# Opinions re: workplace privacy - reason for absence **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 1, 2019, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-re-workplace-privacy-reason-for-absence/833320 "2019-05-01T13:19:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2019, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-re-workplace-privacy-reason-for-absence/833320/41 "2019-05-03T18:42:45Z")
Just got word that they are reassigning this employee’s “AGED” caseload. These are the cases that are time sensitive, as there will be pressure to close them before the end of the year. Not sure what special lengths I will feel like going to in order to get that done, but we’ll see. Message said they may also start reassigning her non-aged workload. Kind of a minor hassle, just because since each of us is personally responsible for the final outcome, you generally like to have handled the cases from the beginning. Can be a minor hassle top be assigned a case someone else screwed up or let lie around too long. But no big deal. All in all, tho, a highly unusual situation. On the one hand, I don’t really care what happens to this cow-orker. But on the other, giving me zero info reinforces my tendency not to care about her as a person. Can’t imagine any alternatives other than she is ill, taking some other unusual leave of absence, under disciplinary proceedings, or working some weird scam prior to retiring. If this were an unavoidable illness, or if management were working hard to discipline a bad apple, I might feel the urge to step up. But in silence, her cases can just wait their turn. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2019, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-re-workplace-privacy-reason-for-absence/833320/42 "2019-05-10T13:11:15Z")
Not that folk were HUGELY interested in this, but I thought I’d post an update. They started reassigning this employee’s pending cases. Still zero explanation of why they are out. Only statement from my boss is that she “has no idea when [the employee] will be back.” Some of these reassigned cases were close to ready to be closed. We were told that they had already been reviewed by an employee in our office (lower graded than I and my colleagues), who had rendered an opinion as to whether the proposed action was correct. If we reviewed the materials and agreed, we could simply sign off on the outcome. First of all, considerable individual effort is involved to get to the point of closing a case. It can be almost as much effort for me to review a colleague’s efforts, as it is to do it all myself. So I was figuring how to fit these into my schedule. Have to admit that, given these additions to an already heavy caseload, the idea of an easy “sign-off” on some of these cases had initial appeal. Then I noticed that these cases had all been temporarily transferred to our regional office. We hadn’t been told of this, but it could be detected within the individual files. Now, I tend not to be paranoid, but as a general rule, as a worker bee who just wants to do his job and stay under the radar, regional involvement is not a good thing. Apparently regional signed off on some of the missing employee’s cases, and returned the rest to our office, where they were reassigned to us. Now this is certainly not normal procedure. And I don’t have time to try to figure out what is going on. So I decided just to put all cases reassigned to me back in my hopper and I would process them as though they had been originally assigned to me. I’m juggling my schedule somewhat to minimize the delay to the pending cases. For regional to be this involved in an employee’s caseload, smacks of disciplinary efforts. And if I’m not told what is going on, I don’t care to risk becoming a pawn in those efforts. If the employee was handling their cases improperly, I don’t want to sign off on their work, and thereby be accused of being complicit in the impropriety. Nor am I interested in helping management “make a case” against this employee. Of course, the possibility exists that this is appropriate procedure for handling the caseload of any employee who is absent for a prolonged reason due to illness or any reason. But if mgmt. wished us not to suspect otherwise, they could have been more up front about the procedure they were following. Damn, I hate workplace politics and intrigue. Just let me do my fucking job! ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2019, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-re-workplace-privacy-reason-for-absence/833320/43 "2019-05-10T13:40:19Z")
Yeah, that doesn’t strike me as disciplinary. It smacks more of ‘long term absence of unknown duration has become absence of extremely long duration’. That’s why corporate gets involved. Local management acknowledges that this is no longer a short-term issue and is addressing it. Get me, companies can be very cautious about stuff like that. During my cancer a while back I told both my HR department and my assistant that they could be completely honest and upfront with my co-workers and my clients why I was out for such a long time. Nonetheless, they elected not to for privacy reasons and HR instructed my assistant to not give out the information. It could simply be that you’re not entitled to the information. They’re under no obligation to give it to you, after all. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2019, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-re-workplace-privacy-reason-for-absence/833320/44 "2019-05-10T14:35:52Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > Getting \*\*extra work \*\*for 90 days (and counting) seems like a legitimate problem that management should find a solution to. But has the OP gotten **extra work**? OP hasn’t indicated that this person’s absence has resulted in extra hours for him personally, that it has interrupted his work/life balance. It may have, but this hasn’t been brought up. It sounds like the OP has a curiosity that hasn’t been satisfied. