Not sharing reasonable adjustment paperwork

[Raffleyourdoughnut]

TL;DR new colleagues wants copies of my personal paperwork so she can use it to get her own reasonable adjustments despite not having an medical issues or disabilities. I have not given anything to her. Apparently I have let her (and all womanhood) down.

I work full time and have a variety of medical conditions. I have had reasonable adjustments in place for over 15 years. These adjustments have always included the flexibility to work from home.

Pre covid we worked 5 days a week in a council office 15-20 minutes. The office we now work in is at least a 30 minutes drive away. Due to roadworks and traffic it has often taken up to 1hour 15 minutes to get home at times. Early last year we initially started back working in the office 1 day a week. Currently we are to work in office 2 set days a week. In a few months time we will be working 3 set days a week in office.

My current reasonable adjustment agreement limits my number of days in office to a maximum of one. This was both suggested by and agreed to by senior management. Whilst I have never publicly announced the specifics of my reasonable adjustments, its something people may well be aware of.

A woman from another LA planning team has joined my team and I have been training them up on how we process planning applications. She has recently been asking about why I am only coming into the office 1 day a week and I must have said like it was due to my reasonable adjustment. Last week during a teams call she asked me some questions about how to get a reasonable adjustment without actually having any medical issues or a disability and specifically asked for a copy of my personal paperwork including my completed application form, doctors letters, any other evidence etc so she can model her application on mine. I said no. I would not be giving her anything. However I did suggest she speaks with management about applying for one and I sent her the link to the council policy guidance on reasonable adjustments.

I had expected that to be the end of the matter however today during our virtual service meeting she asked for my personal information again. This time I was more annoyed with her asking, given it was in front of everyone (there was about 25 people on the call) so I again said no and I told to her that, this was the second time she had asked and my answer won't change. One of other women on the call ( who is not in my direct team) butted in that we should be helping others especially those with less experience. I agreed we should but I'm not giving my personal medication information away to someone I just met. One of our managers on the call stepped in and told first colleague to set up a call time so they can speak to her privately about it.

Since this meeting I've had 4 other women (who are not in my specific team) call or message me via teams to say I was unreasonable to say no to her request and to essentially tell her off in front of everyone especially the 2 managers on the call. Apparently everyone thinks the same especially as women should always be helping other women, no matter what.

I've been too busy today to have a chance to speak to my actual teammates about what happened. I don't think I was unreasonable but it would be good to get other opinions. Should I speak with management about my conversation with colleagues last week?

I don't think she's going to let this one go, so I'd raise it with management and refused to discuss the matter further with her

Yanbu.

Do they fully understand/realise what she's asking for? Aka all your personal info and not just help filling in the relevant documentation?

How does she think she will get a RA if she has no condition to make RAs for? She's a CF of the highest order by the sounds of it.

Speak to management. Tell them people are harassing you for sensitive medical information about yourself. They should put a stop to it quickly.

I’m flabbergasted that this woman thinks she’s entitled to see your personal medical and health information and that others agree with her! She’s obviously self-absorbed and entitled. As for the others, being charitable, might they not understand what she’s asking for?

It’s not a reasonable request on her part, and as for telling her in front of others, thIs is on her, not you, as she piped up again in public having already been told no. Had she wanted to negotiate with you, she could have easily asked for a one to one with you. She chose not to.

Sounds like either people have the wrong end of the stick, or you work with a bunch of morons. Can you speak to your manager and get them to have a word with this woman’s manager and get her to back off? If anyone else is being funny with you, I’d raise that as well.

I’d be raising this with management - I don’t get though why she’s blatantly asking for it despite having no medical issues and managers are on the call, so surely know it’s all lies and would reject it anyway. She’s completely cheeky and out of order and so are those colleagues who contacted you

If you’re not being unreasonable

Having been on the receiving end of this myself, I'd say there's a non-zero chance that she objects to the reasonable adjustments they've made for you when she doesn't get them, and doing so in a passive-aggressive manner by trying to get you to "out" yourself so she can judge for herself whether you're worthy.

Absolutely do not budge on this one. Even if she's not doing that, the fact that she pushed you for it in public suggests that she's not particularly trustworthy.

If anybody else chimes in, just tell them that - the mere fact that this is being discussed widely 100% proves your point about keeping your private medical information out of everybody else's hands.

GDPR
Continue to say no
You sent her the guidance link
Let that be an end to it
The others who have contacted you - either tell them it's a GDPR issue or just ignore
Your own team know you - you don't need to bring them into it
Manager is already on it - leave them to deal with her

She is totally out of order. If she wants to approach management about reasonable adjustments then go ahead, you are correct that’s it’s nothing to do with you. If she has a legitimate reason they will make the adjustments on merit as they have for you.

She has no reason to see your private details and I wouldn’t share anything either. She’s being the arse not you.

