The owner of where I (now previously) worked had disclosed another employee's personal and medical information to me in a conversation about work problems a few weeks ago. This included talking about how they were now considering demoting or removing said employee, due to not trusting them anymore and thinking they would run off or continue to lie about their performance abilities.
I was new to the place and waited to feel out what would happen with the crap going on at work. A few weeks later, nothing has changed, the owner has only been around one or two hours over the past five weeks because they have been sick on and off, but also took at least three vacations, including the entire first week of the program. Our conversation mentioned above took place the end of the first week, but over a month later the owner is still blaming the other employee (the manager) for all of their problems despite making no personal changes.
I also would like to add that my first paycheck was wrong and it took the employer three tries to get it right because they went from their second vacation to being sick to suddenly on their third vacation. I ended up having to ask the manager to get the owner to reply to me so that I could get this sorted out, or I would escalate immediately. This process took a week, and the owner was not happy I involved the manager. Once I had to get a check from their home, and the second time they left the check (without envelope) in my neighbor's mailbox.
Well, yesterday the manager approached me about their management. They'd done so once before where I did truly follow up on how I felt, mostly good things, as I really see the owner responsible for the business failings and for not supporting their team. I'm not the only one who got an incorrect check, I'm not the only one that was told they'd come work 12-18 hours straight to sort things out, and I wasn't the only one disappointed they literally never came around and then continued blaming all of the staff for the shortcomings.
In the conversation with the manager, all of this was expressed. I confirmed that I thought they were good at their job, and expressed my disappointments in the owner and how they handled concerns, in regard to blaming the manager. One thing after another and the manager very clearly says that the owner never approached them with concerns about their management, considering demoting or replacing them, etc. Just continuously saying where things needed to change, but not providing any support to mitigate issues with those changes. I then finally outed that the owner also disclosed medical information in the conversation about demoting or replacing them.
This whole conversation with the manager took place over a few hours at work when we were doing paperwork. We both went home after work. About 6 hours later I received an email Notice of Termination for “not sharing aligning values.” I wanted to collect my belongings from work but the owner said they were already removed from the premise and refused to speak further. They gave me until 8am (about 9.5 hours from the email notice) to pick up my belongings from their home, or they would be mailed.
Well, my belongings contain a printout of my hours that the owner provided only me, because I demanded it after the incorrect checks. The system we use should allow employees to both access their pay period hours and even change incorrect punches, but the owner turned off those functions so that no one else can see the actual hours worked. I keep a good record, but they were doing a lot of cuts recently, so I really wanted those records. The owner also said that they would be rolling my hours from the next two pay periods into one, so I especially wanted the printouts to verify that I wouldn't be shorted.
Well, I sought counsel from non-emergency authorities and in the end, I ended up getting my belongings from her place. Unfortunately, the printout of hours only include last pay period punches, not this pay period. So, I'll just have to wait and see if the check is correct when it comes in the mail.
All a very weird experience for me, d*mn small towns. I hope the manager is okay.
TL;DR: told am employee that their medical information was shared without permission by the boss and got fired in retaliation.