Manager telling people why I'm sick

[MRSMARMITE3]

Is this legal? Found out on Wednesday my sister has terminal cancer. Massive shock and I called in sick for that evening and told my line manager why. Got back today and another colleague comes up to me and says "I'm so sorry" and tells me the manager told her. I'm really angry as it's no one's business (I get if she had to tell a manager but she told a normal colleague -and worse the biggest gossip there is) . I thought this was illegal?? I may sound like I'm being over the top but I work in a massively gossipy place and I was hoping I could escape the news a bit while at work if that makes sense but this woman keeps giving me pity smiles

terrible behaviour! the reason for you being off should be kept confidential and not shared with anyone (unless necessary e.g higher management)
Is there someone higher you could raise a grievance with?

Hi, this is shit for your manager to do this. I don’t think it’s legal. If you are off ill this is sensitive information under GDPR and should be stored safely. Speak to your HR

I would go apeshit about this.

Massive breach of confidence and its illegal because its a breach of GDPR. You told her in confidence.
You can contact your union HR and ACAS, and you can report her to ICO

ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/

We don't have hr anyone. The girl who was told said "she didn't mean any harm by it, she just told me cos I was in, you'll get me into trouble". Guilt trip!! The line managers not in else I'd shout. I then told my friend at work about my sister and the gossipy lady said "well you told her??"that's not the point surely!!

Sorry I mean we. Don't have HR anymore

Yup, data breach under gdpr. Your company must instigate the personal data breach procedure, document, record and fully investigate it. I would also suggest they instigate mandatory training on identifying a data breach to avoid it happening again. As the data subject you are entitled to privacy and it is likely your rights and freedoms have been affected.
Make a formal complaint to your data protection manager/gdpr manager and cc the hr manager. You should have been told who this is before May 25th. They should perform a full assessment of the leaking of this and keep you in the loop. If you are not satisfied, you can make a complaint to the ICO.

Sorry x post.
Who you tell is under your control. That has nothing to do with it.
The gossip will get in trouble if she has told anyone else. Your manager is in trouble. They hold a position of trust. Don't be put off. It will be a test of their process and policies!

Call acas

I’m sorry to hear about your sister 🌷

She was wrong to do it, but let it go - you can’t ‘undo’ it.

Focus on your sister, yourself & your family. Don’t waste your energy on this, it’s just not worth it 💐

Maybe she thought that as it wasn't about you it was ok. Totally not ok though.
This will out me to anyone who was involved but few years ago (well before gdpr) my boss told everyone when I was off with morning sickness. I then had a miscarriage so he had to tell everyone that too. Didn't tell me that everyone knew everything. When I found out I was devastated.

My reason for sickness used to go on our roster so everyone could see (NHS). I didn't know this until I went back and a colleague asked something about my migraine. o.O I'm still unhappy about this, loads of people mistake migraine for "hungover" or "can't handle a headache" so I'd rather be careful about who I tell.

Very unprofessional, your manager should have kept what you said confidential. All she/he needed to say was that you were not well.