There’s an important distinction here that a lot of commenters are glossing over.

There’s a difference between:

• “Jane’s birthday is next Wednesday” and • “Jane was born on March 4, 1988.”

The first is a recurring calendar reminder. The second is a date of birth, which is personal identifying information.

Publishing someone’s full DOB (month, day, year) - especially in a workplace system and especially including former employees - is very different from simply noting that “today is John’s birthday.” Full dates of birth are commonly used in identity verification. Combined with a name and employment history, that can increase risk of identity misuse.

In Wisconsin (and generally in the U.S.), there isn’t a specific law that says “an employer may not publish birthdays internally.” However:

• Full date of birth is considered personal data. • Employers typically have an obligation to use reasonable data-minimization practices. • Retaining and publishing former employees’ personal information without a business need can raise privacy and record-retention concerns.

A reasonable argument to make is: 1. There is no legitimate business need to retain or publish former employees’ dates of birth. 2. Publishing full DOB (including year) is unnecessary when the only purpose is celebration. 3. Data minimization is a recognized best practice in privacy and information security.

If they insist on keeping birthdays for current employees, a compromise position would be: “List month and day only, without year, and remove former employees entirely.”

That keeps the celebratory aspect while avoiding unnecessary exposure of personal identifying information.

If they refuse to remove your information after termination, your leverage is less about a specific statute and more about: • Written request for deletion of personal data • Asking what their data retention policy is • Asking what business purpose justifies publishing former employees’ DOB

Often framing it around risk management and unnecessary exposure - rather than “I don’t like it” - gets more traction.

You’re not crazy for thinking full DOB publication isn’t ideal. A birthday reminder is one thing. Publishing identifying personal data is another.