Professional Darwinism: Update to OP on p.74

[CuriousParty]

I'd be suspicious that there wasn't some fine print in the info given that company sponsered therapy not being confidential.

I can't imagine that a state licensing board, or a professional organization, would consider this as being acceptable conditions of employment. You owe confidentiality to your client unless you are specifically given permission by the client, their legal guardian, or a judge instructs you to release the information- or if the client is a danger to himself or others. Agreeing to counsel employees,  and discussing the contents of their sessions with their supervisor...I think that would get you sanctioned just about anywhere.

I'm sure it depends on the job and why they have a therapist. My BF has to go to the work psychologist every 12 months as part of his security clearance process and that certainly isn't completely confidential. 

That's a different situation- in an evaluation, the client intends from the very beginning for the psychologist to release a report about what he talked about, there's no therapeutic relationship, no ongoing relationship, and no expectation of confidentiality. But if the psychologist is counseling or providing therapy, there's a reasonable expectation of confidentiality, no matter who's paying for the psychologist.

Actually, the bolder is not the case.  There are many circumstances where a therapist/psychologist may be providing therapy, but the client is NOT the individual in therapy, and confidentiality with the individual in therapy does not exist.  The confidentiality is maintained between the therapist and the defined client.  Therapy as a condition of probation is one example, and the situation can exist in work situations, as well - the military is one that I am aware of, but there are civilian examples as well.

The important difference, though, is that in these situations the absence of confidentiality is noted and discussed at the very beginning of therapy, and is noted as part of the informed consent process.  The individual knows that sessions are not confidential, and any/all information is up for disclosure.  As long as that has been clearly established, there is no violation of either laws or ethics.

If this was not discussed in the OP situation, I too would wonder about a "hidden camera" situation that the therapist would not know about, because otherwise they would be risking their license (and future employability).

[violinp]

We had one - guy was a manager in my department. Angry all the time, needlessly demanding, micro-manager, backstabbing, condescending - a really class A jerk. He had a particular hatred of women in positions of authority, women in IT, women who aren't thin and beautiful (we'd all overheard his long tirades at his wife by phone about her weight). Our old director was useless, and let him get away with it - his employees HATED him. When old director went on sick leave for a few months, and new director met the twit, he was gone in a few weeks - transferred to management in another department (and, I heard, a 1-for-1 swap for a guy who was the manager in that new department, who is now in an unrelated department and happy as a clam).

New department, old jerk - he's put in charge of managing one of the development groups, specifically on a tool that his old department (my current department) uses daily. Who gets put as his point of contact in our department? Me. (yes, the fat lesbian who refused to put up with his nonsense when we worked together). He flatly refused to deal with me.

His tool is now slated for end-of-life in the next year. Wonder why?

This must be a cousin to the guy who said to my mom's face that all successful women were Nazis. Her response was, "Well, then I'm next to Hitler." I know that was probably un - Ehell - approved, but I laughed when she told me that. Unfortunately, that jerk is still employed - and is my mom's boss. 

[kherbert05]

My local grocery store tends to have issues with people misbehaving just outside the front doors, and truly needs to have a uniformed security guard stationed outside it in order to prevent the customers entering and exiting the store from getting harassed in assorted ways, from being accosted by panhandlers to being heckled by drunks and jerks.  The guard usually stands by the bike rack, which also deters the occasional bike thief.

Recently, they got a new security guard.  The guard seemed like a nice guy, but then he started letting his buddies hang around him while he was doing his shift. I walked by them today and his friends were making absolutely horrible comments about the people walking in and out of the store.  The guard was chuckling along with them.  When I walked past them, they quieted down for a second, but once I'd gotten a few feet away from them, I clearly heard them saying something about me - it was extraordinarily rude and trying to repeat it would break the filters as it involved a number of vulgarities.

I walked into the store and told the manager on duty what was going on.  She called the guard in - and he wasn't out front anymore when I left with my groceries half an hour later.

