I told my manager something in confidence about stress at home. Two days later, a coworker brought it up casually. I felt betrayed — and now I don’t trust anyone higher up. Is this a fireable offense or just poor boundaries?

Poor boundaries - people in my team gossip a lot and I normally assume that if I’m telling someone something in confidence, it’s expected half the team will hear in a month

Whether or not, it’s a fireable offense depends on what you told your manager and what they shared.

The positive take on this, if there can be any, is that you’ve now learned the lesson about keeping work and personal life separate.

It’s unprofessional for them to share, but it’s not illegal or something they can get fired for unless it poses a legal issue like it’s HIPAA related or causes negative career impact for you.

Unless you have concrete proof that they said something, I would be careful about any accusations. Consider it a crappy lesson learned and document everything moving forward.

BTW I never tell anyone anything and I never tell my boss anything. It goes straight to HR and only the minimum details legally required.

I’m so sorry this happened to you but god knows to never to put me in these situations.

It’s not a fireable offense. No one is going to fire your manager over something about your personal life. But yea, perhaps in the future, be very careful about whom you trust.

Did we work together? My boss would constantly tell us everyones business and she even admitted to looking up our file to get information. HIPAA and PHI is a no go, you never mention it to anyone else, its the law.

I think you meant poor boundaries with regards to your manager. But telling your manager anything in confidence, especially something personal, would probably count for most as poor boundaries on your part. Newbie mistake! It doesn't matter what the situation is, a workplace can only accommodate you as far as official policy allows, or whatever small one-time favor someone higher up can do for you. So there's little point in even sharing the details, IMO. Don't look for sympathy or commiseration at work.