Can my boss tell my work colleagues I've been pinged as a close contact

onashoestring

It’s quite normal during this pandemic  that if a colleague  is off work unexpectedly, colleagues will wonder if that person has Covid, and whether they themselves need to isolate , or take tests, so naturally they will ask questions . Also HR have the right to know why you are absent.

 In the event that you do test positive all the colleagues you were in contact with will need to know and if the boss previously knew and hadn’t informed them they may feel that he should have informed them at the earliest opportunity, so that they could have taken tests themselves or kept away from vulnerable family members.

Hope you get a negative test result back soon .

[Deleted User]

This is why it's a good idea to have the app. Then you find need to rely on your boss having some sense if mortality.

Kim_kim

I don’t understand why this is an issue.  This is a virus, it’s getting to the point now where I think half my family & friends have had it.  It’s certainly nothing secretive. 

Early notice allows people to test & isolate, to prevent spreading to the vulnerable.  

martinbuckley

Mountain out of Molehill.

Marvel1

The manager should not disclose anuthing unless you said otherwise.

Yes people will ask, but manager simply says, cannot say etc.

HeinzVarieties

[Deleted User] said:

This is why it's a good idea to have the app. Then you find need to rely on your boss having some sense if mortality.

Is there any indication the boss doesn't know what dying means?

I suspect they would if the OP fails to turn up at work because they've snuffed it.

prowla

I wonder if it's a company's H&S duty to inform the staff if a co-worker has come into contact with a potentially fatal transmissible disease?

bargainbetty

As soon as I started getting ill I warned everyone I had been in contact with so they could do lateral flow tests to protect themselves and their family. I told my workplace even though I hadn't been in after the exposure, and while I am aware I was talked about, it was only to the extent that a few colleagues got in touch to wish me a swift recovery.  

I was keen to ensure everyone potentially impacted was aware at the earliest opportunity! Honestly, these days getting pinged or getting Covid isn't a shocker. 

BabyStepper

OP, this feels like a breach of confidentiality because that's exactly what it is.

Your HR records regarding reasons for absence, and your medical records regarding your health in general, are both 100% confidential. Disclosing the info your manager has just done is very serious.

There are already protocols in place for dealing with covid confidentially. These should be used. 

Anyone who says there is no problem here may as well be suggesting we all make our medical records public. I don't think so.  

I have no suggestion for how to deal with this. We are not in ordinary times. Just to say, if it happened to me I'd be angry too. 

smashinglynaive

BabyStepper said:

OP, this feels like a breach of confidentiality because that's exactly what it is.

Your HR records regarding reasons for absence, and your medical records regarding your health in general, are both 100% confidential. Disclosing the info your manager has just done is very serious.

There are already protocols in place for dealing with covid confidentially. These should be used. 

Anyone who says there is no problem here may as well be suggesting we all make our medical records public. I don't think so.  

I have no suggestion for how to deal with this. We are not in ordinary times. Just to say, if it happened to me I'd be angry too. 

No, we're suggesting people be reasonable.

The OP's medical records are not being proffered because the OP is only a close contact, not a positive test, nor a case, nor a hospitalisation, nor a death.