I had an employee and her friend hit me up for money as I walked into the store one day. I told the manager, he walked out to the lobby, called her inside, fired her, escorted her out, and ordered her and her friend off the property or they would be arrested. When I left he escorted me to my car, because she had asked if that BAD WORD had ratted her out.  They were in the parking lot and heckled me. He told them he was calling the cops when he got back inside, waited till I locked my door and went inside.

[kherbert05]

I witnessed and benifited for the polar opposite of Professional Darwinism.

I had an education student observe me today. She came to our tech meeting, which was short. She had been asking me about the tech I use, so we stayed and our Campus Instructional Technology Specialist answered some of her questions. She mentioned the name of your IT integration professor - We laughed and assured her that he will take his time and make sure she understood everything. (He is our CITS direct boss).

When I got home tonight there was on email from the professor/head of our CITS. He had received an e-mail from the lady that thanked us for helping her and demonstrating how tech can enhance learning and how impress she was with our campus compared to the school her children attend. (We are an old campus, things had to be retrofitted, and we are Title I school. Her kids attend a almost new school in a district that is a major competitor to us. People tend to see our district as an old, rural, backwards district. That isn't who we are.)

The head of CITS/Professor had forwarded the e-mail to my principal, the head of Tech, the head of elementary Ed, and the Superintendent. She has a few years of training. But if she applies that e-mail means her name will be remembered favorably.
 

[MissRose]

His tool is now slated for end-of-life in the next year. Wonder why?

I want a like button for this so much

Me too!!!

[Jocelyn]

I'd be suspicious that there wasn't some fine print in the info given that company sponsered therapy not being confidential.

I can't imagine that a state licensing board, or a professional organization, would consider this as being acceptable conditions of employment. You owe confidentiality to your client unless you are specifically given permission by the client, their legal guardian, or a judge instructs you to release the information- or if the client is a danger to himself or others. Agreeing to counsel employees,  and discussing the contents of their sessions with their supervisor...I think that would get you sanctioned just about anywhere.

I'm sure it depends on the job and why they have a therapist. My BF has to go to the work psychologist every 12 months as part of his security clearance process and that certainly isn't completely confidential. 

That's a different situation- in an evaluation, the client intends from the very beginning for the psychologist to release a report about what he talked about, there's no therapeutic relationship, no ongoing relationship, and no expectation of confidentiality. But if the psychologist is counseling or providing therapy, there's a reasonable expectation of confidentiality, no matter who's paying for the psychologist.

Actually, the bolder is not the case.  There are many circumstances where a therapist/psychologist may be providing therapy, but the client is NOT the individual in therapy, and confidentiality with the individual in therapy does not exist.  The confidentiality is maintained between the therapist and the defined client.  Therapy as a condition of probation is one example, and the situation can exist in work situations, as well - the military is one that I am aware of, but there are civilian examples as well.

The important difference, though, is that in these situations the absence of confidentiality is noted and discussed at the very beginning of therapy, and is noted as part of the informed consent process.  The individual knows that sessions are not confidential, and any/all information is up for disclosure.  As long as that has been clearly established, there is no violation of either laws or ethics.

If this was not discussed in the OP situation, I too would wonder about a "hidden camera" situation that the therapist would not know about, because otherwise they would be risking their license (and future employability).

I obviously can't speak to all professions, but in my own, people on probation or parole are very much protected by professional confidentiality. I could have been brought up on ethics charges for releasing the details of what a parolee told me to his parole officer, absent of a danger to self or others. And I never had a parole officer ask me for details: they were always satisfied with a statement that the client had attended, had addressed issues, and was making satisfactory progress.
I've been told the military is invasive...that's why so many places exist to provide low-cost services to military and their families. However, I still would question if it's ethical practice to release content of sessions to a CO. Whether a soldier is fit for duty, yes; if a soldier is a danger to himself or others, certainly. But the CO doesn't need to know the details, and at least in my profession, I have an ethical obligation to withhold details.

[Sirius]

According to Mr. Sirius, who is retired from the military, there's also "good order and discipline" that comes into play in the military, which is why some things that are private in the general public aren't private in the military.  As the sergeant in charge (the NCOIC) of his section he once had to deal with a couple who'd been having an extramarital affair.  Usually this would be no one else's business, but in the military such a thing can cause a breakdown of good order and discipline.  Plus, the affair had ended badly, and the couple's sniping at each other was causing a great deal of discomfort to the others working with them, and he had to counsel them to stop the sniping or face more severe punishment. 

