New Mexico
Yesterday, a co-worker was looking for information on a shared drive at work, where we keep information that everyone needs. She stumbled onto a folder with our bosses name. She opened the folder (there was no security -- passwords were not needed, etc) and found very personal information about me (performance improvement plans and a letter to my psychiatrist) as well as our co-workers. She told me what she had found and I confronted my boss with this information. My boss turned it around on me and said that I (I did not tell her it was actually a co-worker) looked in a folder that was none of my business, and that she did not know that the folder could be opened by anyone in our department besides her (although her boss said she did know for at least a month and they were "working" on fixing it). My boss and her boss also threatened repercussions to me and for anyone that saw the information. According to her, the security was "breeched" because a folder was opened that had someone else's name on it. Do I have the right to sue because my private information was not in a secure place, and could have been looked at by anyone in the department without anyone knowing?
Yesterday, a co-worker was looking for information on a shared drive at work, where we keep information that everyone needs. She stumbled onto a folder with our bosses name. She opened the folder (there was no security -- passwords were not needed, etc) and found very personal information about me (performance improvement plans and a letter to my psychiatrist) as well as our co-workers. She told me what she had found and I confronted my boss with this information. My boss turned it around on me and said that I (I did not tell her it was actually a co-worker) looked in a folder that was none of my business, and that she did not know that the folder could be opened by anyone in our department besides her (although her boss said she did know for at least a month and they were "working" on fixing it). My boss and her boss also threatened repercussions to me and for anyone that saw the information. According to her, the security was "breeched" because a folder was opened that had someone else's name on it. Do I have the right to sue because my private information was not in a secure place, and could have been looked at by anyone in the department without anyone knowing?