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2019, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-re-workplace-privacy-reason-for-absence/833320/45 "2019-05-10T15:05:56Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > But has the OP gotten **extra work**? OP hasn’t indicated that this person’s absence has resulted in extra hours for him personally, that it has interrupted his work/life balance. It may have, but this hasn’t been brought up. It sounds like the OP has a curiosity that hasn’t been satisfied. No man. I thought I made it very clear. No extra work. I got a huge mountain of shit to shovel, far larger than I could ever shovel if I worked twice as hard. All I’m obligated to give is a decent 8 hrs’ effort. These assignments just get added to the pile. In some ways, they applied some pressure to get us to turn out these widgets IN ADDITION TO our normal workload. Or to put in some extra effort to re-jigger our workloads to fold these assignments into our existing work. But they have no way to enforce that, and I’m unlikely to go the extra distance unless they give me SOME reason. Fine, they don’t have to tell me. I really don’t care. But, if they DON’T tell me SOMETHING, I’ll just keep to my normal pace. Yeah, you can call my thoughts 'curiosity." But I’ll offer that my “curiosity” might - in part - concern trying to figure out how our work rules are being applied. Mgmt is often opaque in why they do what they do. I used to be in management for this same concern. You don’t have to believe me when I say that this is quite unusual given my experience - but it is. And there is at least a non-zero possibility that some ugliness is going on behind the scenes. Lacking information, my overriding concern is to avoid getting mixed up in someone else’s ugliness. Whether or not you believe me, at this point, I couldn’t care less what the situation is with this employee. I’m glad I figured out how I would fold these assignments into my existing caseload, while minimizing the potential adverse effects on me, and while providing the highest reasonable level of service to our “customers.” And **Jonathan** , I thought I made it clear that I agreed there was no “obligation” to share any info. But, in my experience, there can be times that it is beneficial for management to share information that they CAN share, even if they are not OBLIGATED to. All to often, our management acts as though they keep secret as much info as they can, while doling out dribs and drabs only as they are required to - even if there is no legitimate reason for secrecy. The general attitude is essentially, “I know it and YOU don’t. Info is power.” Which IMO sucks. I can imagine how that approach might serve some mgmt purposes. But in my opinion, any such advantages may be greatly offset by the ill-will it creates when a workforce feels it is denied info it ought to have. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2019, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-re-workplace-privacy-reason-for-absence/833320/46 "2019-05-10T15:16:42Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > My brother’s job is having a similar problem, minus the privacy issues. > > They have two in-house lawyers; one of them is pregnant and on medical leave due to high-risk pregnancy. She was put on leave while on her second month. That means that, if everything goes well, she’ll be off for a year. If things don’t go well, she’ll go back but keep trying, hopefully get pregnant again… and go on medical leave due to high-risk pregnancy again. > > And yet, the bosses refuse to hire someone because “she might come back!” Yes, she may - but hopefully in a year! > > The issue isn’t secrecy or not, it’s managers thinking that subordinates are infinitely-stretchable rubber bands. It would be prudent to hire a temp. worker, although this might be extremely difficult if the position is that of a lawyer. I would think good lawyers tend to want steady jobs, not one-year gigs. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2019, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-re-workplace-privacy-reason-for-absence/833320/47 "2019-05-10T15:23:18Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > The other issue is if it is an unpaid leave then what’s happening to that money that Dinsdale et al. are not getting for doing that work? Ah right, the company gets it, not the workers. Great message on May 1st Dinsdale et al. are not performing more work, they are performing different work. The total amount of work done went down because one employee is missing in action. So the company is paying less in wages for less work, which makes sense. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2019, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-re-workplace-privacy-reason-for-absence/833320/48 "2019-05-10T15:40:01Z")
I agree with other posters, the reason for the employee’s absence should have no bearing on whether you perform the work management assigns to you. If you have concerns about meeting production quotas or questions on how to prioritize the unusual load, it should be OK to ask for help prioritizing (although you need to gauge your own company culture about this). If management is giving you assignments “to do today” that means they already took the initiative in micromanaging parts of your workflow. If you are uncomfortable with the micromanagement, you can ask for the reason - but you already know the reason. The employee is out and they need stuff done. You can also offer constructive criticism, if you think that is appropriate. You don’t know the specific reason that your co-worker is absent because _you are not friends with the co-worker_. You did not ask the co-worker what happened when they showed up in the boot, presumably because it is none of your business. It is still none of your business. Only the co-worker could tell you why. Therefore you have no right to satisfy the curiosity burning a hole in your head. Management may know, but I’m sure you realize their hands are tied. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2019, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-re-workplace-privacy-reason-for-absence/833320/49 "2019-05-10T15:50:36Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Damn, I hate workplace politics and intrigue. Just let me do my fucking job! If you don’t want to get involved in workplace politics, don’t. Hopefully you are on good terms with a direct supervisor. Tell your supervisor it will take time to review cases before you sign off, and the real reasons why - you don’t want to carelessly sign off on a co-worker’s case if they are on disciplinary leave. There’s nothing unreasonable about that, and since management is the one micromanaging they need to know that simple “sign-offs” will take time because of the unknown nature of your co-worker’s leave. Don’t slow-walk a direct order. If you aren’t on good terms with your management, there’s no easy way out. But ideally your supervisor absorbs all the corporate politics for you, that’s their job, not yours. