Employee Directory - Legal?
kdspa
83 Posts
One of our managers remarked recently that it would be nice to have an employee directory since our once small-sized company is now growing rapidly. She was thinking the directory could include coworkers' hobbies, anniversary dates, children's names, etc.
Obviously, publishing some of this information would be a serious violation of some employment laws. However, if our company made participation in such a directory optional, do you think it would be ok (legal)?
Obviously, publishing some of this information would be a serious violation of some employment laws. However, if our company made participation in such a directory optional, do you think it would be ok (legal)?
Comments
PORK
Unfortunately, due to the litigious environment facing most employers today, my answer is no. We ask employees to come to work and leave personal agenda at home, now we want to compile it in this neat little memento and dsitribute it? I don't think so.
The same employee who today agrees to have his or her info published will be the same one who tomorrow will claim you made it mandatory and is now suing you for who knows what.
If employees want to form social clubs and exchange information, let them do it on their own time, but for goodness sakes please don't sanction, endorse or contribute to this activity.
Gene
P.S. Unfortunately we live in a world were we must safeguard this sort of information from sick, derranged and shady folks. I've known several characters over the years who would have found great pleasure in learning about your wife's hobbies or perhaps your teenage daughter's name and birthday.
If a supervisor needs to contact an ee at home, the call is placed through HR, similarly with cards, e will take the card from the well-wishers and send it in a company envelope.
*edit* I'm sure that ee's give out their personal information to other ee's...but we prefer to allow the ee to make that personal choice.
We have just over 150 employees and this is a nice way for everyone to get to know the new employees. I hear plenty of nice comments about it and it really isn't that much work to do it this way - no updates.
Hmmm.
As a clarification, we already have a "roster" of employee home phone numbers (which is optional). We are a small family-owned company (less than 50 employees) but as I said, rapidly growing. The directory suggested by the manager would absolutely not include address, medical, or social security information. I believe her ideas were more along the lines of the items I listed in my post (i.e., hobbies, birthdays, anniversaries, children's names, etc) rather than some of the more peculiar ideas that have evolved in the forum (blood type, sexual habits, complete addresses, children’s occupations, etc).
All that said, I am concerned that the extremely litigious world we live in could make something potentially enjoyable like this far more of a liability than an asset. Again, my original thought was that making it optional would eliminate (or at least mitigate) the legal risk. You have all certainly given me some good ideas to think about and present to legal counsel.
Thanks!
Glad I didn't have the job of updating it, though. At the same company, we also ran a picture and paragraph about all new employees in our weekly newsletter.
No one seemed to object to either of these.
That's the worst possible outcome. An internal problem is that some will not want to "featured", leading to speculation from others about why not.
It isn't worth it.
Explain to me why it is so important to have an employer roster.
You even have to be careful about birthdays without year of birth. Jehovah's Witnesses (and maybe other faiths, I don't know) don't celebrate birthdays and don't care to have people acknowledge them.
The bottom line seems to be: Too much trouble and too much risk with no business purpose. Let ee's exchange this info among themselves if they wish.
In answer to your original question, as long as you do not include personal, identifying information, and the employees participate voluntarily, it would not, in and of itself, violate any laws. Keep it generic. You know you're workforce better than we do. If you think you've got stalkers, pedophiles, and litigious personnel that a simple little thing like a directory might possibly send off the deep end, then by all means don't do it. Otherwise, it MIGHT BE fun; MIGHT promote morale; MIGHT reinforce your team!
Regarding addresses, I wouldn't want mine published. As HR manager, I do terminate employees, and I wouldn't want them knowing where I live, if you know what I mean!
Ah, wouldn't your world be nice to have. Could you answer one teeny, weeny question for me. Why is your profile diabled?
It MIGHT be fun to know if you are female or male
It MIGHT be nice to refer to you by your first name.
It MIGHT help us know you a itsy, bitsy better.
I realize, as Crout said, that we get paid to think about the "What If's." That's why I posted this question in the first place. We need to make decisions that both protect our employers and benefit our employees - to my disappointment, these two objectives are too frequently polar opposites. Isn't it unfortunate that we live in a climate where litigation and worry restrain employers from doing things that would make work that much more enjoyable for employees? I guess that's just the world we live in...