Disclosing Your Health Condition To Your Employer

If you disclose any information about your diagnosis, do it to the highest level person with whom you are comfortable, preferably someone in your company's Human Resources department.

Generally speaking, Human Resources personnel are more likely than the average executive to understand the laws about confidentiality and the consequences to the company if an employee's medical information is not kept confidential.

The higher you go, the more likely it is the person will be aware of the responsibilities that the company has with respect to your disclosure. Additionally, information in a company usually flows upward. For example, if you decide to go the Manager of Human Resources and she reports directly to the Vice President of Personnel, you likely will have eliminated the information being passed through all of those individuals between your immediate supervisor and the Manager that you went to directly.

If you work for a small company that does not have a human resources department, disclosure should be made to an individual who is at least in a supervisory position in the company

Keep in mind that your immediate supervisor will likely be the person most impacted by your diagnosis. Think about your relationship with your supervisor, and how he or she has acted in the past, before deciding whether to tell him or her yourself, or to ask Human Resources to do it.  If you tell your supervisor and not your co-workers, consider reminding him or her of the obligation to keep your information confidential.

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