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Employee birthday disclosure

bunruhbunruh 2 Posts
in HR & Employment Law Vote Up0Vote Down

I am trying to figure out if there could be any form of lawful retaliation for disclosing an employees birthday (month and day only and not the year).  We have a company email that goes out monthly that discloses this info to all employees.  Just trying to make sure this is ok due to different religious beliefs and such.

Thanks all!!!

[:D]

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Comments

  • 7 Comments sorted by Votes Date Added
  • efeldmanefeldman 146 Posts
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    I'm not aware of any legal issues per se (you're not disclosing age), but this could make some employees uncomfortable.

    I would have some sort of opt-out procedure.  Ask them if they mind and then do not include the ones who would like to abstain from the birthday email.

     

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  • icrossicross 1 Post
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    We publish it in our monthly employee newsletter.  I have never heard any laws against it.
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  • IT HRIT HR 595 Posts
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    I agree with Efeldman. You should let your employees make the decision as to whether they want to participate or not.  I send out an email to all employees wishing the person a Happy Birthday on that day. I have a couple of people who have asked me not to do this for their birthday and I honor that request.

     

     

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  • mlhofamlhofa 1 Post
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    I, too, am not aware of any law prohibiting this.  However, I would certainly want to get the employees consent before publishing this information.  I agree that you may have employees who do not want to have their birthdays published.
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  • kathelkathel 1 Post
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    I don't think there is any law against that but it does make some people uncomfortable if they are sensitive about the aging process.  [^]
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  • TXHRGuyTXHRGuy 1,586 Posts
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    I think the last time we got into a deep discussion on this, everyone agreed there wasn't a legal problem and about half the people had an opt-in or opt-out program associated with it.  Others, like at our Comapny, simply celebrate or announce birthdays and have never experienced a voiced complaint.
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  • SilverHRSilverHR 1 Post
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    There is nothing illegal about distributing a birthday list, especially one that only reflects month and day.  It is a good practice to give employees the option of opting out and to limit distribution within the employees department as opposed to company wide.

     Another alternative is to leave the creation of a list to the department managers, with guidelines such as specifying that year of birth is not to be included, as this information is or should already be available to them.

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