Employee Confedentiality

[PipSkid]

Hey everyone,
I'm currently an employee of a labour intensive, corrupt and understaffed company. I've been contemplating several times of quiting, but with their recent actions I'm deffinetly done and thinking about legal action with myself and other employee's. I'm wondering if we can sue. The situation first started with another employee higher up on the food chain that would come into work and supervise while drunk and high. It was clearly a problem, so I personally took it into my own hands and informed upper management. I had written several letters documenting what exactly had happened on certain days. It wasn't a huge concern of the local management and was actually kept quiet, but once corporate management had heard, things started to progress. There was one night where this employee was drunk out of his mind! This is when Corporate was informed. A drug and alcohol test was supposed to be done that day however they weren't able to perform it because the tester never showed before he left work. It was myself and two other employee's that had witnessed this. We all wrote witness reports and were told it was in confidentiality which can only be assumed with a situation like this. My past reports that I had documented on certain occassions were also provided. The employee was eventually, from what I thought fired, but actually suspended with pay due to a pending investigation. The employee is now back to work and from what i've heard, he has read all of our witness statements. This is where I was blown away! We all wrote these reports with the agreement and assumption that they were confidential. The employee has already approached one of us and questioned why we wrote such things. We all feel absolutely violated! I haven't return to work since and I'm now afraid of returning at all! I'm loosing my job over this when I wasn't the one at fault. I need the money and I'm afraid of being hurt or worse while at work. This employee was formally in the military and is an alcoholic, not exactly a good mix. Can the three of us sue? There are also extremely poor working conditions that I almost think should be delt with legally, however thats another topic.

Thanks. I hope someone can help and guide me in the right direction

p.s. This is in Canada

 

[You Are Guilty]

I hope someone can help and guide me in the right direction

p.s. This is in Canada

Step 1. Direct your browser to: http://www.google.ca/

Step 2. Type in "employee confidentiality law".

Step 3. Profit!

Good luck.

 

[moburkes]

US Law Only - WHEN POSTING A QUESTION, YOU MUST INCLUDE THE NAME OF YOUR STATE


That was very helpful of you YAG.

 

[PipSkid]

So then what do you think?

Hey,

So thats a yes? You think we should sue? I looked that up on google and honestly, I only found one or two things but nothing that deffinetly outlines my situation. Can you go into more detail, or does anyone else have anything to say?

 

[quincy]

I think YAG and moburkes are telling you U.S. Law Only, which pretty much means U.S. Law Only, not Canadian law.

 

[eerelations]

I am in Canada.

There are no laws in Canada that prevent employers from telling their supervisors about the statements that said supervisors' employees have made about them (the supervisors). There are also no laws in Canada preventing supervisors from taking professional reltaliatory action against the employees who have made statements about them.

So you may try to sue your employer, however, you will have trouble getting a lawyer to take on the case, and even if you do find one willing to take it on (for huge fees, no doubt), you will lose the lawsuit.

If your supervisor formally fires you for making statements to corporate staff about his drinking habits, you will be entitled to some termination pay. The amount of termination pay you may be entitled to depends on the following:

• your position
• your age
• your length of service with this company
• the province that you work in
• whether your company is federally- or provincially-regulated

However, given that you have effectively abandoned your job (by staying away from work), the foregoing information about termination pay is moot. Canadian employers are not legally required to pay termination pay to employees who have abandoned their jobs, except in very specific circumstances (i.e., that they were harassed or discriminated against due to their age, disability, religion, race, or gender, and so on). Nothing in your post indicates that your situation falls into those circumstances.