As for the others who have messaged, I suggest they help her as they are so keen. I’m all for helping, but not spoon feeding which is what she actually wants from you.

Sending hugs 🤗

Of course you aren't being unreasonable. Your medical information is personal and none of her business. I can only hope that the colleagues who are supporting her have misunderstood the situation and what she is asking for.

If she persists in harassing you, I would put something in writing to her, asking her to stop demanding that you share your confidential medical information. I would also consider putting in a formal complaint against her and any other colleagues who choose to jump on the bandwagon. Nip it in the bud.

YADNBU. I'd be tempted to ask these other colleagues whether they'd be happy to share their entire medical history with random strangers in work. That should stop them mithering you. Agree with others, hand it over to your line manager and HR.

She has been completely unprofessional in bringing this up twice in public meetings.

I have a number of reasonable adjustments at work and I'm always happy to share (just) the relevant bit of my workplace adjustment passport with people who have the same issues, as I had a lot of help in creating it in the first place. Do you know for sure she doesn't have any? Even so, I wouldn't be sharing doctors notes or the like - it's nobody else's business.

I would put in an official complaint about this woman specifically about her bringing it up on a public call when you'd already told her no. She needs to be told that her behaviour is totally inappropriate and not to mention it again, and it isn't up to you to either provide all your details or put up with her rudeness.

I don't understand why she thinks your paperwork is a good template for her ask? Every single request is based 100% on that individual's circumstances. And that's not just 'X and Y both have condition Z so both have this adjustment' because condition Z might have different levels of severity or impact on a person. E.g. I had a temporary condition recently and when I talked to other people many knew or had personal experience of the temporary condition but everyone's severity differed slightly. So the adjustments I've had temporarily might not be enough for some and too much for others. Does she/the nosey parkers have no understanding that reasonable adjustments are specific to an individual's needs? And also by sharing that paperwork it would give her (and anyone she chose to pass it on to) hugely private medical information about your needs.

Very odd that multiple people contacted you to say you were in the wrong. YANBU.

I’d be emailing her, copying in her boss, asking her to stop asking you to disclose your personal medical information to her, particularly in public forums.

I wouldn’t pussy foot around her, how dare she put you in this position!

I'm concerned that someone working in planning as no clue on privacy and GDPR if she thinks her question was ok!

Just say These are private medical details that i dont share with anyone

Surely this would be classed as a disciplinary matter? She's harassing you for private medical information to make a fraudulent claim for reasonable adjustments?

Anyone can ask for flexible working after a qualifying period I think. So if she wants to ask for a flexible working practice she'll have to go the standard route as anyone else. But no she can't claim RA for a condition she doesn't have!

I'd be making a complaint tbh

YANBU. I have reasonable adjustments at work and the only people I have shared my adjustment passport with are my managers.

I have happily helped others get similar adjustments but without sharing private medical info. For example I have a specialist chair via OH. The process for this is complicated and I have helped other colleagues who need a specialist chair with the process. I.e. I have sent them links to guidance and advised on next steps and contacts. I have never shared my medical reports from doctors or OH or details of any of my diagnoses.

One of my conditions is rare (there's only a few thousand people with the condition in the UK) so most of my info will be irrelevant anyway. I am open about it at work at a high level but that's my choice to raise awareness.

YANBU, you should not feel obliged to give away personal information. Plus if she’s not got a disability she’s likely to have no chance anyway.

I would email her very very clearly but politely saying you’ve helped all that you can, and that if she has concerns she needs to raise it with her manager but on no account should she raise this with you on a public call again as it is making you uncomfortable and it is inappropriate.

Reply to anyone else- and I am slightly flabbergasted as I thought that you were going to say they messaged you to say she was out of order- in the same vein.

Was about to say similar.

She needs to stop harassing you. Management needs to step up.
Any other Dooley colleagues who think this is appropriate need a quick lesson.

I'm guessing other people getting involved don't realise that she's asking for your personal info.

This. I would reply to all the nosey fuckers and say exactly what you've said here - it's not appropriate for her to be asking for your personal medical details and it's not appropriate for them to be hassling you about it either. I'd add something extra in to scare them off as well like "I've worked very hard to succeed at work whilst managing these medical issues and will not accept being treated differently because of them. Anyone who continues these actions will be putting themselves at risk of being involved in a disciplinary issue that no one wants.

Oh my goodness. She's a cheeky one!

How rude! How dare she ambush you like this.
I can only assume the other colleagues hassling you on her behalf do not realise the full extent of the information she wants.
Some people have no boundaries 🙄.

This. It'd be bloody furious if someone demanded my PERSONAL information like this, and my "colleagues " would get the sharp end of an explanation about personal rights and equality if they acted like this. If say this is now formal grievance to a manager time.