What is a good word(s) for someone who excessively asks for information that they have no business knowing?
This person constantly asks what other people have on their schedule. This same person (and I apologize if I am getting too personal) was recently caught rifling through other employee schedules. I have terminated the employee and was issuing a termination letter.
In general, this person could be described as nosy. If you happen to be in Pittsburgh, PA, you could also call the person nebby. A good noun for this is busybody.
Intrusive may qualify this person or his behavior.
Definition: annoying someone by interfering with their privacy; intruding where you are not wanted or welcome to thrust or bring in without invitation, permission, or welcome.
Asking about such things excessively is being nosy.
Illicitly acquiring the answers to these questions (e.g. by rifling through other employee's private information without permission) is instead a violation of privacy.
Nosy is a derogatory term which, in a business context, may make it sound like you, rather than the employee, is at fault. From the viewpoint of a 'nosy' person, the other party is 'hiding something', just like how calling an employee a 'crybaby' may result in others wondering if in fact the issue is that you are 'insensitive'. Derogatory character trait terms like these tend to come in pairs. If you do feel the need to include a character-trait based derogatory term for this, "Intrusive" sounds better than "nosy" in formal contexts. You should really avoid both, though.
A violation of privacy is an event/action and taking grievance because of it makes your position sound neutral and supported. From the perspective of the privacy-violator, others will assume, your privacy didn't matter, and that claim is socially unacceptable. (It also provides actionable information the people you have a problem with can use to change their behavior in the future, but that's better left to workplace.se to discuss)
In New Zealand (and Australia) there is a colloquial term "sticky-beak" which is used both as a verb and a noun. As in to stick ones beak where it does not belong.
i.e. "Luke is such a sticky-beak" or "Rachel, stopping being such a sticky-beak".
noun: sticky-beak
1. an inquisitive and prying person.
verb: sticky-beak
1. pry into other people's affairs. "I don't mean to stickybeak, but when is he going to leave?"
Snoopy would be another good option.
If slang is acceptable to you, nosy parker or buttinsky may be what you're looking for.
In the context of a business or a relationship where there are clear rules, you could say that the person "violated boundaries". In this case, he or she violated clearly-established boundaries of privacy set forth by the business.
To me, this is much more professional than saying nosy or using another adjective that describes the person's internal state or our reaction to his actions. It's not a firing offense to be nosy; it IS a firing offense to let your nosiness cause you to cross boundaries inappropriately. Remaining dispassionate and scrupulously factual (hint: "nosy" isn't something that can be proven in a court of law) are best practice in business.
You could say that the person is inquisitive,
unduly curious about the affairs of others; prying.
Although it's usually used to describe the form of question they're asking, I would call this person impertinent.
Intrusive or presumptuous, as persons or their actions; insolently rude; uncivil:
Clinically, I would say disrespectful of boundaries. Also, intrusive. The opposite is "infiltrating," when people bring magazines for my waiting room that support their political agenda.
Depending which variety of English you speak or part of the English-speaking world you belong to, inquiring might fit the bill.
An inquiring person would ask a lot of (nosey) questions while an inquisitive person is curious. The inquisitive person might also investigate things or do experiments. "Inquiring" is more negative to me - perhaps because of the tabloid newspaper The National Enquirer (yes, that's the spelling they use) which prints a lot of gossip and rumors "because inquiring minds want to know!" (one of their slogans). (Myridon, Mar 19, 2010 - WordReference.com)
Personally I would consider using the word invasive or invasive behavior:
British English: invasive You use invasive to describe something undesirable which spreads very quickly and which is very difficult to stop from spreading. Collins Online
This is stronger than intrusive in the sense that you are clearly talking about passing beyond acceptable boundaries and invading others privacy. It sounds a lot more formal and less childish than "nosy" or it's variants. It also carries the connotation, from the all too familiar "invasive cancer", of something that will do severe damage if it is not stopped.
If the individual was specifically seeking the schedule details of one or more specific individuals then this might be considered an aspect of stalking.
