Awkward Work Situation

[SqualorVictoria]

Years ago I had Shingles and was off work for a few weeks. I had to bring the doctors note to give to my manager when I got back as that was standard procedure after being absent for more than a few days. Anyway, I gave the note to my manager and thought no more of it.

Until a few days later, someone handed me the cert with my name and "herpes zoster" written on it. Turns out my manager had left my note lying on the ground and someone picked it up. I was fuming, especially as herpes zoster was on it and obviously not everyone will know that that's shingles. So careless! I can't stand when managers are careless about peoples private info, and in this case it's worse as it wasn't an accidental drop of a cert on the ground (still careless). It was deliberately giving away your info

 

[SqualorVictoria]

That is absolutely shocking. It's not a laughing matter at all. If she can't be more assertive (I.e tell the other employee that she's not in a position to discuss the specifics of annual leave requests of others in a nice but firm way ) then what the hell is she doing as a manager? Sharing your personal info and throwing you under a bus just because she lacks assertion and doesn't know the basics is not on. Some people are just not fit to be managers.

 

[TheScarletgirl]

Having worked with a few managers . Some may just slip up and accidentally say things they shouldn't , however all managers should be trained on GDPR . My ex manager was a new boss and would constantly breech data protection and gossip without any care in the world about the other employees. Even told other staff I was to be made redundant with another colleague a month before I knew.

 

[HelloStereo]

Oh yeah it was just stupidity and lack of a spine - she could have done her job as a line manager and said that it’s none of the other persons concern!

The stupid thing was I didn’t even book THAT day off for mental health reasons haha I was just having a day with my mum! I think she’d just assumed! Daft cow.

Everyone’s comments on here have been SO kind and supportive though like there’s not been one comment that hasn’t made me feel better about it all so thank you all so much!

I hope you had a lovely day with your mum and that you've felt comfortable back at work since .

 

[JD-Morgan]

It's gross misconduct for a start and could result in disciplinary action

I'd take her all the way

 

[Raininvain]

Its not very good but if you complain about your line manager they could start making life very difficult for you and when you make a mistake blow it out of all proportion and try to get you finished. This is how the real world works.
I personally would either just have a quiet word with her saying you were concerned about it or leave it and look for another job in a more professional company. You have done the right thing from reading the whole post through again.

 

[Youre a wizard Harry]

As a team leader and fellow anxiety sufferer, I had to comment to say that is awful. I would never have told another employee the reason for holiday, I would have just told the new team member what the booking procedure was (e. Submit your request x amount of time beforehand, you cant have time off at the same time as xyz).
It sounds like you’ve handled it well, and hopefully she will reflect on her actions.

 

[Laur91]

I would agree not to go to HR if you feel she’s apologised but definitely say when you leave. I recently learned the hard way, I would have never ever complained about a boss or someone at work for the fear of how it would make me look but my current boss broke me last year in tears every day spent every lunch hour on the phone to my mum and poor partner crying my eyes out and I went to the company about her and they basically went and told her and made me sit in a room with her and talk to her (which I ended up walking out crying cause it was so uncomfortable) sadly I am still in this job but every single day I want to quit and it’s been awful dealing with her when she knows I complained about her.

Oh I’m so sorry to hear that! That’s exactly the situation I was worried about and I’m sorry they dealt with that so badly. At the end of the day though you did the right thing & she will also have to deal with that on her conscience. Is she behaving better now??