AIBU to think writing confidential HR notes on a train is inappropriate?

YANBU. Completely inappropriate for her to be writing confidential notes in a public space. Yes, it would be entirely reasonable for you to contact the company.

I have often travelled on trains for work, and you have to select what work you do.

I didn't say this was breaching GDPR. Just general confidentially and conduct rules

🙄

Sorry I didn’t realise it was your post, I won’t be answering again! Glad the post was deleted though!

I think it's my post that was deleted. I did refer to Stasi, but not aimed at one particular person, aimed at anyone who would report people to their employer's for procedural mistakes nothing to do with them.

They were relevant to the poster I was replying to who referred to me as “Stasi” the post has justifiably been removed.

And someone’s privacy should be safeguarded.

Your comparisons are abhorrent. Someone not complying with her workplace rules is hardly the same as abusing someone.
Reporting someone to their employer for this kind of thing is also disgusting.

Excellent idea to be working extra hours and your work load be to high to prepare for your day at work!

Which is why employers expect it from everyone!

Im not sure the tables are there for “working” at particularly, they’ve been there forever, long before the working on the train culture.

I travel regularly for work, I always request a table seat and work on my journey. It gives me the chance to prepare for my day, catch up on emails when I have been out all day etc. I can’t justify staring out the window when I have so much work to get done. They have table seats so that people can work on trains.

I once sat in a 4 seat table seat with 3 strangers who were women on a jolly day trip to London when one thought that was a good time to challenge one of the others about her DDs being mean to her own dd 🙈. God it was cringe and I wasn’t even involved!

There are many inappropriate things that people do on trains that are actually annoying: full volume scrolling, vaping, feet on seats, smelly food, speaker phones. You sat behind someone who is a bit crap at their job.

I think it's really odd that you think it's odd. Things catch your attention on train journeys. I can't read on a train, looking out of the window is OK for a while. I once saw a man watching porn on his laptop through the gap in the seats. If he had been watching something gross or child related you can bet your bottom dollar that I would have been on the phone to BTP.

If I knew the name of the person and the company, I'd contact the person and tell them I'd be a witness if they needed me to. What if it had been something much more personal?

Look out the window instead of being so nosy!

“You read it all”

No, I didn’t 🤣

YANBU
this is completely unacceptable.
On MY watch that would have resulted in a formal investigation had it been reported.
That person is a disgrace to the HR profession. No excuses, no exceptions.

She feckin well SHOULD know if she works in HR!!

People saying stop being so nosy- it’s a VERY small world and there’s an extremely high likelihood ( given they are both travelling by train) that someone who knows the person could also read those notes. It’s not for the “ nosy person” to avoid reading, it’s for the person writing to absolutely 100% ensure no personal details are visible - especially regarding a grievance issue. Totally unprofessional and inconsiderate. I would 100% contact the company.

What’s horrible is an employee having their personal details disclosed in a data breach. We don’t know what the original breach was. It must have been bloody serious for them to raise a grievance against employer. Maybe sensitive data about their sexual orientation or political views. Maybe something that caused them to be bullied at work and suffer terribly.

then here we have an entirely incompetent HR official breaching their privacy further. And you want us all to feel sorry for HER! In case she has busy home life or a bad day!!??

are you for real? She had options! She could have put XX instead of the name, used a privacy screen. She will have been trained on GDPR but wilfully ignored it.

No, she deserves to be disciplined and the data subject deserves to know that this company is breaching their data again and again.

It will prove their point for their grievance which should prevent it from happening in future at the company and potentially, depending on the details of the grievance, could even give them a payout of some kind.

I once got £18k for a grievance - then I quit!

This is a GDPR breach, OP isnt noisy for noticing - she shouldn't be able to see it! She can see an employees name, where he works and confidential information.

Especially considering the topic, I would email the company something such as:
'I would like to highlight an incident that occurred on a recent train journey (list the journey) whereby I saw a member of your HR department typing up notes from a grievance meeting on a train.
The notes were regarding X (employees name) and his claim that the company has breached GDPR. I am aware of the irony in me reporting this to you but considering there is an ongoing grievance on the matter I thought it should be raised. I recommend providing privacy screens for any employees wanting to work in public.

I will also be contacting Employee on LinkedIn as I feel this may be important to their grievance'

Someone who works in HR should be WELL aware of privacy rules and should know better.

😂

Well that certainly won’t make them feel like their privacy has been invaded

That’s ironic! He’s complained about GDPR and you can see all his information in a public place!

This, can’t imagine being invested this much in someone else’s life. Fgs you really looked hard and long to read so much!

You have his name, you know where he works, i’d track him down and tell him, and that I’d be willing to testify in a tribunal.

I don't think this OP was being a nosy Parker in pointing out this incident at all.

Besides not using a security screen. I think this person showed a complete lack of discretion in their actions.. Not to mention Professionalism. Which is now rapidly disappearing in most UK Professions.