The main problem is that 'copying data in a very insecure way to be able to bring those data. FIFTY?! Age doesnt matter here. Its a huge risk that if discovered by the employer would likely result in being blacklisted from the company and if the LW is employed there immediate termination. The actual problem is that OP shared confidential information. She can come to value the lesson while seeing it all clearly. OP doesnt sound naive or too young, either. The mistake was breaking company policy not that they announced to a coworker they broke company policy.. I thought it was over. I reminded him that anything sent in our work email is subject to FOIA and not really completely private from our employer, so if he was going to continue to work against the plan, use personal email. Giving her information relevant to her beat and asking her not to share it is basically asking her to stand on the sidelines and fail to do her job, while somebody else gets the scoop. It doesnt matter if your friend is a journalist or not; thats a total red herring. Because, if you did the first apology option then I think it would be (more) possible youd get a 2nd chance. OP, specifically following up with Alisons advice above, you were fired because you showed your employer that your first reaction when learning about confidential information was to text (1) someone outside of your company who was not authorized to know that information and (2) someone who was a journalist, who by profession is at risk for leaking said confidential information EVEN IF you only know them as a friend and EVEN IF you promise pinky swear that they would never ever do that. I will add that I consider neither my cats nor Jesus to be imaginary; the connection was someone you wouldnt get in trouble for sharing with. So to summarize, while an individual in your circumstance can be fired for the accidental dissemination of confidential employment information, their employer cannot press criminal charges against them, both because a private entity lacks the authority to make that decision and more fundamentally because the accidental dissemination of . Thats the very last reporting step for something illegal/dangerous. By Candice Novak. The heads on spikes of the modern workplace. As a former journalist, I can assure you journalists dont leak information, unless its something confidential about their own employers. Having a natural, human reaction doesnt mean shes in the wrong field. No matter how small the company, they trust you to safeguard the data, and you didnt do that. Reacting to being fired for that as if being personally persecuted over some piddly technical rule violation and not being given a second chance? Not generational, just a young person thing. While it is possible the line could be actively tapped/monitored by someone else, even if it was an unsecured line it would be reasonable to assume the home phone number on file for GSA's dad would lead to the dad. Non-Disclosure Agreements - Workplace Fairness As far as I know, he held the highest security clearance a civilian could have. Sure, thered be a record in Slack of prior messages. From there they have 72 hours to resolve the situation. And the coworker, well, this was information that was a major conduct infraction, not just embarrassing or private if a coworker told me theyd done this, Id have promptly reported it, not to humiliate them, but to start the process of damage control. You learned, BOY HOWDY did you learn, and now you dont mess around not even gossiping with co-workers or any of those other little ways that could instill doubt in your discretion. Going forward definitely own this mistake and explain that you are freaking Fort Knox going now to new employers, knowing now the seriousness of such a transgression. Accidental disclosure is the unintentional release or sharing of sensitive information. Where I work, I cannot legally share information about very exciting things that are happening/about to happen. It only takes a minute to sign up. I minored in journalism and this attitude is why I never worked in the industry. If you are facing much trouble, look for job in domains where confidentiality is not too critical and the employer is not paranoid about it. In other words, dont assume the information only went to the person you sent it to. Im sure they thought she was a fruit cake. It can feel like the end of the world but I promise you it isnt. Maybe a different (and appropriately mortified) approach from the OP in those meetings would of had a different result or maybe not! but the approach in the letter definitely would have convinced me to let her go if I was on the fence. the coworker had an obvious physical feature that the poster mentioned, so the company was able to figure out who was discussing it in a public place and *fired* them for it. You want to minimize this, and thats natural. OP, there is another thing to keep in mind. So I guess my coworker could have misunderstood when I said I texted one friend, but I wish she would have talked to me about that first? Confidentiality is not just an issue in communications. My father worked on defense contracts for a large portion of his professional career. Or, heck, for all I know he didnt actually work on anything that interesting. I worked for a federal government contractor and we were awaiting news of whether we were getting a contract renewal. The penalty for breach of confidentiality isn't restricted to employees who have . If its a marketing message, spam, or something that looks entirely unimportant simply delete and move on. Practically everything I do in my job is confidential to some degree. Thats a horrendously burdensome thing to ask! I think interviewers