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data protection breach

2 replies

jbee1979 · 04/07/2014 23:43

I work for a big company and i'm expected to be slick and professional but i suspect the company is not, and I'm really losing respect for them.

I had a MMC in March, I told my (male) boss in confidence (end of the quarter, hight pressure etc) and it was important to me that he knew I wasn't taking the piss, that I would have been in work but I was grieving and recovering physically. I had an ERPC and was off for 7 working days. He told 4 people, he "just had to".

I spoke to HR (that was a mission in itself - the HR manager fo my area didn't have time to speak to me until I emailed her to say I wanted to make a formal complaint since she didn't respond to my repeated requests for an informal chat).

I ended up with a sincere apology from HR, my manager and a company director.

We've had lots of technology changes lately, moving to a less sophisticated email system (cheaper) and they're promoting a new pay & benefits website where you can view your pension details, death in service benefit etc. I signed up to access this system in January, when I first heard about it - I come from a financial services background and that stuff doesn't interest me? but its important.

I haven't looked at the site since Feb - I haven't received the usual email prompt but put it down to the change in the email systems.

I signed in today and instead of finding my email address under "personal information" I found a similar email address for someone I know in a different branch - this is why I haven't received the pension emails - they've been sending my personal information to a colleague! !

I rang the company responsible for the site - they said they couldn't change it - I need to contact HR. I emailed them - the details were changed immediately and they apologised.

I told our receptionist - her email address has been changed too - so her personal information is now being sent to a shared email account!

We are furious - I fired off another email and HR phoned me - apparently they "updated" our information with old and incorrect information during the email account switchover.

why would they delete the current and correct contact information which I gave them, and replace it with obsolete and incorrect information?

I think this is a massive data protection breach, and I'm disgusted. I got a "apologies for any inconvenience caused" email - but if it happened to 2 members of staff in my building, it could have happened to many more of the companies 5000 employees - and I don't think they're taking it seriously.

am I making something out of nothing because I'm still hurting after the manager/MMC breach of trust, or am I working for a pack of idiots who demand everything from their staff but couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery?

I'm not a complainer - I realise i may sound like a female Victor Meldrew - I just work so hard, and I do have time to make sure everyone else is being professional - I expect high standards because high standards are expected of me.

sorry for the rant, I'm still a bit too cross to sleep and I don't know if I'm being unreasonable or justified.

Please say I'm not crazy!

OP posts:
PandaNot · 04/07/2014 23:47

Yes it is a data breach and if reported the company will be fined a huge amount.

EBearhug · 05/07/2014 19:26

You're not crazy. It is a breach, and it's unacceptable.

Your boss didn't have to tell anyone about your MMC, either, except HR. A few years back, one of my managers was off for 3 months, which he later said was because of mental health reasons. But at the time, no one knew, and his manager seriously pissed off the person he reported to, by refusing to say why the person was off - he had told HR, because they were involved with sick pay admin and all the rest of it, but he said unless it was authorised by HR or the person on sick leave, he wouldn't tell anyone else.

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