Privacy and HR

Comms69

peachyprice wrote: »

No, they wouldn't. All they needed to to know was that OP was not coming in due to a death in the family so will be on bereavement leave, that's it, nothing else.

Uhm - I think that's upto the MD to decide! It's their company afterall...

peachyprice

Comms69 wrote: »

Uhm - I think that's upto the MD to decide! It's their company afterall...

Not really no. What gives an MD the right to have access to a divulge more personal information that is necessary?

It is OK if a woman is of sick because she's having an abortion and a HR and the MD decides it's relevant to tell other employess?

Is it right that if a man is of sick because he's having a vasectomy HR and the MD tells other employees? No it is not.

There is no need for any MD to divulge more information than is necessary to ensure the employee receives the correct type and amount for the time off taken.

By singing an employment contract you do to waive all rights to privacy and give an MD or HR the power to decide what parts of your personal life thye may feel free to discuss with other employees.

Comms69

peachyprice wrote: »

Not really no. What gives an MD the right to have access to a divulge more personal information that is necessary? - Not necessarily to divulge information to anyone else, but the MD certainly has a right to know WHY staff aren't at work.

It is OK if a woman is of sick because she's having an abortion and a HR and the MD decides it's relevant to tell other employess? - I didn't say that, so no idea where you got that from

Is it right that if a man is of sick because he's having a vasectomy HR and the MD tells other employees? No it is not. - Ditto

There is no need for any MD to divulge more information than is necessary to ensure the employee receives the correct type and amount for the time off taken. - So we agree, the MD and the manager should know...

By singing an employment contract you do to waive all rights to privacy and give an MD or HR the power to decide what parts of your personal life thye may feel free to discuss with other employees.

What on earth are you on about? I literally haven't said that...

Undervalued

peachyprice wrote: »

Not really no. What gives an MD the right to have access to a divulge more personal information that is necessary?

Yes, really yes!

Of course the MD has a right to any information the company holds! Obviously on a day to day basis s/he will delegate dealing with things to his / her staff but ultimately he has the responsibility for everything the company does!

Undervalued

peachyprice wrote: »

No, they wouldn't. All they needed to to know was that OP was not coming in due to a death in the family so will be on bereavement leave, that's it, nothing else.

If I was the MD and an employee said to me "you are not allowed that information" their feet wouldn't touch the ground on their way out of the door!

Undervalued

jonnygee2 wrote: »

I disagree with strategies that involve sticking to legal minimums to restrict short term costs, at the potential expense of a happy, motivated and productive workforce.

But even in this example the employer hasn't stuck to the legal minimum, they have gone beyond. Just not as far as you and the OP would like.

I am not disagreeing with your general point of view but I am less clear how far you think employers should go and on what objective criteria they base that decision.

As another poster has said, someone may be much closer to an aunt or grandparent than they were to their mother. How can the employer be expected to evaluate that? Would you treat an excellent employee differently to a borderline adequate one?

Icarus01

Thanks for everyone's input.

Not sure why there's a discussion about bereavement pay, i'm not complaining about that, I just said that's why I went back into work.

And yes, I would rather people think I was off due to a hangover/whatever stupid reason then knowing my mum took her own life. I haven't come to terms with it and i'm certainly not OK with people I don't know too well discussing it behind my back, or asking me if i'm OK or wanting more details. I was hoping i'd be able to forget about it and get on with my work but that's very difficult now.

I'm going to speak to my HR manager on Tuesday and explain i'm very uncomfortable with everyone knowing

marliepanda

Icarus01 wrote: »

Thanks for everyone's input.

Not sure why there's a discussion about bereavement pay, i'm not complaining about that, I just said that's why I went back into work.

And yes, I would rather people think I was off due to a hangover/whatever stupid reason then knowing my mum took her own life. I haven't come to terms with it and i'm certainly not OK with people I don't know too well discussing it behind my back, or asking me if i'm OK or wanting more details. I was hoping i'd be able to forget about it and get on with my work but that's very difficult now.

I'm going to speak to my HR manager on Tuesday and explain i'm very uncomfortable with everyone knowing

Unfortunately people are usually told to make people more wary of what they say at work, for example, someone could be complaining about work and offhand say ‘oh if this doesn’t get better soon I’m Going to top myself’ therefore if people know that there is a current situation going on they may be a little more careful what they say...

It’s not done for the sake of gossip.

jonnygee2

I'm going to speak to my HR manager on Tuesday and explain i'm very uncomfortable with everyone knowing

Good luck! It's worth having the conversation, at least they can take this as feedback so they can consider this next time if anything similar happens again.

What they should have done is discuss with you whether you wanted other people to know before they told you and informed you in advance before they told anyone. That would have been a more decent way to act.

peachyprice

Undervalued wrote: »

If I was the MD and an employee said to me "you are not allowed that information" their feet wouldn't touch the ground on their way out of the door!

So an employee phones to say they won't be in because their mother has died, you ask how, they say they're too upset to go in to details, you fire them. Good luck at a tribunal with that.