HR Discloses Confidential Information

[Sparkles1017]

Hello,

I am currently signed off work from the doctor due to work stress. As soon as I was signed off I emailed my doctors note to my boss and HR. Since then my HR manager has told my colleagues that I am signed off for work stress. I sent an email to both her and my boss saying I expected my personal situation to stay confidential but somehow people know and are talking which has been brought to my attention. I obviously do not appreciate that. Since then my HR manager has then told another colleague. Is this legal or a breach of data protection?

Also, I was sick with the flu back in October and when I received my pay I noticed I wasn't paid for any time I was sick. I asked my HR manager and she said because I wasn't there for 6 months I wouldn't be paid. When I sent my note after being signed off due to stress I clarified that I would be paid in full as I am well beyond the 6 months of service and she turned around and said that she didn't know who told me this but in my contract it says 1 year of service and if I had asked her she would have referred me to my contract. Luckily, I still have the email of her telling me that I would get paid in full after 6 months. My contract does say full salary of 1 month for every year of service. Since this is conflicting information from HR am I able to argue that they did in fact tell me I would get full pay after 6 months?

I'd appreciate any advice.

[R0b]

Re: HR Discloses Confidential Information

Hello,

I am currently signed off work from the doctor due to work stress. As soon as I was signed off I emailed my doctors note to my boss and HR. Since then my HR manager has told my colleagues that I am signed off for work stress. I sent an email to both her and my boss saying I expected my personal situation to stay confidential but somehow people know and are talking which has been brought to my attention. I obviously do not appreciate that. Since then my HR manager has then told another colleague. Is this legal or a breach of data protection?

Also, I was sick with the flu back in October and when I received my pay I noticed I wasn't paid for any time I was sick. I asked my HR manager and she said because I wasn't there for 6 months I wouldn't be paid. When I sent my note after being signed off due to stress I clarified that I would be paid in full as I am well beyond the 6 months of service and she turned around and said that she didn't know who told me this but in my contract it says 1 year of service and if I had asked her she would have referred me to my contract. Luckily, I still have the email of her telling me that I would get paid in full after 6 months. My contract does say full salary of 1 month for every year of service. Since this is conflicting information from HR am I able to argue that they did in fact tell me I would get full pay after 6 months?

I'd appreciate any advice.

Hello Sparkles,

If your contract says 1 month for each year of service, then that's what you can only get unless you are that there has been a variation to your contract which is likely to be difficult to prove unless you have some evidence in writing, otherwise its your word against theirs.

As for the other point about revealing your personal situation, that is likely to be deemed as breach of confidence if they have been telling other employees who do not need to know and you can claim damages for that if you issued proceedings in court. Have you tried to resolve this amicably with the HR Manager?

[Sparkles1017]

Re: HR Discloses Confidential Information

Many thanks for getting back to me!

I just had my HR meeting and expressed all of my concerns and the breach of confidence. The HR manager insists she didn't tell anyone even though my colleagues have all said otherwise even after I told her not to. I have an email from her saying 6 months of service but she's now saying that was a typo. The meeting ended with my GM saying that she will need to get another person in HR to come in as obviously I have something against her and the HR manager. I don't have anything against them I just know I can't go back into the office with everyone knowing my personal business and being signed off on stress when there was no need for them to know why.

[R0b]

Re: HR Discloses Confidential Information

Regarding the payment issues, I think it might be difficult to argue if someone has made a mistake, but there may be instances where this could be argued in your favour. I'll leave this to one side for the moment.

So a breach of trust and confidence is generally viewed as a repudiatory breach, something sufficiently serious to entitle you to bring the contract to an end. Your colleagues have confirmed this was disclosed do you have proof, text messages or anything else?

A breach of confidence issue can enable you to resign and claim constructive dismissal, your compensation would normally be the amount of your notice period that you would be entitled for remuneration. If you also have worked for at least two years there is the potential to argue that the dismissal was unfair and a court would consider whether this was the case. If they agree it was unfair then your compensation is factored into basic award (loss of job security and is calculated similar to statutory redundancy) and compensatory award which is determined having regards to all of the circumstances of the case. Where there is a fundamental breach of contract, I think it would be difficult for an employer to come up with a reasonable response as to why it did such a thing.

The above is just a suggestion coming from a legal point of view and is a very basic assumption of your circumstances. If you do resign you can't leave it too late or you may lose your rights to do so. If you are part of a trade union then perhaps having a chat with them might help and they could give you some assistance on the matter. Alternatively, you should seek proper legal expertise on this and see what your chances of success are even if its a free consultancy for 30 mins or so and at least you will have an idea.

If you don't want to leave then perhaps a chat with someone in the business to see if you can be relocated elsewhere if that is possible to do so? There's a couple of options but I wouldn't rush into anything without thinking it over and/or seek further advice.