I work in retail and we had a big meeting where our leadership said that we are not allowed to share any medical information about ourselves to our fellow coworkers. They are saying that it is because HIPPA but that is not what HIPPA is about. This is clearly because they do not want people telling each other they had covid and giving each other reason to get paid time off.
This is illegal right? They cannot stop us from sharing our own personal information with each other? Does anyone have any advice about talking to my employer about this? (I am in nyc if that matters)