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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Found confidential info about myself at work

45 replies

Polly345 · 30/05/2018 21:16

A couple of days ago I was tidying a shelving unit when I found copies of letters sent to me after a period of sickness and also a printout of the number of times I had been off sick in the preceding 2 years.
These letters were several months old so they had been there for a while.
I was quite surprised to see this personal information on a shelf where a large number of people could have seen it. I'm trying to think of it as a mistake but I didn't like the feeling I had when I found it all.

OP posts:

helpmum2003 · 30/05/2018 22:23

Penguin that's shocking.

MeadowHay · 30/05/2018 22:25

topcat pome I was off work for 10 weeks with hyperemesis and nobody knew why except for my line manager, their line manager, and HR, because I didn't want anyone at work to know I was pregnant. I came back from absence and nobody had any clue that I was pregnant or why I had been off. I would have been absolutely mortified and furious if this information had been passed around other staff when I specifically asked for it not to be given that we did not even break the news to most of our family or friends until a few weeks before I managed to return to work.

BewareOfDragons · 30/05/2018 22:26

at what should be a confidential pregnancy list on a whiteboard!

Pomegranatepompom · 30/05/2018 22:32

It would be quite normal where I work for someone to say they were off sick and say why. Of course this is totally different to information being passed round that's confidential, which is of course inexcusable.

Pomegranatepompom · 30/05/2018 22:33

I meant tell the office why themselves, not for a manager to tell the office.

Mercedes519 · 30/05/2018 22:37

penguin under GDPR there are special categories of data which health information would fall into. Organisations need to take extra care of these - a white board would NOT be the right place to keep this information i’d suggest....

Sprogletsmuvva · 30/05/2018 22:42

What’ up with someone is entirely up to them, what the problem is and that person ‘s own comfort in disclosing stuff.

In my office one bloke is totally open about his lifelong issues with bipolar condition (it affects his work) and disintegrating joints.

When I had major problems with fibroids, I would not have been happy sharing the gory details with my (entirely male) colleagues.

Xenia · 30/05/2018 22:42

Do it say why you were off sick? If not then every one will already knokw the information as they will know how much annual leave people have and will know how many extra days you have not been at work surely?

If it discloses the reasons you were sick then that is not good unless everyone knows already.

Did you leave it there or who do you think did so?

It certainly does not look like good practice at all. If it was right at the bottom and only you ahve tidied that shelf it may in practice have been as hidden as in a locked cabinet. If it were on the top of the shelf for all to see and says all kinds of secret things about why you have been off sick a lot that this extremely bad practice.

jacko2205 · 30/05/2018 22:58

So your personal information isn't exactly the number of days you've had off, but you could argue it's sensitive. Your HR file would contain this information and is completely normal, don't worry about it or read into it, however the fact that it's lying around randomly isn't a good sign. I think it's best to report it, but more as an 'FYI- file stuff properly you nicompoops' rather than 'why did this happen to me', no point ruffling feathers if there's nothing else to suggest it's anything sinister.

In other news, not sure what this is all about but it just looks awkward!

'God - if it was in my pigeonhole I'm really sorry
I don't know where your personal file is and haven't gotten round to making a new one. But no one else apart from me should be looking there?'

reason4 · 30/05/2018 22:59

Report this breach to your DPO (or HR if your company does not have a DPO). Your company has to respond officially to you. If you are not satisfied with their response, you can lodge a complaint with the ICO.

Sprogletsmuvva · 30/05/2018 23:01

Oh, and this is only tangential to the new Regulations. This kind of pisspoor practice has been expressly illegal since at least the DPR 1984, and probably heavily frowned upon if not generally unlawful for a while before that.

Growingboys · 30/05/2018 23:05

LOL at the GDPR panickers!

OP I would worry that your boss is wondering about getting rid of you. Or was wondering, at the time when you were off sick. That's what it sounds like to me.

I would tread carefully.

Original poster

Polly345 · 30/05/2018 23:07

Yes, a description of each episode of sickness was on the printout.

OP posts:

DrowningEveryDay · 30/05/2018 23:10

OP I would worry that your boss is wondering about getting rid of you. Or was wondering, at the time when you were off sick. That's what it sounds like to me.

Yup. My thoughts exactly.

Maranello4 · 30/05/2018 23:16

Polly No it shouldn't be left out like that and not on a whiteboard for the other poster (am amazed that these things still happen...not okay). I don't know why you'd have a file? Most systems would be online / password protected so that it's kept confidential.

Looking at this from a manager's or HR point of view, there are usually trigger points at which your absence would monitored - a few days here and there they're not going to worry about. But if there was a pattern eg every Monday or in a previous organisation I worked for the trigger was 10 days. Not to get rid of anyone but more to check whether you're okay, do any adjustments need to be made for your work etc.

Katedotness1963 · 30/05/2018 23:20

I opened my medical record one day and found someone else's notes in there.

My fertility doctor left the hospital. I was moving so went to the records office to get my records. There weren't any. The doctor left so they destroyed my records. For infertility. I had to go through all those fecking tests again. And I know it was destroyed because he gave me clomid for three months at a time which wasn't allowed then...

I went in for an early morning test due to infertility. The receptionist put a phone call on speaker phone where a woman was asking for an abortion. Never mind the fact of why I was there, I heard her name, address, where she worked, and how far along she was.

There is no privacy!

Not UK.

Wintry · 30/05/2018 23:42

It's not ideal but it really could be worse. The office DH manages has a whiteboard on the wall with a list of all staff absences over the last 6 months. It's meant to encourage good attendance apparently.

morningperson · 30/05/2018 23:47

That's really bad. Definitely report it to management. Information relevant to someone's health is sensitive and should be handled with utmost confidentiality. Its a breach of data protection.

Timefortea99 · 30/05/2018 23:48

Hopefully just the acronym GDPR will scare people who should no better to be more careful with personal data.

JustAnotherSod · 31/05/2018 00:10

A breach only needs to be reported to the ICO if the circumstances are likely to pose a risk to a person's rights and freedoms. Depending on how long the files have been there and whether any other person has seen them, there may be no risk to the OP's rights and freedoms so no report may be necessary.

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