Confidentiality of Medical Information

njjel

An employee who is going out on disability leave and is eligible for FMLA has asked that no one other than myself know anything other than she is having a surgical procedure. Her immeidate supervisor has asked me why she needs the leave and I have only stated that she is having a surgical procedure. Also the owner of the company has asked me as well. What are my obligations here and to whom?

Theresa Gegen TX

I would keep the information as confidential as possible. The employee has a right to privacy, and the only person who appears to have a need to know the details is you. The supervisor has no reason to know the details.

The owner (your boss), I assume could order you to tell him the details, but I suspect that if you indicate to him that the employee has requested that it be kept confidential, he or she will respect that.

Good Luck!!

Rockie

You need to respect the confidentiality of the employee and you only need to tell others that she is having a medical procedure. No one else needs to know the details of the procedure nor should any additional information be given to anyone else.