An employee’s wife called another of our employees at the office, who she is friendly with, to ask if that person knew where her husband was. He hadn’t come home the prior evening and she hadn’t heard from him. Our employee told the wife that he was scheduled for paid time off that day and that he takes every other Tuesday off to go visit his sister who has an illness. The wife was unaware of this. Did the company violate any privacy laws in this exchange?
Ann Kiernan replies:
No, I don’t think so. The wife called for a perfectly legitimate reason—her husband was missing—and your co-worker gave her a truthful answer, based on your business records. If the husband has been lying to his wife about his Tuesday rendezvous, that’s an issue between them!
Posted 05-25-2021
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