If an employee divulges this information to their manager, is the manager then able to discuss this information with other employees?
For example:
Employee A is HIV+. Employee A confides in a fellow employee (Employee B) about their status because they believed they were friends, and honest and trustworthy.
Employee B then gets mad at Employee A and divulges that fact that Employee A has AIDS and cleaned the restroom without wearing gloves, to their director. Is Employee B at fault for divulging this information to their director (that fact that an employee is HIV+)? Is the director able to question other employees regarding Employee A’s health status? Is it a violation for the employer to ask employees if they knew Employee A had AIDS and cleaned without gloves? (it should be stated that the employee does not have AIDS, but is HIV+) Can the director discuss Employee A’s health status with another director, and then confront Employee A’s supervisor, and director and ask if said employee has AIDS?
I believe the most tactful way for Employee B and their director to have handled this, was by stating Employee A did not use gloves while cleaning. There was no need to have mentioned that Employee A had AIDS (which is not true because Employee A is HIV+). By divulging the fact that Employee A had AIDS, I believe, oversteps a boundry and perhaps violates HIPPA.
Thoughts and Feelings on this subject matter please!!
The manager/director represents the company. The fellow employee told the manager/director, who in turn passed on the information to others that fact that Employee A has AIDS (when in fact Employee A is HIV+)