hospital appointments. I went to my boss to discuss it with her and told her the situation. She was very understanding and told me there was nothing at all to worry about. It would be all fine and let me leave early for day. (It was a Friday). On Monday I went back into work as usual to find she had called a short staff meeting after I left (very small company in a small town where everyone knows everyone) and told everyone the full details of my situation. I am so upset of this, I really thought I could confide in her. Especially as when I was talking to her I had said I hadn't told many people yet outside immediate family and one or two friends. One of the people she told is the town gossip and I know she will blab to everyone and anyone.

When i confronted my employer she was very unapologetic and said that she needed to let them know that I would be needing time off and when they asked why she told them.

I've no idea if I can continue working there after such a breach of trust. But I don't think I could go through job hunting process at the moment.

Did they identify the illness itself? If so that's a big no no.

Strumms

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

She made a mistake in not agreeing with you first what and when your colleagues would be told.

At a minimum, they had to know you will be going to medical appointments. And if they don't know what for, they would speculate, perhaps guessing worse than you've got.

Will there need to be accommodations made to your job? Will colleagues need to pick up extra work?

No, WHY exactly would they need to know ? Beyond being nosy ?

If employee Y asks.. “ hey, where is X this morning ? “

the answer just has to be...

“ Y has needed to take some time off “

If a manager is pressed on it... “ yes but WHY ? “

“ Employees including yourself can have different needs for taking and requiring A/L, those reasons are between the applicant and the company management, we don’t comment on why you want annual leave / time off so don’t ask why others want it“

If colleagues need to pick up extra, they just need to do it. They will if people are sick, on annual leave, if someone leaves before a replacement is hired...

No employee is entitled to be given personal information regarding another employee... be it their health, personal life, family situation or otherwise...

ineedeuro

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

She made a mistake in not agreeing with you first what and when your colleagues would be told.

At a minimum, they had to know you will be going to medical appointments. And if they don't know what for, they would speculate, perhaps guessing worse than you've got.

Will there need to be accommodations made to your job? Will colleagues need to pick up extra work?

No they don't

If they speculate that is on them. Just because the office busy body is going around it doesn't stop the rest of the office to tell them to shut up.

ineedeuro

buttercups88 wrote: »

I was recently diagnosed with an illness which would require regular time off for hospital appointments. I went to my boss to discuss it with her and told her the situation. She was very understanding and told me there was nothing at all to worry about. It would be all fine and let me leave early for day. (It was a Friday). On Monday I went back into work as usual to find she had called a short staff meeting after I left (very small company in a small town where everyone knows everyone) and told everyone the full details of my situation. I am so upset of this, I really thought I could confide in her. Especially as when I was talking to her I had said I hadn't told many people yet outside immediate family and one or two friends. One of the people she told is the town gossip and I know she will blab to everyone and anyone.

When i confronted my employer she was very unapologetic and said that she needed to let them know that I would be needing time off and when they asked why she told them.

I've no idea if I can continue working there after such a breach of trust. But I don't think I could go through job hunting process at the moment.

If this is correct and I know its hard to give details on an open forum you should go straight to a solicitor. Your boss is trying to make work impossible for you so you will leave.

She didn't need to tel them anything and the fact she sent you home and done it straight away confirms she knew what she was doing.

KaneToad

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

She made a mistake in not agreeing with you first what and when your colleagues would be told.

At a minimum, they had to know you will be going to medical appointments. And if they don't know what for, they would speculate, perhaps guessing worse than you've got.

Will there need to be accommodations made to your job? Will colleagues need to pick up extra work?

Really?

It's none of their business why you are not there. It's between you & the employer.

Mrs OBumble

Strums how would you react if you were told to pick up extra work every Tuesday afternoon, cos your colleague was suddenly given extra time off - for no good reason as far as you could see.

You'd be saying it was unfair and calling them lazy, and asking when your extra holidays are.

ineedeuro

KaneToad wrote: »

Really?

It's none of their business why you are not there. It's between you & the employer.

Some people seem to like giving advice when it is clear they haven't a breeze what they are talking about.

KaneToad

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Strums how would you react if you were told to pick up extra work every Tuesday afternoon, cos your colleague was suddenly given extra time off - for no good reason as far as you could see.

