An HR department has been accused of giving an obsessive employee the home address of his colleague, after which he went and camped outside her home for three days.
The obsessed co-worker also kept a diary noting everything she had worn to work as well as detailing how they’d spend their lives together.
The diary appears to have been titled "Our Love Forever".
It included notes on the woman's appearance ("Brown wrap dress with silver buckle on belt... Little too much mascara"), ideas on what to do together ("I will introduce you to amazing TV and movies. Take Mad Men") and planned how they would spend their lives ("I know you won't mind staying home to raise our children properly. It is what women are built for, after all").
The tone was also threatening, with the man writing he was "coming for you" and "I can't be without you. I won't be without you."
The terrifying ordeal forced the woman to move to another city and undergo counselling.
Speaking about the protracted incident, the woman, who remains anonymous, said: “I received these journals (and pen, don't forget the pen!) plus flowers, candy and a huge stuffed bear from my former cubicle neighbour at a job I worked at for 3 years.
“Our cubicles were next to each other the whole time I worked at this firm. We were kinda’ friendly the first six months I was there. Then he asked me on a date. I very politely declined.
“[I was] very firm that I don't date co-workers and what-not. After that, besides for a friendly hello, he said almost nothing to me. We were on different teams, so it wasn't a big deal to me. But after I turned him down, he started keeping this journal.”
She added that the diary "takes a turn into the crazy end" from the very first entries. "Up until now he called me pet names and talked as if we were currently dating," she said.
"This is the first time he really reveals that he's planned the rest of our lives out for us. The last nine months of the journals get really bad.”
However, the man's most terrifying step was to come to her apartment and camp out to wait for her - something he could only do after their HR department told him the woman's home address.
She said: “A since-fired HR person gave him my address. He left work at lunchtime, bought a bunch of things he thought would win me over, and came to my apartment. Thankfully, I wasn't there, as I was flying to another city to rent an apartment for a new job.”
She added that he had since been jailed for a kidnap attempt.
This case is a terrifying example of what happens when HR don’t take their duties seriously. Many industries, and individual firms within them, are facing a backlash as a result of unchecked corporate cultures of harassment and the supine or disinterested HR departments that went along with them.
Uber, Nike and Hollywood have all faced major, and very public, recriminations as a result of this.
Furthermore, the case highlights the pressing importance of keeping employee data private and secure – especially with GDPR coming into force in just a couple of weeks.
You can read about the factors and legal grounds HR needs to consider using, processing and disseminating data here.
