‘We messed up’: Boston’s HR dept. apologized to employees after an email revealed to co-workers they were COVID positive

The City of Boston’s Human Resources Department issued an apology to certain city employees last month after an email revealed, apparently in error, the identities of approximately 102 workers who tested positive for COVID-19.

The email in question was sent around Jan. 17, and shared names and email addresses of city employees who tested positive around that time, Elissa Cadillic, president of the Boston Public Library Employees Union Local 1526, told city councilors at a hearing on Friday.

Many workers who receive regular testing are unvaccinated, Cadillic said in an interview Tuesday.

“Unintentionally and accidentally, we messed up,” a city HR official wrote in a follow-up, apology email to employees on Jan. 21. “The communication was intended to be sent as a BCC so as to respect employees’ privacy. The wrong button got pushed and so the email was sent showing all email addresses.

“We apologize for the error.”

Officials wrote the initial email was intended to provide those workers with “clarification of the updated deadline for the Vaccination Requirement Policy and to provide next steps for those seeking to comply with the policy.”

It is unclear if all of the employees named on the email recipient list are or were unvaccinated. Cadillic said Tuesday the employees may not have submitted their vaccination status to the city at the time the email was sent, and therefore may have been considered unvaccinated in the eyes of City Hall.

The email was provided to Boston.com by Wu’s press office on Monday in response to an inquiry about the matter.

Cadillic said the email violated employee privacy, as well as an agreement — and subsequent assurances — to respect that privacy reached between former acting Mayor Kim Janey’s administration and Local 1526 in October.

The incident was first mentioned during a hearing on the status of the Mayor Michelle Wu administration’s ongoing talks with the city’s unionized workforce regarding the city’s proposed employee vaccine mandate policy.

“This is something we’ve been highlighting throughout this process — the concern about privacy. We’ve raised it over and over again,” Cadillic said Tuesday. “This clearly demonstrated that they do not have a grasp on procedure and process to make sure people’s information is protected, and I want to know what they’re doing to correct that.”

According to Cadillic, the union, in response to the incident, is currently reviewing any applicable laws and consulting with its legal team to determine what action, if any, the organization can take against the city.

The employee vaccine mandate, which is currently on pause from taking hold due to a challenge in the Massachusetts Appeals Court, would require workers to get vaccinated or else be terminated from their positions.

Wu, however, in recent weeks has put forth proposals that would allow current unvaccinated employees to keep their jobs, although those offers have been rejected by several unions. (The administration did reach a deal, though, with the Boston Teachers Union.)

Cadillic cited last month’s email incident as reason to question whether city officials will abide by union agreements.

“The city expects us to meet with them and trust that they will abide by mutually negotiated agreements now and in the future,” Cadillic said Friday. “How can we do that when that trust has been eroded?”

The email sent by HR had the subject line, “Office of Human Resources is Made up of Humans; We Make and Apologize for Mistakes.”

“We truly do take employees’ privacy interests seriously and have reviewed and improved our practices and guidelines to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” the email states. “We will do better.”

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