Breach of confidentiality?

[Viennaspark1]

Currently of work due to fleeing Domestic Abuse, informed work change of address and to NOT send any mail to my old address (ex's hime ) . Long story short - private and confidential mail was sent to him by work several times after informing them not too! I have had an apology, but ex opens all my mail and weponised all the contents, bombarded me with texts, phone calls regarding the content! Probably I would be back in work by now but it's caused me so much stress. Shall I go to hr? Union? Legal route?

I'd move this to Legal, there are some very knowledgeable posters there and this seems like a monumental fuck up, sorry you're going through this!

Thanks for replying. I am just stunned about what they've done. I'm now down to half pay.

Find out who your Data Protection Officer at work is and go to them as well as HR.

Under GDPR you have the ‘Right to rectification” which means that data held about you must be accurate and changed in a timely manner if you notify that it isn’t accurate. You also as a victim of domestic abuse are a “vulnerable adult” under the Safeguarding laws definition and your employer has a responsibility once they know that to take steps to safeguard you. They aren’t expected to take direct action but to signpost you to services and to ensure that no actions on their part activity put you in harms way, sending confidential information about you to a known unsafe address and into the hands of your abuser does not meet that requirement.

How long have you been off work? Had you failed to reply to mail at your new address?

I've been off since beginning of December. I only had mail at my new address at the beginning of February. I had to call them and tell them that I hadn't received any letters regarding sickness review. However, they already knew that my ex had been opening my mail and still sent letters there!

I’m very sorry for your circumstances - I’ve been there and even had to go live in a refuge. However I’m puzzled as to why this has meant you’ve needed to be off work for 4 months?

You could have paid Royal Mail to redirect your Mail yourself.

My work email everything, sending letters sounds very old fashioned. Sorry this happened to you, why have you been out of work for 4 months?

Oh sweetheart, I'm so sorry, this is absolutely unacceptable and potentially dangerous. They were told not to send mail there and did it anyway, multiple times, putting you at risk. This isn't a small admin error, it's a serious data breach and safeguarding failure. Go to your union first as they can support you through the formal process, then put in a written complaint to HR documenting every incident with dates. Keep all evidence of your ex weaponising the information. You may also have grounds for an ICO complaint about the data breach and potentially legal action if it's caused you harm. Your safety comes first love, please make sure someone knows your situation.