AIBU to be annoyed my boss keeps calling my parents?

But that would be a rare situation.
Some people's emergency contact could live 300 miles away (because it's their parents).
A police welfare check would make more sense in a situation like that.

What if something had happened? I’ve had a staff member trying to die by suicide. If I hadn’t had called his emergency contact they wouldn’t have known he was missing. They assumed he had gone to work as normal.

LOL. Boss thinks "emergency contact number" has a similar meaning to "emergency services", doesn't she?

If her house is on fire, it's an emergency, and she will call 999. If she can't get hold of someone to cover a shift at short notice, that's also an emergency, so she calls the emergency contact number.

Does your mum use a mobile or a landline? Get her to block her number. I can block numbers on my landline too.

When the boss asks why tell her you object to her harassing your parents.

Am 99% sure that looking up your emergency contact when there is no emergency is a breach of GDPR [because it is private information] as well as a gross misconduct under employment rules. I think there was even a High Court ruling on the use of private tel nos.

I’d be reporting this to HR and explaining that it is something you are entitled to escalate to the ICO. The manager is seriously out of order.

So when there is an actual emergency (ie the OP is rushed to hospital from work) they wouldn't be able to contact her mother when it's a time she would WANT her mother contacted.
Calling emergency contact after an HOUR.
That's ridiculous.
Not what emergency contact numbers are for.

Then you need to change your emergency contact.

I have absolutely had to call emergency contacts when staff haven’t turned up for a shift. Not straight away, but if it’s been an hour, no call back, I have a duty to ensure my staff are ok. That includes calling an emergency contact.

Whilst some companies might, you definitely do not need to wait until several days after someone has failed to show for work or contact anyone to get in touch with an emergency contact.

Waiting until you’re about 80% sure the person is dead is basically the complete opposite of what the system is designed for.

You only really need to have waited a reasonable amount of time whereby it’s not feasible that they are simply late or have overslept, and after a reasonable amount of attempts to contact the employee themselves have failed.

However the examples OP has given where her mum is being contacted for shift swaps are complete overkill.

Yes that would be a valid reason to use an emergency contact, if they hadn’t phoned in sick or let someone know they wouldn’t be there, especially if they were a usually reliable employee or someone who may be vulnerable for whatever reason. You would usually wait a reasonable amount of time to decipher that they weren’t just late or had overslept first though.

There’s many examples of cases where the first knowledge that someone was missing came from work contacting a family member to advise they haven’t shown up, so it is a good system to have in place, so long as it’s not abused.

No, absolutely NOT, that is not what they are for. Unless of course someone has not turned up for several days, has not contacted the office and is not replying to calls or messages. In which case it would be the right thing to do.

For the instance you've mentioned for wanting a shift swap is crazy.

However, what is your job? Are you a carer or lone worker not clocking in and out perhaps and not showing up?

If it's a safe guarding issue, then my opinion on calling to check in would be different but it would have to be a pretty big issue to ring your emergency contact.

I would absolutely contact emergency contact if an employee who usually turns up every day was more than 3 hours late and no contact with us. Particularly if they live alone. What if they are unwell at home and no-one else raises the alarm. If it was a regular occurrence then no I wouldn’t.

I have when I was worried about someone. Tried calling texting emailing the person (she had mental health issues) and I was worried about her when she didn’t show up.

This.

I had to call someone's emergency contact. I had to go through HR and have a valid reason for calling.

No that's a breach of privacy/GDPR.

An emergency is if you have had an accident and are on way to hospital and they need to let next of kin know.

If you don't turn up for work they ring you, they message you, after a day or two they might knock on your door. After a few days 'mossing' they might be reasonable in contacting them and asking them to pass on a message to call in. They should not be disclosing ANY information.

Reeeeaaaaadddddddd my response to myself right directly underneath this one.
For the love of God how hard is it.

I work in HR.
Firstly, why does your manager have your emergency contact information? This should be held by HR.
Secondly, this is an abuse of what the information is intended for. We would only call the EC if someone failed to show for work and we couldn't reach them, or if an emergency occurred while they were at work.
My suggestion would be to email your manager to ask them to stop doing this. If they don't, escalated to HR. Explain if they need you, to call or message you directly and you'll respond when able to.

I agree, 100%. I also wonder if this could be argued to be a breach of confidentiality, if phoning about work patterns.

I'd hope you never fall out seriously with your parents, but there are some people who do, and for whom contact is only ever appropriate were there to be serious illness or worse.

Also a “Hi, as this is listed as an emergency contact it puts me terribly on edge every time I see you calling as I assume something must have happened to my daughter. I don’t want to find myself in sheer panic when out driving or in a public place for a query about a shift swap. Please only call me if there is a welfare concern for my daughter” from your mum should do it next time she calls

Bizarre behaviour and absolutely not what having an emergency contact is for.

Emergency contacts are for just that, things that either are or might be an emergency. And by emergency I don’t mean last minute requests from a client!!

It’s for if something happened to you at work such as an accident or illness, you failed to show up to work unexpectedly or went awol on your lunch break and no one could get hold of you I.e genuine concerns for welfare of an employee.

How is your mum dealing with these calls?

She needs to say ‘please speak to moaning directly as she is the one you employ’

If she’s not doing this you need to make it very clear to her that she is not to discuss your work with your boss.

Do you have HR? You need to speak to them about this. This is wildly inappropriate of your boss.

Did you not comprehend something said?
Could you try read it again?

Reeeeaaaaadddddddd
For the love of God how hard is it.