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2019, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-re-workplace-privacy-reason-for-absence/833320/50 "2019-05-10T16:00:26Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > And **Jonathan** , I thought I made it clear that I agreed there was no “obligation” to share any info. But, in my experience, there can be times that it is beneficial for management to share information that they CAN share, even if they are not OBLIGATED to. What is it that you think they can share? ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2019, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-re-workplace-privacy-reason-for-absence/833320/51 "2019-05-10T16:19:10Z")
> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > What is it that you think they can share? I dunno. Maybe if the employee IS ill, they might ask the employee if they wish their co-workers to have any idea what is going on. Not sure what - if anything - they could communicate if there was some discipline going on, if the clmt was requesting a transfer, or whatever else. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2019, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-re-workplace-privacy-reason-for-absence/833320/52 "2019-05-10T18:15:09Z")
Once upon a time I worked in a similar type of workplace to **Dinsdale’s.** A coworker was out on medical leave unexpectedly for several weeks and told the office manager why. She did not, however, mean for him to share with the whole office that it was an emergency hysterectomy because of an ectopic pregnancy! Oops. ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2019, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-re-workplace-privacy-reason-for-absence/833320/53 "2019-05-10T18:31:44Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > I dunno. Maybe if the employee IS ill, they might ask the employee if they wish their co-workers to have any idea what is going on. And if management had this conversation with the employee and was told they wanted their privacy respected, do you think management is going to you tell this? ---
**Author:** ![UnwittingAmericans](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d9b06d/32.png) [@UnwittingAmericans](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UnwittingAmericans)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2019, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-re-workplace-privacy-reason-for-absence/833320/54 "2019-05-10T18:37:01Z")
I don’t see why anybody should bother answering OP until he says exactly what his job is, how much he gets paid, how many sick days he’s taken, how many of those sick days were fake, where his productivity stands vs his co-workers, and whether he’s a cats or dogs person. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2019, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-re-workplace-privacy-reason-for-absence/833320/55 "2019-05-10T20:26:19Z")
> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > What is it that you think they can share? That Employee D who was out because of a leg injury has now become addicted to opioids and has gone into a substance treatment rehab facility to get clean. They have no idea when she will return. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2019, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-re-workplace-privacy-reason-for-absence/833320/56 "2019-05-10T20:27:40Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > they could communicate if there was some discipline going on Where in your wildest dreams do you think this would be appropriate to share? ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2019, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-re-workplace-privacy-reason-for-absence/833320/57 "2019-05-10T21:11:05Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Where in your wildest dreams do you think this would be appropriate to share? Nice edit of my post! :rolleyes: In any event, now that I’ve figured how I’m going to deal with this change in workload, I’m back to my usual apathy. Don’t care if the co-worker lives or dies, returns or not. Just gonna keep slogging along and collecting the paycheck. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2019, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-re-workplace-privacy-reason-for-absence/833320/58 "2019-05-10T22:18:38Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Sounds like that’s the real problem; that management is doing a poor job of redistributing the work of the absent co-worker and identifying what the deadlines are. They distributed the work just fine…to Dinsdale! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2019, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-re-workplace-privacy-reason-for-absence/833320/59 "2019-05-11T22:03:04Z")
I’m afraid I don’t get why so much of your beef here appears to be with the employee in question. If your workload is excessive, and it is increasingly difficult to get the job done in the time that you have, then surely it’s your employer who is responsible for dealing with this problem. The reason the employee is out should really not be relevant at all. It’s not really HER work you are covering; it’s your employer’s work, and the relationship that determines how busy you are is the relationship between you and the employer. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2019, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-re-workplace-privacy-reason-for-absence/833320/60 "2019-05-12T03:09:38Z")
Another “can’t your employer bring in a temp?” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-re-workplace-privacy-reason-for-absence/833320.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-re-workplace-privacy-reason-for-absence/833320.md?page=4)