Any Employer Relations or HR types here? or anyone dealt with HR actions before..

[HipChick]

Has anyone had to deal with any kind of HR action complaint? Any HR types on GD?
I assumed that this type of thing was supposed to be confidential? Apparently I assumed wrong.
Point in case, I had only made an inquiry to HR about the procedure or who I needed to contact if I felt I needed to file one. At the time, I only created a case #, but did not tell discuss anything about the specifics of the situation. A couple of days ago, I called to actually close the case, and was just going to forget about it as I decided I was going to exercise other options I had open to me, only to find out that in fact a HR action had been filed against me by the person I was originally going to file against. This tells me that information was leaked and fed back to that person directly, doesn't that breach my confidential aspect? Should I also mention that in my complaint since I'm going to have to respond now anyway?..At this point,I'm not worried about retaliation..

[xultar]

1. I don't know. It doesn't necessarily mean that the info was leaked.

Complaints aren't necessarily confidential. They do need to be discussed with the group in HR who needs to be in the know.

Did you discuss the situation with anyone outside of HR by any chance?

I do think it is a leap to think that the person filed a complaint because you got a case number and someone leaked it back to them. They probably filed for the same reason you thought about filing.

[Orrex]

2. One thing to remember is that HR's job is to protect the company, particularly the management

Beyond that, is it possible that the other party had reason to suspect that you would be filing a complaint?

I mean, if your initial filing did not entail "anything about the specifics of the situation," then what could have been leaked? Could it simply a shitty bit of timing in which the other party simply filed against you preemptively? Or would the other party have had reason to suspect that you were going to file, such that your simple filing of a non-specific claim might have clued them in?

For that matter, if the initial complaint contains nothing specific, I'm not sure what level of confidentiality can be expected.


I'm sorry that I don't have anything concrete to offer, because it sounds like you're in a really crappy situation. One thing I'd say, based on all of my experience with HR, is that HR will seek to stop the complaint without necessarily resolving the issue that led to it.


Good luck!

[HipChick]

5. well...I'm not expecting a resolution..

the person in question already has a couple of HR actions against them already..and I agree HR is there to protect the company nothing else...

[Kookaburra]

10. That's certainly the case with my former company

HR was there to protect that philandering CEO's ass. Period.

In fact, the running joke was if you wanted the CEO to know something, you tell it to someon in HR confidentially.

They were completely worthless.

[offog]

3. This is scary.

Looks like the person you were going to file against is doing a pre-emptive strike. Yes, definitely mention the breach of confidentiality when you make your complaint. And be sure to file your complaint right away. I also highly recommend that you consult a lawyer, because it looks like you can't trust "the system" at work.

The reason I recommend filing your complaint right away is so that your employer can't say you didn't follow procedure. And it'll look bad if you wait too long. But you also need to see a lawyer for a "what next" consultation.

Best wishes with this. You must be really stressed out over this.

[xultar]

4. What breach of confidientality? If nothing was shared of any specifics how would HR know who

to leak the information to?

[HipChick]

6. I was told a couple of days ago

by another colleague that this person was 'more than friends' with someone inside HR dept..prob why he gets away with previously complaints against him...

[xultar]

7. Did you give your name to HR? Is the person you talked to the friend of the person?

I really think that the other person is used to getting complaints filed against them and
they just preemptively file complaints.

There has to be a really good reason for HR to do something in a case like this. I don't think that they are getting away with shit as much as the shit they are doing isn't impacting the company too much so they are willing to let shit slide.

In order for HR to do something it has got to be realllllly reallllllllly realllllllly bad because HR will be effed if they jump on stuff and the employee sues the company.

[HipChick]

8. the last incident I was told about...

he was trying to get a person of color fired from their job, he was demoted and some other responsibilities taken away because of it..so you may well be right, about them used to complaints about them all the time

[xultar]

9. Well, if you know about that whole thing with the firing of the person of colour then

for sure HR has a leakage problem.

I wouldn't include the leakage issue in the complaint at this time.

BUT!

I would wait until you deal more with HR and you'll know based on that who you can trust and you should bring the confidentiality problems up with that person.

I wouldn't put it on paper I'd do it in person and then follow up with something on the record after you talk. But, make sure you have concrete proof before you go in there or you could really put yourself in a tough position which could give you a label that will follow you forever @ that organization.

[Greyhound]

11. What offog said. n/t