Wow.

My friend just called me for some advice. She is currently seeing a therapist every other week, and since she has a regular full-time job and a full school schedule, she sought and received approval to schedule this appointment during work hours. It amounts to her being a couple of hours late every other week. The approval for this standing appointment was approved by her supervisor's boss.

Yesterday, at her appointment with her therapist, she is told that her supervisor contacted her therapist to ask how long my friend's treatment would take. The therapist, naturally, refused to answer, but the supervisor pushed and pushed until she said, "At least six months, but it will be longer." The supervisor never received permission from my friend to contact her therapist.

So, what my friend is asking is, can her supervisor do this? Which, of course, she CAN'T.  Um, HIPAA much?

This might seem like an innocent mistake to some, but the fact is that this supervisor has been riding her ass about anything and everything she can think of, giving her more and more work while sending her out of the office where she can't do her work. When advised by the highest level management that there is no tattoo policy, and that no one HAS to cover a tattoo (as in, it's up to the discretion of the person with the tattoo) she persisted in harassing her about her visible tattoo, until someone finally sat down with her and explicitly stated, "You cannot do that!" What makes this all the better is that while she is an acting supervisor, I suppose with the intention of eventually promoting her, she is without any leadership qualities OR the official title.

I'm not even at work today and this makes me crazy!