You'd be saying it was unfair and calling them lazy, and asking when your extra holidays are.

I wouldn't. I'd work my contracted hours & my assigned tasks. My colleagues hours are none of my business.

ineedeuro

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Strums how would you react if you were told to pick up extra work every Tuesday afternoon, cos your colleague was suddenly given extra time off - for no good reason as far as you could see.

You'd be saying it was unfair and calling them lazy, and asking when your extra holidays are.

:P
Keep digging.
It's none of my business why someone else has to leave the office or have time off.
If someone in my office had an issue with it, they would be the one I would be asking to leave.

Strumms

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Strums how would you react if you were told to pick up extra work every Tuesday afternoon, cos your colleague was suddenly given extra time off - for no good reason as far as you could see.

You'd be saying it was unfair and calling them lazy, and asking when your extra holidays are.

You don’t know me, so don’t be putting words in my mouth ‘I’d be saying’.. absolute nonsense.

I’ve been in a situation where I had to pick up extra.... at the time I wasn’t informed why, I was just made aware for several Tuesdays over about 6 months in the end... a colleague was not going to be present in the afternoon every Tuesday .... ‘ a family situation ‘ it transpired their kid was having psychological issues, behavioral , and was being brought to a psychologist every Tuesday... the employee was given unpaid leave as his wife wasn’t dealing with whatever was going on too well, he wanted to support his family... that came out months later....

At the time not knowing the situation I thought it to be odd, but I wasn’t knocking on doors asking for personal information about a colleague to be shared with me..something was up, I just got on with my job...

Darc19

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Strums how would you react if you were told to pick up extra work every Tuesday afternoon, cos your colleague was suddenly given extra time off - for no good reason as far as you could see.

You'd be saying it was unfair and calling them lazy, and asking when your extra holidays are.

I would have no issues whatsoever. I would assume that hr/manager/owner has agreed to it and it would be none of my business what the reasons are.

In most workplaces there are regular planned absence. Currently I have one person who has hospital appointments for their child every Monday afternoon, another that sees a psychiatrist on Thursdays and another that would be quite religious and therefore we never ask her to work Sundays.

I know their reasons, no-one else does as it's none of their business. But likewise it's my job to ensure other people's workload doesn't increase.

Fairly basic staff management

Shelflife

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

She made a mistake in not agreeing with you first what and when your colleagues would be told.

At a minimum, they had to know you will be going to medical appointments. And if they don't know what for, they would speculate, perhaps guessing worse than you've got.

Will there need to be accommodations made to your job? Will colleagues need to pick up extra work?

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Strums how would you react if you were told to pick up extra work every Tuesday afternoon, cos your colleague was suddenly given extra time off - for no good reason as far as you could see.

You'd be saying it was unfair and calling them lazy, and asking when your extra holidays are.

Sorry Mrs O B but this is clearly wrong, why an employee is out is no ones business as long as its cleared with their boss.

if your job is to make 40 widgets per day and the op also has to make 40 widgets per day it would clearly be unfair to ask you to make 80 widgets on the days the op is off. if thats expected of you then you can have a chat with your boss to get cover on the days they are off.

Why they are off ,sick, unpaid, extra holidays is no ones business.

kathleen37

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

She made a mistake in not agreeing with you first what and when your colleagues would be told.

At a minimum, they had to know you will be going to medical appointments. And if they don't know what for, they would speculate, perhaps guessing worse than you've got.

Will there need to be accommodations made to your job? Will colleagues need to pick up extra work?

Seriously? You think her only mistake was not agreeing what the colleagues should be told?

I sincerely don't get the majority of your posts and genuinely wonder if you post just to play devil's advocate?

I hope that doesn't come across as snottery. I'm just genuinely curious.

jimmycrackcorm

Mrs OBumble wrote:

Strums how would you react if you were told to pick up extra work every Tuesday afternoon, cos your colleague was suddenly given extra time off - for no good reason as far as you could see.

Ridiculous point. Like objecting to someone using their statutory annual leave because you might have to do some work to cover they're not available.

How do you manage when your work colleagues are on leave,? Or are you only happy if you know what they're planning to do when they are on leave?

