Employee's privacy vs. Manager's interest
aliciac
88 Posts
This question might be better to put in the Wage & Hours section, sorry.
Are there any privacy regulations on whether or not a manager has a right to view employee garnishments? This question came up because we had an employee caught stealing who happened to be in financial trouble and had several garnishments. The manager felt that if he'd known about the various garnishments he would have known to keep a closer eye on that employee for potential problems related to money.
Thanks!
Are there any privacy regulations on whether or not a manager has a right to view employee garnishments? This question came up because we had an employee caught stealing who happened to be in financial trouble and had several garnishments. The manager felt that if he'd known about the various garnishments he would have known to keep a closer eye on that employee for potential problems related to money.
Thanks!
Comments
Do you allow managers to know what an employee's other deductions are? How many exemptions they claim on withholding? What bank they use for direct deposit? I'd tell the manager the garnishment information is confidential.
Sadly the higher-ups tend to baby the store managers instead of holding them accountable (a huge annoyance to the rest of us) and are likely to give the managers whatever they ask for unless there's actually a privacy law forbidding them to do so. I KNOW that previous knowledge of the garnishments wouldn't have changed the manager's inaction at all, and wouldn't in the future, so I'm inclined to say it should be confidential as well. I was just hoping to point to some employee privacy law that would say the same thing.
Many employees are not responsible, and it usually shows in other ways. Therefore a manager should already be aware of it.
Dishonesty is something else. An employee who steals when under financial pressure is likely to steal sooner or later anyway, nor should you assume they would have garnishments done BEFORE they would steal. You are just as likely to have an employee steal who did not have any garnishments.
You may have several employees at any one time who are having their wages garnished. It would be unfair to assume they need extra watching, just because a dishonest employee also happened to be irresponsible. One is not necessarily related to the other, and therefore not the manager's business.
Good luck!
Nae
Thanks again!
This kind of thing is probably better handled by company policy. Privacy issues really come from the top down. If your top management has no respect for privacy, then you are probably SOL. Otherwise, I would suggest to the manager in question that you believed it to be company policy that you should keep all things confidential unless there is a necessary business reason to pass the information along. While stating this, I would remind them that if something unexpected happened to them financially, they would not want others to be in the know about it. Also, if the employees in general found out that you are not keeping their private business private, it may create morale issues. Then, in a sympathetic tone, I would suggest they go ahead and approach the upper boss about it, and if the top management orders you to do so, you will be happy to give them the information then. In this way you appear to be cooperative, while still protecting your employees.
If you get forced into giving the information, be sure and document everything so you can CYA.
Good luck!
Nae
Some privacy issues in the workplace have less to do with whether access is restricted and more to do with what the supervisor/manager is going to do with the info. I would take the position that there was no reason for the manager to know about the garnishments unless the employee happened to share the info.
best wishes.