Is my boss allowed to do this

[MrsMaxwell]

Work for LA.

Going through a restructuring process and we have all had to post preference for our own jobs.

I was away on the closing date so submitted mine before I left and received receipt of it and left a copy with my admin just in case it needed to be resubmitted for any reason.

There was an almighty balls up anyway and they all had to be resubmitted in my absence.

There is no love list between my line manager and I and I would not have chosen to share my application with her (she won’t necessarily be my line manager if either of us survive the restructure.

When my admin resubmitted my form my line manager asked to be Cc’d in which I am quite frankly quite pissed off about.

Is she allowed to do this?

I can see no reason why they'd need to be CC'd into it tbh. I would have thought the applications would need to go directly to HR for shortleeting. Well, that's what happens in my LA when posts are restructured.

Yeah they went directly to HR - confidentially.

Admin lady was apologising to me but she didn’t feel able to refuse a senior manager.

I don't think anybody here can tell you if she's allowed - there's not going to be a national law about it. Ask HR or speak to your union.

Pretty sure it’s data protection law actually and before jumping up and down about it I was garnering opinion about it annoymously - if that’s ok with you DailyMail?

Speak to ACAS first thing tomorrow, and good luck with your application.
I'd get the HR person to put what they said in writing as well. They dont sound competent.

Maybe she asked to be cc'd so she cd be sure it had been sent in your absence - to avoid another balls up?

On the face of it no data protection principle would be breached in having your manager know the details of your application for your job - she is your manager obviously, so would be part of the application.

Sharing of information with the manager would be reasonable in most cases, although this and more obviously disciplinary / grievances against the boss would be some where it might not be appropriate.

The fact you left a copy with your own admin, and your boss has a trivial reason to ensure it was okay as Chapellass says, there'd be easy defences against the data protection principles.

So yes, she is - she may later breach some data protection principles if she shares what she gained from your applications with others, but just having the information, I think would be a hard sell.

Even if we could potentially be applying for the same post?

So she was Cc'd in on the job application?

Of course she's not allowed to do this. It's confidential info!

No-one should have been Cc'd.

And especially since she asked!

Does the admin person have it in writing that she asked to be Cc'd?

Yeah I left my application with our admin lady and said here is a copy just in case anything goes wrong.

HR person we all emailed them to (there are hundreds of us) was off on long term sick but no one realised until last minute so my admin emailed it to the new person for me in my absence and my boss asked to be cc’d therefore then knowing what posts I have applied for and getting a full copy of my application!

I"m with DailyMail - no one can tell you as there is no universal rule about this. Your manager will likely have access to your HR file anyway so nothing is really secret from them. But different companies might have different rules.

She has access to my HR file yes but not to this confidential application which could potentially be for the same post she was applying for.

Have you spoken to HR about the application? Surely they noticed she was copied in?

I would ask your HR department for clarification, and make clear you think the intentions may be malicious.

Just to give you some background, once when going through a restructure someone who wanted to be my line manager demanded, manipulated and lied to be given access to my responses to a consultation. Long story short she succeeded, had one up on me in an already toxic situation and I was given little option but to leave.

I would complain.

Hmm - this is what I am worried about Waz

I have access to all HR information (I'm the 'boss' of 500+ employees).

No DP principles are being broken. Of course they are allowed.

Too many variables and not enough context. I'd ask HR the same question, see what they say and complain about it.

TwoPoint Fri 08-Dec-17 03:46:14
I have access to all HR information (I'm the 'boss' of 500+ employees).

No DP principles are being broken. Of course they are allowed.

Very Fortuitous you being here at this moment

Maybe it’s just my la, but line manager hasn’t got access to full file. They don’t know about internal applications and other confidential things.
When the dbs changed and wanted info about ss involvement and household occupants. Before I disclosed I requested a meeting with head, business manager and hr.
Line manager has basic info about all staff and not access to full file. There was no need for them to know everything.
To maintain confidentiality we are also told we can put things in envelopes for the head/business manager.
I would raise this with hr. If you were an external applicant. Potential line managers wouldn’t be cc’d in.
Again maybe it’s just us. Applications go to hr, they sift through them. Names are redacted, numbers assigned and these passed on. Doesn’t matter where the app has come from.

TheMaddHugger

I assume some kind of sarcasm but no idea what I did to deserve it!

You need some clarification on what 'confidential' means in this situation. I would ask HR.

Some stuff does need to be shared in a consultation, but I don't see why a job application, for a role that had nothing to do with her did. How can her seeing this benefit the company?

We have all had to apply for jobs, post preferencing 3, including her so she has effectively read my application which could in fact be applying for the same post as her - does not feel right to me.