will pick up on the equivocation in your language here. Animaniactoo is right that folks who have to manage confidential information begin to cultivate the skill of sharing without making an unauthorized disclosure. I was working on some client confidential information on my client issued laptop and I emailed this info to my personal mailbox as I wanted to continue doing work on my personal laptop; I couldn't take my work laptop away whilst on extended leave overseas. It doesnt, but we still shouldnt state assumptions like facts if theyre not supported by whats said in the letter and theres nothing wrong with Michaela pointing it out. The type of violation you are talking about normally only applies to confidential (shall close) records and not non-public (may close) records. This friend understood the gravity of the information I told her, and I 100% trusted her to not leak it. Even a private company would consider this a breach of trust, and could could consider firing. One of my favorite shows had a plotline about a sibling not liking someone not breaking doctor confidentiality. Is it a HIPAA Violation to Email Patient Names? - HIPAA Journal On other occasions, you might accidentally receive a confidential email with information meant for one person (or a few people) you know. But if I found out a coworker was sharing this information with just anyone it would be a probably HIPAA violation and, yes, I would need to tell my boss. So while the OP can feel what the OP feels, the sooner she can get rid of any hostile feelings about the coworker, the better it will be for the OP. That means that you definitely shouldnt get into anything about anyone ratting you out; that would make it sound like you dont think it really should have mattered. Much as we like to think confidentiality is transferrablethat as long as the people we tell keep things confidential we didnt breach confidentiality to tell themits not. Granted, it was to your older co-worker rather than your boss, but that still shows you felt uncomfortable with your actions. ), This didnt involve a records request. Even in the private sector, there is information that is classified, sensitive or commercially in confidence and not to be shared. OP: Then, when someone particularly notable would enter our database, we would get a reminder email not naming names but reminding us that no matter how interesting the information is, its private and not ok to share. was. Gossage said he believed he was speaking in confidence to someone he trusted implicitly, but the story subsequently appeared in the Sunday Times, to the dismay and rage of the author of the Harry Potter books.. That has an impact on real estate values and could make a government employee excited. Maybe you get a 2nd chance IF you were contrite enough and blamed your excitement at the new teapot program. I agree with you that its ok for OP to feel resentful (at least in the short-run)! Age is hardly an indicator of a persons ability to consistently make the best choices at all times. He was employed elsewhere within a few weeks. Can I get fired for . Our newspapers report quite frequently on gossip of whats happening behind the scenes. Yes! You didn't accidentally email the material to yourself, you did it on purpose. Breaking certain rules in the workplace, whether written or unwritten, may get you fired. They may. While they may not state why someone was fired, Ive found it pretty common to state that someone was fired (or laid off etc) and if the person is eligible for rehire. It has to be violent sexual assault before theyll even consider responding. You did a thing that caused this outcome. Right. Its not the end of the world as long as you adjust your thinking going forward and really try to understand why confidentiality policies exist. OPs best bet is to stop blaming their coworker or minimizing what happened. I dont think we fired anyone but the need for absolute confidentiality was reiterated. Does that matter? In a roundabout way, they somewhat did you a kindness by firing you. Im of course devastated, and moving on and figuring out my next steps. At the time, I thought it would be ok since it wouldnt cause a problem, but I realize it was not up to me to make that judgement. Whether or not you knew about the policy upfront, you need to be ready to discuss steps you take to stay informed about policies and ensure you're following them. You undertook those actions while working for (1) A Large Governmental Organization, who is answerable to Congress and to the general public for the actions undertaken by their employees, in the (2) Communications department, which is a department where employees will specifically, systematically, regularly be exposed to confidential information that should be kept confidential until such time as it is explicitly said to be something that can be shared publically. Same here. Egress Intelligent Email Security is an example of human layer security, as its able to adapt to your individual behaviour through machine learning. A number of US governmental agencies specifically require that the co-worker NOT tell LW that she will be reporting this to management. Best of luck, and believe us all when we tell you that if you sound at all dismissive of the seriousness of this, prospective employers will (rightfully) worry that you may have a similar lapse in judgement again. read something out loud THEN realize that it wasnt public information. So, he learns about things at the same time as the public, and he just knows when Im extra busy because theres a big release coming, or someone messed something up, etc. In no time you will have your next job lined up and all this will be just a post earning you rep. After