You are a human resources generalist responsible for several internal departments.

Situation
An employee you have never met, Sandy, calls to ask if you are the right person to talk to regarding an employee relations issue. You confirm that you are and agree to meet with Sandy immediately.

Sandy begins by telling you, “I’m not happy.” It seems that Sandy’s boss is retiring and had told her after announcing his retirement that nothing in her job would change when the person replacing him takes over. You quickly determine that the issue involves a lack of clear expectation setting by the new supervisor and the assumption that Sandy will be responsible for a new set of new, higher level responsibilities. However, you also realize who her boss is and that you have a personal family relationship with the in-laws of the new boss – in fact, the boss’s father-in-law works in the company and got the referral bonus when you were hired!

Would it better to say nothing, since you know that it will not affect the way you handle Sandy and her issue or to disclose that relationship to keep everything above board?