Breach of confidentiality? Where do I stand?

[PapaSmedley]

Hi All,

Looking for some advise please as I don’t really know where I stand right now and feel as though I might be overthinking things...

I’ve been on a continual leave of absence (signed off) from work due to several personal circumstances and events happening this past year.

Prior to being signed off sick I had made my line manager and 2 of my task managers aware of what I was going through and what was happening back at home.

I made each individual aware that I wanted the information shared to remain strictly confidential. I also told them of who I would be making aware of the situation.

Following this, my line manager gained my consent to inform the project manager that there would be ad-hoc periods where I would need to be out of office with no further questions or detail needed. From what I was told this was discussed and agreed (with no issues).

At this stage I was only expecting at most the 4 management members of staff to know any of the detail.

Life started getting too much for me to handle, which is what eventually lead me to go to the doctors and be signed off being unfit for work.

I had made my line manager, project manager and 2 line managers aware of this in confidence that it would remain confidential and not shared with the wider team.

After months of counselling and taking antidepressant medication I finally felt as though I was in a better place mentally, and agreed with my employer to begin a controlled gradual return to work.

When I started to return to work, I had caught up with one of my friendly colleagues over coffee. They had asked where I had been in so long and I gave an excuse for an answer.

My colleague then informed me that they had heard differently and that there were rumours about what had happened/ where I had been in all that time.

I asked what rumours had been mentioned and to my surprise without any lack of detail he had stated only the actual reasons behind why I was off sick.

My colleague wouldn’t digress on who, when, where or how he was informed as he “couldn’t remember”. But being told this has left me shocked and untrusting of the company as I now feel that everyone clearly has been told and knows the exact details of my personal circumstance.

I don’t know what the best action to take is as I feel my data/ confidentially of personal affairs has been breached, but I don’t know by who exactly?!

Any help please?!

Thanks in advance,
Papa

This shouldn't have happened - but as it has, what is the worst that could happen? It sounds like your colleague is okay with it. It's only a big problem if you're treated detrimentally as a result.

Is there anyone else you could trust to ask if they heard rumours ando if so, from whom?

Do you think you could ask your manager about it, to say there are rumours and you're concerned confidential information has been spread wider than you wanted, as was previously agreed? Did you have any if that in writing?

What do you want the outcome to be in an ideal world, given it has happened? An apology, a change in processes, or...? It is a data breach and under GDPR, they should be reported within 72h.

I don’t think it’s really a case of what’s the worst that can happen. It’s more a case of my own personal information being casually shared around the workplace for a piece of quick gossip. My colleague was fine with it and really supportive which I’m thankful for... BUT that doesn’t change the fact that I actually didn’t want him or anyone else for that matter to know.

My anxiety levels are quite high at the moment and I don’t really know who I can trust to ask... especially because I don’t know if they’ve also been told the details as well; the last thing I want to do is expose the gossip as being true.

I’m planning on raising it with my manager in due course, but wanted to see if there was a recommended approach for dealing with this situation. I don’t have any specifics around who could be told what in writing, but I was verbally told on more than one occasion that the information would be treated with the upmost confidentiality.

At this stage I really don’t know what I want the outcome to be. I feel really embarrassed right now because a lot of people in the office have asked me where I’ve been and I’ve simply given them a rehearsed story. I’m now paranoid that they’ve been told the ‘gossip’ and are aware that my rehearsed story isn’t true.

Also, is it still classed as a data breach under GDPR even though it’s not tied to any formal record as such? I.e. to my knowledge it’s all been verbally spoken in the office?

people work together and people talk. you'd be surprised how astute people can be and some easily put 2+2 together.

I think it depends as pp stated if it was something people could easily work out for themselves vs quite niche circumstances. The latter would have had to have come from someone who was aware of it.

Sorry to hear about your situation OP.
It was awful of whoever leaked this to others, to share such personal information shared in confidentiality, that said, if indeed it happened like this....

I think it will be hard to prove that someone has been deliberately spreading this around.
It’s likely that they might have discussed it among the involved managers / collegues and it only takes 1 person to overhear them and talk about it to another collegue et voila, the gossiping has started. That doesn’t make it right, though.

I would have a chat with HR if I were in your position.

If you want to make it official ask in writing for “a data subject analysis”. By law they have to provide this. It should included all information held about you and anybody who has been privy to it.

Thanks for the messages all. To confirm it doesn’t bother me too much if they know I was signed off sick; that level of information I anticipated to be common knowledge. What does bother me is the level of detail that has been shared widely. I’m going to have a chat with HR later on today to see what they think about the situation. Has anyone gone through this before?

You need to think about whatever you do or dont do and th impact it might have on your stress levels. Your mental health must come first

I haven’t but I imagine if it happened, I’d feel the same way as you do now and I would certainly want to hear what they’ll do to prevent this from happening again. Good that you’ll take it to HR.