Give Me Your Passwords!

A friend of mine is experiencing race-related harassment at work. She filed a formal complaint against her supervisor and the situated immediately escalated. HR tried to intervene, but the supervisor said that she wasn’t interested in sitting down in a meeting with my friend to discuss or resolve the issues.

So, it was only a short period of time before my friend was approached by the computer tech guy at their small office. He wanted to know the password to her computer and her password to access voicemail on her phone.

My friend informed the person that based on the situation at work she wasn’t comfortable giving out her password information.

But, let’s think about what’s going on:

In the midst of a race-related dispute, all of a sudden the supervisor wants her passwords? Why? Is my friend going to be fired and they want to easily get into her computer and phone, when she’s gone?

Think about it. It’s just the height of laziness. A computer tech should be able to get into any company computer. Just like they do when people forget their password and they reset the computer account.

So, maybe it’s not laziness. Maybe it’s about intimidation and threats to her job security. Maybe it’s about creating a hostile and offensive work environment by letting her know she was being subjected to heightened scrutiny and observation?

Whatever the reason, they’ll have to explain it to EEOC. My friend is scheduled to file a complaint today.

I don’t know why these companies allow supervisors, manager, directors, etc. to get them into legal jeopardy, when there is always a way to get around these issues if they are addressed fairly and head on. We’ll see what happens!

How would you respond to a request for your passwords? Post a comment!