Manager revealing personal medical information

[rudy14]

What is the name of your state? OHIO



I work for a temp agency in which i am contracted part time to sell computers for a large computer manufacturer, in a kiosk at a mall.

I have a Temp agency representative and then an actual kiosk lead (manager)who is employed directly by the computer manufacturer.

Recently i spent 7 days in the hospital because i have severe depression and suicidal tendencies.

ON Sunday June 12th i tried to commit suicide by overdosing on a large amount of lethal drugs. I was supposed to go to work that day and didnt go in. In fact i didnt even call my Kiosk Lead to let him know i wouldnt be into work. I finally got ahold of him on that tuesday after he had left me several messages on my voice mail threatening to fire me.

I told him that i was in the hospital and that i was unsure of when i would be out. He told me that unless i told him why i was in the hospital and when i would be back, he would be forced to remove me from the schedule and automatically terminate me. I refused to tell him anythign other than it was personal medical reasons and i didnt want to disclose this information to him. My Kiosk lead is very intimidating and i didnt want to lose my job so when he told me i either would tell him or be fired, i felt i had no other recourse but to tell him. I know that it is not required by law for me to tell him and i shouldnt have, but i told him that if that is how it was going to be...i would disclose the information to him as long as he agreed not to tell anyone.

He did agree and said he wouldnt mention this to no one, of course after telling me i was stupid for what i did.

None the less when i returned to work on the 21st, one day after being released from the hospital, i found out that he had told one of my co workers why i was in the hospital and that i was in the hospital to begin with.

He also proceeded to tell one of my personal friends which he knew not. She happened to stop into the kiosk to look for me. He told her that i was in the hospital because i tried to kill my self.

I have verification from both my friend, and my co worker.

What recourses might i have as far as from a legal stance and what can i do otherwise to make sure this doesnt happen to any of my co workers.



Respectfully,



Rudy14

 

[cbg]

What your employer did was rude, unprofessional, and he should not have done it. What kind of legal recourse you have is limited to a certain degree, however.

HIPAA does not apply here because information that is obtained from any source other than your group health insurance plan is not protected. Information that you personally give him, even though you were required to provide it, is not protected under the law. So you have no case under HIPAA

The ADA requires that medical information be kept confidential, disclosed only on a need-to-know basis. What kind of a case you may have will depend on whether or not your kiosk lead can put together a creditable defense that the employee he told had a legitimate need to know. On the basis of the information you've provided, I don't think he can but I can't say for sure without considerably more information about the inner workings of the company.

The reason I say your recourse is limited, is that it was not really MEDICAL information that was disclosed. He didn't say, Rudy14 has such and such a medical condition; he disclosed an action that you committed. I'm not saying you have no recourse at all but it's not as strong as case as it could be.

If you want to take any action, you have to start by reporting what happened to the EEOC, which handles ADA issues. You cannot start by filing a lawsuit, if that is what you have in mind. A lawsuit can ONLY be filed AFTER you have received a right-t0-sue letter from the EEOC. You can count on it taking 18 months to two years before you receive it.

There is nothing whatsoever you can do, other than making the complaint to the EEOC, to stop him from doing this to someone else. If the EEOC complaint doesn't get his attention, you have no standing to take any action because of something he MIGHT do in future to an unknown person.