Current employer sharing personal data with prospective employer - what to do?

Savvy_Sue

pelirocco wrote: »

Just what is the risk of catching anything from helping someone with a nosebleed ?

Extremely limited, but IF either had a blood condition, and IF the member of staff had had a cut on their hand, then there's a risk of cross-contamination.

What they should have done was get my son to hold his own nose while they got gloved up ...

Obviously there will be times when people decide to run the risk of offering assistance without gloves, but it definitely wasn't a bleeding to death scenario!

Caffca

Deleted_User wrote: »

Look, I didn't come on here to argue over the legalities. Health and sickness records are covered under the Data Protection Act with a special provision for 'personal' (not 'sensitive') data and case law is quite clear that the employer has broken the DPA by sharing medical records:

http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/library/data_protection/practical_application/coi_html/english/employment_practices_code/part_2-employment_records_1.html

The issue is, what can and should she do?

Apologies bunglejemson, I was actually disagreeing with WLM's response to your original post but I was in a bit of a rush to get back to work which meant my advice as to the next step being contact ACAS was perhaps a bit vague - I did not mean contact them to find out if the medical information shouldn't have been disclosed but as to the best next step to take. Just wanted to clarify any confusion - hadn't meant to assist people in making this a debate over legality versus morality rather than providing advice on what your OH should do next - I apologise if my rushed post did contribute to that.

anamenottaken

Weirdlittleman wrote: »

This is an interesting publication from the Information Commissioner on it http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/library/data_protection/practical_application/health_data_-_use_and_disclosure001.pdf

Interesting but not relevant in this case as I do not think the employer is a medical practitioner.

Andy_L

Deleted_User wrote: »

that reference specifically stated that my OH "suffers from a blood infection and that in the last year she managed to uphold the majority of her commitments".

Ignoring the "blood infection" bi,t the 2nd half strikes me as daming with faint praise. I read it as saying they did not meet all their expected commitments which is not great on a reference. Were her employer perhaps just trying to excuse/explain it by mentioning health issues and have got themselves into a DPA/DDA quagmire?

lucylucky

Andy_L wrote: »

Ignoring the "blood infection" bi,t the 2nd half strikes me as daming with faint praise. I read it as saying they did not meet all their expected commitments which is not great on a reference. Were her employer perhaps just trying to excuse/explain it by mentioning health issues and have got themselves into a DPA/DDA quagmire?

Interesting take and one that I had not cottoned on to, but possibly a valid explanation for the current employer trying to do what they thought was best but perhaps overstepping the mark.

Emmzi

from a personal perspective I would

a) not give employer details as a referee until I had a job offer
b) disclose the nature of the condition to future employer after job offer was made, thus preempting any tosh current employer may spout that is opnion vs fact
c) therefore have protected myself from discrimination due to condition because no one is going to say "you can't have the job" after the offer is made if the disclosure happens then (unless it is job relevant condition eg shes beconing a surgeon)
d) have a quiet word with current employer explaining the disclosure made her uncomfortable, she would rather raise her conditon with prospective new employers in her own way (although she intends to do so) so could they limit absence questtions to time off and not stating the reason, as she considers it a breach of privacy

As an HR professional I would have no problem with the above events/ approach.

BligBlag

I don't think it's right that the Current Employer wrote something of that nature on such a basic/general reference form when there was no question even indicating for such information. Maybe he/she thought the OP's OH had already told them about her condition, and just wanted to point out it didn't really affect her work (just a thought).

But surely the OP's OH will have to declare her condition at some point with a new Employer, whether it be on the application form or once the job is secured, most jobs require you to declare any existing conditions and/or attend a medical - ?!

I personally wouldn't kick up a fuss yet. There's 2 scenarios that could happen:

-She gets the job. Once she has the offer in writing - then kick up a fuss.

-She doesn't get the job. Have a quiet word with whoever wrote the reference and say she'd prefer if she kept the matter between her and Prospective Employers only. She may need to rely on their reference, so pi$$ing them off before they've written one may be a bad idea. When she secures a job, kick up a fuss.

For what's it's worth, the Prospective Employers have still called her in for an Interview, so it shouldn't affect her actual chance of getting the job.

anamenottaken

Deleted_User wrote: »

We were both mortified to read this - we only found out when we obtained a copy of the reference

What was the process by which you obtained a copy?

Why were you yourself mortified? How did this shame or humiliate you?

Uncertain

anamenottaken wrote: »

What was the process by which you obtained a copy?

Why were you yourself mortified? How did this shame or humiliate you?

Can't see that this is relevant.

Even if they obtained the copy by some improper means it doesn't change the content of affect whether or not it should have been written.

I imagine "mortified" is a figure of speech to try and convey the level of concern. Might otherwise have had "steam coming out of her ears" or been "angry beyond words" despite telling us about it!

anamenottaken

Uncertain wrote: »

Might otherwise have had "steam coming out of her ears" or been "angry beyond words" despite telling us about it![/QUOTE]
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