Man stands up for himself after supervisor crosses personal boundaries to confirm sick leave

Controlling behavior is nothing new in toxic workplaces. In such instances, employers thrive from having a tab on where their employees are and what they are doing. They want complete devotion and often cross boundaries in their pursuits. For u/BigJhed this intrusion entered his home when one of his supervisors came to deliver a letter. Having known this supervisor for a long time he knew that the action was not done with good intentions. The employee immediately picked up on the fact that the supervisor either wanted to intimidate him or wanted to see for himself whether the reason behind the sick leave was genuine. He shared the entire incident on Reddit. 

At the start of the post he shared a little context about the situation. He revealed that he has been on sick leave since the end of June. A car crash left him injured and he couldn't join work immediately, since he was employed as a civil engineer. As per the terms of his contract, the employer needed to provide 3 months of paid sick leave. They had kept their end of the bargain. Since they had been so agreeable, the employee had also been upfront about the situation. He has maintained regular contact with both his supervisor and manager.

The employee's herniated disc still had some healing to do, so the doctor advised him more rest, He promptly took a note from him and mailed his manager the note. Thereafter, he needed an acceptance letter and was waiting for it. To his surprise, the letter was delivered by his supervisor to his home. This personal delivery bothered him as it made him uncomfortable and it broke all protocols. The supervisor disturbed both his wife and baby. It should have been mailed as it was an official item, and a personal visit was not required.

Even though people might find it a trivial matter, this irritated the employee to his core. He knew that this was done to intimidate him, as a way of saying they were still watching him. The supervisor also found out his address which felt like an invasion. The supervisor in the employee's own words was a 'bully' who liked to use such tactics to inculcate fear within his employees. He had to withstand such tactics during his time there working under him, and the fact he had to do it even when he was officially on leave and should be getting his health on track was unacceptable. Moreover, he already had another job waiting for him, so he was not afraid to call him out. 

The supervisor said that before coming he had rung twice as well as given a message, which the employee does not believe as he received the supervisor's message after he left their home. There was no apology, just a cordial conversation. Being unsatisfied by this he went to his union, who were as outraged as him. They want to file a complaint against them but it proved to be a bit difficult. If the supervisor got his address by breaching GDPR then it's an offense, but if it was from coworkers there is no set rule.

The comment section agreed with the employee and his feelings. u/Scouthawkk gave some legal advice, "I would email HR, along the lines of asking them if they knew supervisor did this. I’m willing to bet they don’t know. If your sick leave is coinciding with US-based FMLA, that’s an egregious breach of federal laws that govern FMLA." u/MontCoDubV shared his opinion about the supervisor, "Maybe a little, but his true purpose was to check if you're really injured/sick. He wanted to catch you doing something physical that your doctor's note said you shouldn't be doing so that he can claim you're using your sick leave improperly."