all, nobody wants to tell their manager that they might (however accidentally) be responsible for a data breach. You're fired for violation but convince the Dept of Labor that no one without an IT degree could ever understand your policy. A fine of up to $100,000 and five years in jail is possible for violations involving false pretenses, and a fine of up to $250,000 and up to 10 years in jail is possible when HIPAA Rules have been violated for malicious reasons or for personal gain. Perhaps the email was intended for a client in which case the clients data is at risk and the sender has inadvertently committed a data leak. If you lie during the interview and the truth later comes out, thats enough to get you fired. Head of the department who everyone hates for non-scandal reasons is stepping down amid a scandal One colleague really didnt like the plan, and he was communicating with people who were organizing opposition to it using his work email. So the judgment on trustworthiness is flawed. What if I accidentally sent a work email to my personal email? Will I When I read the letter, it struck me that the VERY EXCITING nature of the news was more of a reason NOT to share it. "You can call or text and say, 'Call me, you were sent the wrong information.' " She recalls one time when a co-worker accidentally sent an email calling a client a "tough cookie" to the. No, shes a person with ethics who plays by the rules. If you break certain unspoken rules, you can lose your job or ruin your career. Yes, if you're sending a mass email, BCC makes sure no-one else sees each other's emails and therefore reduces the risk of a breach. Additionally, J. K. Rowling won a lawsuit against the lawyer and the firm. Those usually come out the morning of the speech. Was the friend a journalist, or is there something else that would explain why she said that? The reply: Yes, the friend I texted happened to be a journalist but doesnt cover the area that I was working in. Im now turning my head sideways and re-reading/rethinking. Good luck to you, OP, with getting over this one. On the non-security side of things its fascinating to learn what the folks in the booth behind me are working on as Im quietly eating lunch, but its a serious security violation to discuss that kind of thing in public and it makes me cringe so hard when it happens. You are disappointed you didnt get a second chance. Separately, when you share, you have to still be oblique enough to not get yourself in trouble. Discretion and brand protection are as critical to this role as promotion and talking to the media. You committed battery. This was a Friday. I love my younger co-workers and value their fresh take on things and energy, but there is a clear pattern of not understanding reputation risk and liability. Rules are there because its so easy to do that thing that feels harmless, and sometimes nobody gets hurt.. Oh my. Its not possible to catch every mistake or typo over the course of a whole career. I get that youre trying to take responsibility here, but your Im still pretty upset that I had no second chance, I suppose suggests to me you still have a long way to go toward recognizing and acknowledging the seriousness of what happened. She would have learned a valuable lesson and still kept her job. You would never want someone to find out from the news media that they no longer have a job, for example. Ive definitely been guilty of sharing exciting but not-yet-announced news with colleagues. Im literally barred by policy from opening up my own files unless theres a work related reason I could lay out to do so. because your performance / screw-up affects them, or because they feel they are being compared to you and want to put the record straight to defend themselves), or out of a sense that they have an obligation to report (whether or not they actually do). Alisons words are great to have prepared, and be super clear that you understand it was a problem, it was bad, and you take it very seriously. Pay secrecy is a workplace policy that prohibits employees from discussing how much money they make. Fortunately, I was not fired for the mistake, but my employer did call me on the carpet for a very serious discussion on why we cant share any information that we only have access to because we work there, regardless of how sensitive or not sensitive we think it is on a case-by-case basis. Youre heading in the right direction, and youve also gotten some really good advice. I would feel terrible about it, definitely, and probably think about it for a while after, but ultimately, Id need to prioritize my family and act in a way that would protect my job/salary/health insurance so I could continue to provide for my them. It wasnt particularly kind to her friend, either. And if I tell anyone, including a coworker ,that I processed said claim, my butt could very well get in a lot of trouble. Really? Understandably, the agency had to let me go. Something to show that you didnt get caught you confessed. But OP gets to choose what they think the coworkers motivations may have been. Also, Im so done with people using the phrase ratted me out. Im not trying to beat up on the OP; goodness, Ive done similar things and felt the same way she does! All rights reserved. never actually say the words Gross Misconduct. Its not their call. You may not even realise your mistake until the person you meant to send the message to says they didn't receive it (or you have a flurry of missed phone calls, as in Serena Williams . As the other commenter noted, this could have been a very serious offence considering you were working for the government. This is a bad enough screw-up that I would be contemplating a career change, or at least a