Is it okay to tell other employees that a colleague is sick?

There are often very good reasons for telling other staff and work colleagues if a person is sick and won’t be at work. Staff will often need to know if someone will be absent from work or not to be able to do their job.

Many workplace policies will state that if a person is sick or on leave, the employer will tell staff. This is up to individual employers or workplaces.

But an employer should apply discretion in deciding whether or not to disclose the nature of the illness, injury or condition. The employee in question may expect that information to be kept confidential. Our office advises taking a sensible common sense approach to how much information needs to be disclosed. A workplace is unlikely to need to know the exact reason why a person is unable to attend work.