Promised confidentiality of Statements
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56 Posts
An employee was questioned about the actions of another employee. She did not want to say anything if the other employee would find out that she "squealed" on her. She was promised complete confidentiality by the investigator, who was the manager of the accused.
Two days later, both the employee and the accused were brought into the investigator's office. The accused had apparently denied any wrong doing and the employee was told to again make her statement, this time in front of the accused. She was horrified.
In tears, she went to her own manager with her complaint. He simply said he was sorry she was placed in such an awkward position.
Once promised confidentiality, can an employer/manager put an employee in such a position? Does the employee have any recourse for being lied to and humiliated?
Two days later, both the employee and the accused were brought into the investigator's office. The accused had apparently denied any wrong doing and the employee was told to again make her statement, this time in front of the accused. She was horrified.
In tears, she went to her own manager with her complaint. He simply said he was sorry she was placed in such an awkward position.
Once promised confidentiality, can an employer/manager put an employee in such a position? Does the employee have any recourse for being lied to and humiliated?
Comments
What's ironic is that the accused allegedly breached a confidentiality agreement. She is an executive assistant who had full knowledge of the who's and when's of a downsizing. She told a co-worker who told a co-worker, and so on and so on. You get the picture! Now, we have a manager who breached a "promise of confidentiality"!
Not sure what recourse, if any, the ee has at this point. Personally, I think the hidden damage here is worse. This supervisor has potentially just lost the respect of many. His integrity is certainly questionable at this point, at least in the eyes of his subordinates.
Gene
Of course, in your case, that ship has already sailed. And forcing the informant to repeat the story to the alleged perpetrator went way beyond the pale. Now what do you do? Well, first, as the HR director, I would apologize to the ee and tell her that the manager/investigator who promised her confidentiality had no authority to do so. I would also see if it were possibility to make some sort of re-assignment so that the accusor and the accusee would not have to work together (assuming the accusee didn't get fired). Next, I would consider disciplinary action against the manager who promised confidentiality. Last but not least, I would establish a policy/protocol - if you don't already have one - on investigations...who does them and how, etc. Leaving investigations in the hands of untrained managers is risky business.
Regarding the ee's recourse -- I guess she could go off the deep end and contrive some kind of tort claim, or maybe just an internal grievance. But, hopefully, a genuine apology from someone other than her own boss will be a sufficient remedy.
The employee is crying that the original conversation was private between her and the investigating manager. Can she do something from a privacy standpoint?
It is sad that the person who gives up the information gets in more trouble than the original gossiper or wrong doer. From your post, it sounds like several people had this info. Maybe they should have been approached separately. Once you have enough fingers pointing to the leak, you have enough info to take the next step and confront the situatin.
As to the ee, has anybody, in a very senior position, sat down and talked to her. Admitting that there was a colossal goof and apologizing will help a little. Make changes and then let the ee know what has been done so that a similar problem does not occur in the future.
My $0.02 worth.
DJ The Balloonman