Funny, I was under the impression that the DOL were the entity who did the approving.
The OP says he knows about the situation, and I’m taking his characterization (that the guy is “gaming the system”) at face value, as I believe is SOP on this MB. Between us two, neither have any actual knowledge but you appear to be disputing the premise that “gaming the system” is a valid concept at all. It’s real.
never mind
I get that. It’s just that it amazes me sometimes how hard people work at NOT working. Sometimes they put in more energy, set up more structures, and generally make their lives more complicated than if they just sat down and worked. Maybe it’s rebelliousness (“I don’t like being told what to do!”) or the challenge of seeing what they can get away with.
Criminal enterprises seem that way sometimes, too. Of course, presumably there’s a big $$ payoff for criminals. But in an ordinary white-collar office not so much.
Carry on.
I didn’t need to look for a reason, it was right there in the OP.
The “commonly accepted workplace standards” are irrelevant if you meet the legal requirements. “commonly accepted workplace standards” is just a convoluted way of spelling “crab bucket”.
Employers can mandate a second (or third) opinion - on their own dime.
I didn’t know it was SOP here to blithely accept the accounts of people who openly admit they violate business ethics and workplace personal privacy standards.
poor coding. see next post.
In the interest of fairness to MrDibble, I suppose I ought to restore the post that I had second thoughts about and replaced with “never mind”:
And him talking about it here is scuttlebutt.
Are you looking for a reason to be pissed at him for starting the thread? Because that’s the vibe I’ve been getting from your posts.
ISTM that no violation occurs unless and until a person actually acts on it in the workplace.*
*or in a workplace-adjacent context.
Nope, the federal DOL sets the rules and guidelines , and they handle allegations that the employer has violated the employee’s rights under the FMLA - but each individual request doesn’t go to the DOL.
Well, all of my applications have involved a confirmation letter, delivered to my home, from the Wages and Hours Division of the DOL.
Perhaps the fact that I’m a Federal employee is a factor in that.
MMM has not reported the violation of his colleague’s medical privacy. That’s an actual action.
Scuttlebutt, rumor, office gossip.
I’m getting the impression that your office might be a stressful place to work.
Here’s a thought experiment: Minh Tranh hasn’t been at work lately because he has COVID.
Did I just violate HIPAA by posting that?
This is not couched as rumour or gossip.
My office isn’t a crab bucket, so no, not stressful at all. Also, we’re properly trained in ethical workplace behaviour and privacy.
Did I say anything about HIPAA?
Nor was it couched as having been delivered in the context of work-related communications. That you would open with the presumption that it was makes me wonder whether casual griping about conditions in the workplace falls into the category of “crab bucketing” in yours. In mine, it falls into the category of “recreation.” If I felt obliged to consider it “crab bucketing” and somehow circumscribed, I’d be stressed.
ETA:
You did not. But you did mention medical privacy, which is largely what HIPAA is about, so I wondered.
No, making plans to violate another worker’s rights because you think he’s getting some privilege the rest of you don’t, is the crab bucketing. Thankfully, it looks like that’s been avoided - unless this meeting MMM mentioned continues the trend.
Casual-griping-as-recreation is just a toxic work environment.
It’s also what basic ethical behaviour is about.
Jesus, man, it’s work! Says so right on the tin! It’s supposed to be toxic!
IMHO no, casual griping about coworkers is not a good kind of toxin.
You never know what’s ailing a coworker. We had some toxic gossip here when one of our new hires disappeared from the face of the earth. Turns out she got in a car accident on the way to work. I’ve had some employees who have a hard cap on their hours because their disability coverage requires it - the employees who talk shit about that person being lazy / not working overtime are assholes. We had a case of cancer + chemo.
I’ve only been managing a small <10 employee practice for six years and this isn’t half of the stuff going on - this was all within the past 1 year. As an employee you really don’t know the whole story. Gripe about the workload I make you shoulder, or concerns that a job you feel responsible for won’t get done, not the legitimacy of coworkers absences.
~Max
I can’t hear you above the sound of your claws clacking.
Work doesn’t have to be fun, I’m inherently distrustful of fun, but it certainly doesn’t have to be toxic.
You’re probably right, but I’ve had over 50% good ones in my career. And I tried to be a good one when I was a manager. People wanted to transfer into my group, so I probably did okay.
Here’s the ultimate in political connections. During the days of the Soviet Union, most of the Russian workers for the UN were KGB agents, and they devoted a lot more time to spying than to the work they were supposed to do. My dad was on the promotion board, and he got into trouble voting against promotions for Russians who never showed up.
This got confirmed by the memoir of the Russian Assistant Secretary General who defected to the West. He wrote that he argued with the KGB station head in NY about having his spies at least pretend to do some work.