pivot to an area of communications where things like confidential information and media embargoes arent ever a factor. Nowadays with mobile devices, email and the cloud, it is extremely easy to share files, easy enough that we may accidentally send and share them to the wrong person. I was often privy to non-public information because I was designing media campaigns around them. There is no other guarantee, and yet people count on it. Something LW has not seemed to understand: the fact that you worked for a governmental agency is not the issue, the fact that you leaked info early is. My boss wanted to press charges, but his business partner didnt, so they just fired him. Extremely good advice! As a sidenote: *Even if* you think it *wasnt* a big deal, when you get hauled into the boss office and told it. Where did you go from here? Like, firing on the spot if I access my own chart. Look the UK Foreign Office is currently knee deep in a police investigation into information thats been leaked to journalists and the consequences are potentially extremely serious. Thanks for answering! In fact, if you are being sent overseas, you have to take a special counterintelligence training before you go that includes tips like dont wear items with your agencys name written on them while you travel and never park next to a panel van.. That brings us to your questions. All we can do is learn, rest, and go on another day. +10. A major penalty for breach of confidentiality is termination of employment. If each person tells just one person it can end up being a lot of people. I strongly disagree with this. Ive only had a very general idea of what my husband does since 2002, because he cant tell me. and sent to multiple people (!!)? +100. Were considering opening ours up to partner agencies, and I spent a good two hours cleaning up the old messages in the general chat. If there were excetions, that would be explicitly stated. Yeah. So, thats to say that I *completely* get the idea that at some point, you get to a point where you just really really need to share. I would push back slightly on the leak to press part. It would have been better if she had told you first that she was going to tell someone Oh honey, how young are you? I stopped when my boss had a stern talk with me about it, but also because I noticed that I was getting the bad news later, too (other people at my level were told about layoffs the night before, I was told shortly before the companywide announcement) and I realized I was getting a reputation as someone who could not be trusted to keep my mouth shut. But you see that now I hope. They sound far more serious than what happened. No, not if its classified or embargoed. I consider it my greatest ethical obligation in my job, because I have been entrusted with sensitive information and I treat it like Id want mine to be treated. I work for a government entity and believe me if you need a reminder not to text a journalist non-public information my line of work is not for you. Thats the person were gonna call the blabbermouth in this situation? He was very good about keeping track of his boundaries, and we got very used to finding ways of being politely interested in how his work was going for him without putting pressure on him about the details. Whose to say OP isnt right that the coworker had it out for her? Screw-ups happen. This x 1000 to the comment by ENFP in Texas. Heres what to do. Same here (investing). All rights reserved. This incident was a huge violation of trust. Also, if your mentor went through the trouble of having a conversation with you about your duties and seemed concerned, I doubt she was out to get you she probably felt it was her duty and to her best interest to report now that you have made her an accomplice-after-the-fact in any potential breach (say, your friend was the one out to get you and it leaked before your department had any plans for dealing with a leak, this mentor would also be in trouble for not reporting it as soon as she knew if they found out she did), OP I want to comment on one aspect that I didnt see anyone mentioning directly. Reduce human activated risk to protect against email data breaches, Allow your teams to communicate securely and share sensitive data, Guiding principles that govern how we operate as a team, Diverse and inspiring individuals passionate about making a difference in the world, Join our team across a range of roles and help shape the cyber security market, Tailored compensation and career paths designed to attract and retain world-class talent, Unique and personalized benefits to help maximize your potential with us. Its hard to imagine what at a government job could be SOOO Exciting! [Well-known bad person] is going to be fined/punished/arrested. > On Monday, I was called into a fact-finding meeting with HR. All we know is that OP made a disclosure, and the coworker is aware the disclosure happened via Slack. It can be exciting to know whats going to happen before it happens, even when the news itself isnt *that* thrilling. Yep! it doesnt count as they reported themselves if they later say they were ratted out by the person they reported it to. Interpretations, justifications, conceptualizations can also be wrong, surely. Im so paranoid about it, that I only talk about what the company has already shared publicly. Im excited about the project I started today or Something cool is happening at work would be fine to say in most situations. I mean in the end there is not a lot of reasons to trust either, but demonstrating ongoing cluelessness is not a good way to sell this will never happen again. Am I likely to be rehired after being fired for misconduct? UK officials are bound by the provisions of the Official Secrets Act and people have gone to prison for giving information to journalists before now. We were interviewing someone who had broken the #1 cardinal ethical rule in our industry (a branch of health care). 