[DoubleTrouble]

According to Mr. Sirius, who is retired from the military, there's also "good order and discipline" that comes into play in the military, which is why some things that are private in the general public aren't private in the military.  As the sergeant in charge (the NCOIC) of his section he once had to deal with a couple who'd been having an extramarital affair.  Usually this would be no one else's business, but in the military such a thing can cause a breakdown of good order and discipline.  Plus, the affair had ended badly, and the couple's sniping at each other was causing a great deal of discomfort to the others working with them, and he had to counsel them to stop the sniping or face more severe punishment.

You mean like when the Navy commander faked his death to end his affair? Had a  moment when I read that one.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/18/michael-ward-navy-sub-commander-faked-death-affair_n_1894254.html

[Hillia]

During Desert Storm I, my brother (a 2nd lt at the time) was rotated home because his wife was sleeping her way through the enlisted barracks.  Every new group of men deployed had at least one who would say, 'Oh, YOU'RE BroName' and smirk, not to mention the gossip flying back and forth between deployed and at home men.  It was affecting his ability to properly lead his men. 

[Winterlight]

Or the Kelly Flinn case, where a female lieutenant was kicked out for having an affair with a male civilian soccer coach at who was married to her female enlisted subordinate. She'd been given a direct order to stay away from him, which she agreed to- instead, she moved him in with her.

[akm10]

This was many years ago, but I still remember this employee.

Setting: A small office that was the US headquarters of an Australian company. I was the office "temp" newly out of college, and we just hired a new receptionist. I had covered the job for a few months.

On her first day, she told the President he spelled his name wrong. (Australian/English name, not common here in the US, and if so, usually spelled different.)

Her job included answering the phones, yet within her first week, she was yelling for me to get the ringing phone from the *other* end of the office.  The PD wasn't having me, her backup, answer the phone, it was the yelling across the office.

She objected - loudly - to an aspect of the job that she knew about before she took the job.

She lasted a week, maybe two. And I still can't believe she thought that was acceptable behavior!

Anna

[pixel dust]

Alright, I think it's time to share the ridiculousness of my previous job... I'll be quite surprised if this company's East Coast office lasts another year. The treat it like a red-headed stepchild.

The Company is a medium-sized "digital agency" (from web design/development/hosting to SEO and marketing campaigns online). Their main clients are ministry clients and are a very religious agency. I have heard the CFO/head salesman start client meetings with prayers before. The CEO started this company in his early 20's, basically he has never held a job where he was an underling, he has no idea what it's like to be an employee. The headquarters is on the West Coast and the office I worked in was a satellite on the East Coast. HQ had approximately 30-40 people working there, East coast had under 10 people (by the time I left, there were 3 full-time people - including me - and 1 part-time guy who came in about once a week).

There are so many stories of this place I can tell, but for now I'm going to tell me favorite: The Christmas Raffle.

The week before Christmas we have our monthly all-company meeting. For these, we're allowed to buy lunch for the office (get reimbursed for it) and take a longer lunch together. After lunch, we all (3 of us working full-time there at this point) log back on and start working again. To communicate with each other during the day, we G-Chat with each other. After an hour or so we notice status updates from the West Coast Office along the lines of "Merry Christmas to me from Company! I just got an iPad!", "Thanks Company for the Amazon Gift Card!", etc. We on the East Coast as very confused.

To make a long story short, the CEO decided to host a raffle to boost employee morale. He includes new iPads, a Kindle Fire, and a plethora of high $$ gift cards to Apple, Amazon, etc. All employees names were put into a hat and drawn every hour or so.

Every employee except the East Coast employees.

Apparently, out of sight, out of mind.

We contact our West Coast office liaison (who's actually only in the office once a month) and complain. Seriously, how hard would it have been to toss 4 names in the raffle and mail our presents out to us? She was out of the office and didn't know about the raffle. She immediately jumps down the CEO's neck and he says he'll "make it up to us".

