A friend of mine (to hear her tell it) is being targeted for some kind of bullying campaign by the head of HR at her workplace. One incident recounted by my friend is this–she made a request (I forget the nature of it) to the head of HR, and the head did not reply to her, but instead copied the request to several VPs, with the comment “I’m not going to address this, considering how much sick leave she has taken in the past year.” The nature of my friend’s request had nothing at all to do with taking leave. (Sorry I don’t remember what it was…) Also, to be clear, there is no question whether she’s taken too much leave–she has not exceeded her alotment (again, this is all "assuming she’s recounting things accurately).
I suggested that this disclosure (assuming it happened as she describes) was probably against policy at her workplace, and possibly illegal, but I also said of course I don’t really know. It was just a suggestion.
So now I’m curious. Would this typically be against policy? Or do VPs typically have routine access to information like this? (Even one’s not in the worker’s direct line of command.)* Is it possibly even illegal?
Just wondering…
*BTW I should mention her immediate supervisor is one of those VPs, and as she tells the tale, totally has her back regarding this and related troubles.
This sort of reminds of a time when, in law school, I was guiding a newly-hired student employee on her W-9, and she got her hackles raised about providing her Social Security Number. Evidently, she was unaware that while there are protections and privacy concerns around that, there are obviously legitimate occasions to disclose. Such as mandatory disclosures (indeed, without which, the employee may not legally be hired) for Social Security withholding from one’s wages.
Sick leave is a benefit afforded by the company to the employee as part of the compensation package. So, pretty clearly, the company, and it’s managerial agents, are subject to no legal prohibitions on intra-company relay of information regarding its use. The law treats the company as one entity instantiated by its managers; it does not further parse out allowed-to-know managers and forbidden-to-know managers.
Now, there may be a policy that applies to the HR generalists, but the VP is usually given executive authority to alter the application of the policy.
All that said, I think the email was a little petulant. I’m not saying that there is no possible way in which it could be justified (although no particular justifying scenario occurs to me). But on the facts that I know, it seems a little vindictive and unprofessional.
Like anything else that may go south, document to CYA. If the head of HR has a problem with your friend, she may want to be prepared for the worst.
However why did your friend make a request to the head of HR and not someone lower on the HR hierarchy? Usually it’s best to start towards the bottom and work your way up as needed.
Like I said, I can’t remember the exact nature of the request. But where she works, the head of HR is who you ask concerning any HR matter–she is the HR department. (She used to have assistants, but (as it has been reported to me) she keeps firing them.)
It wasn’t, to my recollection, a typical HR request anyway. More like some memo-and-paperwork thing occuring between two department heads. (The friend I’m talking about is a department head herself, as is the HR manager of course.)
Okay, yeah I wasn’t really certain about my suggestion concerning legality, so it’s good to hear it disconfirmed.
As for the vindictive unprofessional nature of the act, that was my impression as well. But of course that would be my impression–the story was told in a manner intended to give that impression. Which doesn’t make it false of course…
I always wonder what sort of fucked up companies Dopers and their friends seem to work at?
Was the request “I’d like to take the month of July off”? Because that seems like it might be relevant to her request.
Plus what is the HR person “not going to address”? Typically permission to take off from work is something an immediate supervisor would handle.
Or maybe your friend has a fucked up perception of the workplace? I mean one of my coworkers keeps beligerantly complaining to every manager who will listen about wanting to “work from home”. I’m like “keep it up dude. You are on your way to working from home forever.”
I should have made it clear in the OP that the request was not a personal one. It was some purely business-related matter. I’m sorry I can’t remember it!
It was department-head to department-head, not employee-to-HR-personnel.
BTW if I ever quit or get fired I’ll tell you exactly what kind of fucked up place I work at. I have learned that things can get seriously fucked up in very disheartening ways. If you think not, then feel fortunate.