3. I accidentally sent the email about the female coworker to this other female coworker. Journalists get embargoed or off-the-record information all the time and are able to play by those rules. This makes it seem like they owe LW something, to be loving and release her to her best life. Recently, the National Guard was hit with a data breach, where files containing personal information were unintentionally transferred to a "non-DoD-accredited data center by a . So, the implication is actually the opposite of giving your feelings 100% credence its saying, separate how you feel from what you do. What the saying about eyes, ears, mouths??? There isnt really such thing as a rat in the workplace. Coworker Dorcus, who used to write down what time the rest of us got in each morning so she could report to our supervisor when the rest of us were late, even though he hadnt asked her to, even though Dorcus had no idea when wed left the night before, how late we were working that day, or what arrangement we had with our supervisor? Fwiw the journalist agreed to destroy the info. In my first job out of college in the insurance industry I reinstated someones coverage without verifying that they had had no claims in the lapsed period they immediately called claims and filed a $40,000 claim. 5 unspoken rules that can get you fired - CBS News It sounds like OP is young enough that they havent learned that there are some jobs where gossiping about your workplace with your friends is okay, and some jobs where that absolutely cannot fly. I dont think your coworker ratted you out. Im not cleared for it. It also wasnt illegal to share it, because it was about a program or something that has now publicly been announced, so this doesnt even fall under the criminal aspect brought up in the original comment. Its to prevent covering of tracks or retaliation or extinction bursts (Im about to be caught for X may as well make the punishment worthwhile and do Y and Z too, or if they are acting with deliberate malign intent Im caught, better leak as much as possible asap). Especially in banking! As much as I love some of my coworkers, Im not taking one of the team. It's difficult to prevent a leak from happening again if you don't know how it occurred in the first place. Instead, youre better off with something like, The truth is, I was fired. We cannot do our job with our leaders if they cannot trust us. Because when your mentor is a coworker at the same employer, you cannot, cannot speak as freely. Ive been poking around in our payroll system for the last two weeks. +1 on the choice of language and framing. If it was something that was a big deal to LW but not huge news externally, yeah, its not a thing. Medical too. (Plus, were not sure how much of the inflation came from the coworker and how much came from their superiors. Im a publicist. Its the Im still pretty upset that I had no second chance, but I suppose I just lost their trust. that did it for me (especially after all the ways the OP dodged responsibility in the original letter). Because I can almost guarantee that your reputation in that organization would never recover, even if you had remained employed. I went to my boss explained the situation and let me boss make the decision if we wanted to share the report. Long since past, now.). Better to have a 30% chance than a 0% chance. Whether she is under FOIA or a state public records law, there are a lot of rules about non-disclosure of certain information. That, and I never slapped another plucky again. Once its out, you have no control over it. how do employers know if you're answering "have you ever been fired" honestly? This violates workplace compliance and trust. Coworker would let the other authorities figure that out. Point is that the higher-level feelings or lowest level conceptualization (that is, the integration of the gut punch and the sense that it cant have been that bad, if it wasnt meant badly, and sense that it cant have been wrong to trust friend, because friend was trustworthy) are still encouraging OP to draw incorrect conclusions about the seriousness of their action, and the appropriateness of their employers actions. Email Mistakes at Work: How to Survive Them - CBS News I did not get fired for the offense, but I genuinely learned a great deal from the experience and it changed the entire way I interacted with clients, for the better. If asked specifially try to describe in detail what happened and what you learned from it, for example: ask if the new employer has clear guidelines on data handling. Then both OP and Coworker could be out of a job. My guess is that the LW was fired for a first offense because they refused to take responsibility for their breach. I got fired due to sending an email by mistake to the wrong She can still apply to jobs in her field, and even in the fields you noted, shell just have to be very clear in interviews that she understands why she was fired from this job and how shell work to ensure nothing like this ever happens again. Per my story above, when I made the mistake that I was fired for, I did take responsibility at the time, and they fired me anyway. You hear something genuinely classified and blab it too because its so cool? When an employer says something is confidential, take it seriously Confidential Info Accidentally Sent to a Large Distribution List Sometimes people screw up and they still really need their jobs. He had a fairly high security clearance and was stationed at NORAD for a time.