I work at a bank and one of my co-workers tried committing suicide. The manager told all of the employees why she was out. Is this legal of her to disclose to everyone what happened? The employee has been made aware of the fact that eveyone else knows (her peers). Did the manager disclose any information that could fall under Privacy Rights Violation or Hippa? The State is Wisconsin.

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Originally Posted by rjr4824

Did the manager disclose any information that could fall under Privacy Rights Violation or Hippa?

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Hello rjr:

Nahhh.. Gossip isn't illegal.

excon

Well actually it may be under some of the vague OSHA laws on record and book keeping.

The only real issue is that there is little penalty and no real enforcement.

Places of employment are to keep medical information in a separate file folder from other work related material and only those with a need to see it are allowed there.

But then it also depends on how the boss heard about it,

How the boss found out would be a key issue. But the boss clearly should be reprimanded by his superiors for this.

The manager received a phone call from the girls mother because the girl wasn't going to be into work for a couple of days. The girl confided in me that she took this to HR, but HR said that she did no wrong.

What would the girl like done - report the employer, have the info removed from her permanent record, leave her job with a good reference?

I think she wants to report the employer?

Then she should do so and let the Agencies decide what was or was not appropriate.

I don't think she has any grounds to report the employer. She does have grounds to report the boss that gave the info. Is there an HR department?