Will you also complain if they have to go to more than one family funeral in a single year?

hurleronditch

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Strums how would you react if you were told to pick up extra work every Tuesday afternoon, cos your colleague was suddenly given extra time off - for no good reason as far as you could see.

You'd be saying it was unfair and calling them lazy, and asking when your extra holidays are.

But that’s not the OPs problem, that’s the employer’s problem. If that situation happens, the employer either needs to have additional staff available to support the employees that are working, or else manage the shortfall in other ways.

At no time is the answer “I need to tell everyone Mary has condition XYZ so that they all understand why she’s not in work”. If one of my employees asked where Mary is I’d just say she’s not in today and if they pushed for more info I would tell them in no uncertain terms that’s not their problem, they are paid to come in and do their own 9 hours and to focus on that.

Mrs OBumble

hurleronditch wrote: »

At no time is the answer “I need to tell everyone Mary has condition XYZ so that they all understand why she’s not in work”. If one of my employees asked where Mary is I’d just say she’s not in today and if they pushed for more info I would tell them in no uncertain terms that’s not their problem, they are paid to come in and do their own 9 hours and to focus on that.

Totally agree with the first sentence.

But unless you say "medical reasons" or some other plausible reason agreed in advance with the employee, the colleague with just assume it's ok to now be a lazy bint and take a day off every week. And they'll be looking for their day a week off too.

Your proposed reply will destroy team spirit and loyalty VERY quickly.

vikings2012

OP

You have mentioned that you will find it difficult to work with your colleagues going forward. You should not be made feel this way.

The details of your illness did not need to be disclosed to your fellow colleagues. Your boss/manager was wrong to do this.

I strongly believe that you should have a chat with a solicitor in this field. They can provide you with some trusted advice.

This must be a terrible breach of trust for you.

In my opinion you have been wronged. I question what other information your boss has or will indeed share going forward.

georgewickstaff

I'm am growing increasingly tired of the contrarian nonsense the poster Mrs O'Bumble defaults to. She is 100% wrong in this instance.

While constructive dismissal is not really a runner at this early stage I would be more certain that this a very serious data breach on the employers part

Given the fact there was no permission given to divulge personal medical information to other employees this is probably how I would be raising my grievance.

Also if you are now experiencing adverse treatment from your employer and/or their employees I would also be cataloguing this and consulting their dignity policy in relation to harassment for a medical condition. Check to see if your condition is a "disability" under the act.

Good luck

Steven81

A couple of people whom report to me got the vaccine early due to medical conditions, one guy asked me what condition did they have, my answer was that they were in the age bracket currently despite I think it was over 60s and these in their 40s.He didn’t believe that so I kept making up stupid stuff, in the end he stopped asking.

Throughout the years people have told me of depression, splitting up with partners, serious illness and sons/ daughters in trouble with guards and I wouldn’t ever think of telling a work colleague,

Mrs OBumble

georgewickstaff wrote: »

I'm am growing increasingly tired of the contrarian nonsense the poster Mrs O'Bumble defaults to. She is 100% wrong in this instance.

There's an Ignore function. Use it.

Mrs OBumble

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

There's an Ignore function. Use it.

Does it not resonate with you at all that not a single person here agrees with you, and those that take the opposite position to you have tens of thanks. If it were me in your position I would be considering whether my stance is actually wrong

Unless you are being contrarian for the sake of it

ineedeuro

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Totally agree with the first sentence.

But unless you say "medical reasons" or some other plausible reason agreed in advance with the employee, the colleague with just assume it's ok to now be a lazy bint and take a day off every week. And they'll be looking for their day a week off too.

Your proposed reply will destroy team spirit and loyalty VERY quickly.

I think you speak for yourself in this situation, the rest of us don’t act like that. Don’t tar the rest of the world with that poor attitude.

LegacyUser

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Totally agree with the first sentence.

But unless you say "medical reasons" or some other plausible reason agreed in advance with the employee, the colleague with just assume it's ok to now be a lazy bint and take a day off every week. And they'll be looking for their day a week off too.

Your proposed reply will destroy team spirit and loyalty VERY quickly.

I’m sorry but that is complete nonsense, there is no scenario that would ever necessitate that level of personal information being disclosed to other employees. EVER.