My manager asked my date of birth for client laptop registration. Later he sent a mail with my DoB with other team members’ DoB in a group mail to all team members. I am the oldest in the team and I am worried that, due to this disclosure team members who are 20 years younger will treat me differently from now on. I feel very uncomfortable in my workplace. Is there any law my manager violated?
Ann Kiernan replies:
In Europe, this would be illegal under the General Data Protection Regulation, but there is no similar general personal privacy law in the United States. However, the personally-identifiable information about U.S. Government employees—such as date of birth– is protected under the Privacy Act.
I would bet that giving out employees’ personal data without their permission is a violation of your company’s policies, however. And as a matter of good human resources practices, personal information such as date of birth, home address, telephone number, name of spouse, and so on are held by the employer in confidence and should not be revealed unless there is a strict business need to know, or the employee gives permission.
Why did your boss circulate everybody’s dates of birth? If it was to enable teammates to celebrate each other’s birthdays, the boss certainly chose a poor way to do that. Instead, he should ask everyone privately if they would like to participate in birthday celebrations, and then abide by it. Another thing to consider is that some religions prohibit the celebration of holidays and other events, including birthdays.
What I really don’t understand is why your manager thought it was OK to share not only the birthdays, but also birth years. Maybe he just doesn’t realize that this could lead to age discrimination issues. And don’t forget about identity theft—date of birth is a key personal identifier.
You may want to go to Human Resources and let them know about the situation. And, if you have reason to believe that you have been subjected to discrimination or harassment because of your age, you can go to the EEOC or a local employment lawyer. Good luck.
Posted 05-26-2020
Information here is correct at the time it is posted. Case decisions cited here may be reversed. Please do not rely on this information without consulting an attorney first.