Next week I receive a card in the mail. I was the raffle winner! And what did I win? A $10 Starbucks gift card.

[Jocelyn]

Reminds me of a former boss. One year for Secretary's Day, he gave the secretaries- and all the non-clinical staff- a nice package of gifts that would be valued at over $100 apiece. The clinical staff got nothing, because 'there's no Clinician's Day'.  He just couldn't see how it would affect morale among the clinicians not to get anything while the non-clinical staff were running around excited with their gift bags.

[Piratelvr1121]

I witnessed and benifited for the polar opposite of Professional Darwinism.

I had an education student observe me today. She came to our tech meeting, which was short. She had been asking me about the tech I use, so we stayed and our Campus Instructional Technology Specialist answered some of her questions. She mentioned the name of your IT integration professor - We laughed and assured her that he will take his time and make sure she understood everything. (He is our CITS direct boss).

When I got home tonight there was on email from the professor/head of our CITS. He had received an e-mail from the lady that thanked us for helping her and demonstrating how tech can enhance learning and how impress she was with our campus compared to the school her children attend. (We are an old campus, things had to be retrofitted, and we are Title I school. Her kids attend a almost new school in a district that is a major competitor to us. People tend to see our district as an old, rural, backwards district. That isn't who we are.)

The head of CITS/Professor had forwarded the e-mail to my principal, the head of Tech, the head of elementary Ed, and the Superintendent. She has a few years of training. But if she applies that e-mail means her name will be remembered favorably.

That's cool.  The elementary school my boys attend is a Title I school as well, and they have done so much better at this school than they did the one in another county that was known for being a really good school district.  So much so that people would buy houses in the area so their kids could go to certain schools and high schools. It's mean but I have to laugh at times when they'd buy a house so their kid could attend A school and they'd end up going to B school cause the districts changed while the kid was in middle school.

What really pleased me was when my oldest son got to the point that he didn't need an IEP anymore.

[siamesecat2965]

Alright, I think it's time to share the ridiculousness of my previous job... I'll be quite surprised if this company's East Coast office lasts another year. The treat it like a red-headed stepchild.

The Company is a medium-sized "digital agency" (from web design/development/hosting to SEO and marketing campaigns online). Their main clients are ministry clients and are a very religious agency. I have heard the CFO/head salesman start client meetings with prayers before. The CEO started this company in his early 20's, basically he has never held a job where he was an underling, he has no idea what it's like to be an employee. The headquarters is on the West Coast and the office I worked in was a satellite on the East Coast. HQ had approximately 30-40 people working there, East coast had under 10 people (by the time I left, there were 3 full-time people - including me - and 1 part-time guy who came in about once a week).

There are so many stories of this place I can tell, but for now I'm going to tell me favorite: The Christmas Raffle.

The week before Christmas we have our monthly all-company meeting. For these, we're allowed to buy lunch for the office (get reimbursed for it) and take a longer lunch together. After lunch, we all (3 of us working full-time there at this point) log back on and start working again. To communicate with each other during the day, we G-Chat with each other. After an hour or so we notice status updates from the West Coast Office along the lines of "Merry Christmas to me from Company! I just got an iPad!", "Thanks Company for the Amazon Gift Card!", etc. We on the East Coast as very confused.

To make a long story short, the CEO decided to host a raffle to boost employee morale. He includes new iPads, a Kindle Fire, and a plethora of high $$ gift cards to Apple, Amazon, etc. All employees names were put into a hat and drawn every hour or so.

Every employee except the East Coast employees.

Apparently, out of sight, out of mind.

We contact our West Coast office liaison (who's actually only in the office once a month) and complain. Seriously, how hard would it have been to toss 4 names in the raffle and mail our presents out to us? She was out of the office and didn't know about the raffle. She immediately jumps down the CEO's neck and he says he'll "make it up to us".

Next week I receive a card in the mail. I was the raffle winner! And what did I win? A $10 Starbucks gift card.

Wow. Way to make ALL the staff feel valued! Glad to hear its a prior job!