Dang! Please banish the phrase ratted out from your vocabulary and thinking. Im sorry, but I think you were fired with pretty good cause and it would be important to own that or you wont be able to spin the story for future employers. I had to learn the hard way, Im afraid, but I did learn. Assuming the coworker had evil intentions pulls OPs focus away from the real problem (disclosing an embargoed piece of information to someone not authorized to know that information at that time) and fixates it on the coworker. Also in any governmental job or any job governed by many laws and regulations (such as medicine, law, dentistry, etc) they are laws and compliance regulations in place that must be abided by and every employee had to sign such an agreement usually yearly but at least upon hiring. Im not going to spell out what it was, but it was completely unethical and immoral, and shes lucky her license wasnt permanently revoked for it. assigning women extra work to help them, calling out when youre in the ER, and more. And especially, sharing information that youre not supposed to tends to be the type of thing that will get you fired immediately without another chance. Is it illegal to read an e-mail that was accidentally sent to you? I recently saw a movie in pre-screening thats being pushed to be a blockbuster. Id had excellent feedback up until then (if this is true), but I mistakenly shared some non-public information with a friend outside the agency, and they let me go as a result. Agreed. I think people beat themselves up enough internally without us having to do it for them most of the time. No one was allowed to approach her and her desk for the week and every night she locked up the removable ribbon from her typewriter because it could be unspooled and read. For a market where most of this stuff lives in a big way for one season, and then only has some ongoing staying power? An Employee Is Stealing Company DocumentsThat Can't Be Protected Sorry this happened, OP! Further, the laws/regluations dont actually make allowances for how many people are told the confidential information, or how much you, the employee, trusts the person they told. Is it a HIPAA Violation to Email Patient Names? - HIPAA Journal It can take down evil people who mean to do others harm. We will always be privy to confidential information in our roles, its the nature of what we do. Preventing email data loss in Microsoft 365. and the agency lost control of the information. I didnt know how to say it without seeming to condone the breach. I empathize, having both been in government service where the people can let the boundaries get too loose and, separately, had a career-breaking moment in a toxic workplace. Or if the coworker only decided afterwards this couldnt be kept in the dark, call her and tell her this. the coworker? But thats not what happened here. Journalists discuss things all the time that dont make it into published stories, or make it into stories that get killed, or get used for shaping further investigation, or even just as gossip. I sent confidential documents to someone by accident via email - Google But heres the thing you still have to have a ton of discretion about how you share and where. Same-sex marriage is going to be legalized tomorrow!. You might not immediately get the same job you had before and might have to accept something more junior but be clear in your communications and you'll get there. I know that I messed up and I shouldnt have told anyone; in a moment of weakness I texted one of my best friends. Hi LW, I agree with Alison the best way to approach with is by taking full ownership of what happened. Upon further investigation, the supervisor discovers that the employee has asked other employees to also send Company documents to her personal e-mail address. Letter writer: If youre still dealing with this emotionally, focus on the facts. Based on the post its probably public now, so I would guess its likely not too exciting. Confiding in an older mentor in the expectation of confession-like confidentiality? Candidate must then come up with a good reason why former employer wont re-hire given they merely eliminated the position. Id spend some time processing how you felt and trying to learn to take accountability and personal responsibility for this (and seriously its something thats really uncomfortable and hard for everyone but it helps so much). I hope you mean it when you say you understand the magnitude of this mistake and why you were fired for it. Sometimes they go so far as tell the bearer of the news that they now have to soothe them bc its their fault they feel bad. Don't worry, you're not alone. 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. Under the "General" tab, you'll see a section called "Undo send.". 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? Inadvertently, in my view, would be something along the lines of had confidential documents in a briefcase that you accidentally left behind at a coffee shop. And then there are things you cannot even hint at under any circumstances. should I be so emotionally drained by managing? LW is undisciplined and has a big mouth. You might add to Alisons script, I knew immediately that I needed to report my indiscretion, and I did so right away. Almost every situation I know of where someone was fired for cause was presented publically as a position elimination.. Forgetting the attachment. Yep. 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. The first person needs to understand that most of the time, you arent entitled to negotiate a yes, because the answer is no. It would have been a ticking timebomb for them, and the next time it could have leaked beyond the friend. Your coworker was probably legally obligated to report this, and even is she wasnt this is the type of breach that reasonable people WILL report. There are different levels of confidentiality for different circumstances. 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. 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 encourage you to get involved with PRSA. I come across soooo much incidental information about people I know in the course of this job. Oh my. Someone would then check into it to see if there was a valid reason for someone to be poking at it. But would the government do that? In an ideal world, it doesnt happen at all. The first job will be the hardest but gradually you are less and less likely to be asked about an older job. Whilst Im sure the OP is a perfectly nice person, theres a reason that there are office shootings and other awful things, some people are not. That said, is there any reason you need to answer these questions? Im assuming the LW plead their case and filled in relevant information. Thats the real clincher here for me) and on a personal level with management your position is one of trust and you violated the basis of your work. Challenge them directly and be sure that when they say it's okay to start at 9.30am, make sure they actually mean it, or don't do it. The consequences are serious and could have legal implications if youre representing a government or publicly traded company. Good luck with your job search! If you are still defensive or dismissive about this, it will come through in an interview. Those questioners would hammer her on this. I was fired over the phone. Unless things have changed since I was in j-school (which is a possibility), off-the-record arrangements are basically the journalistic equivalent of a pinky swear. Im not going to tell them about it, unless it actually falls out that I end up being the person who is put in charge of telling them their thing is done. If you embezzle from the company and tell a coworker who then reports it, the mistake is embezzlement, not telling a coworker about it. that one would be unable to resist texting a friend. Noooo. Is a HIPAA Violation Grounds for Termination? - HIPAA Journal You did wrong, fessed up, and got fired anyway. Your former job will probably only verify your employment unless you broke a governmental regulation. These comments seem harsh for the most part. Just a bad situation. +1 The client can, of course, prevent such disclosure by refraining from the wrongful conduct. To be clear, you were fired for admittedly breaking confidentiality not because of your coworker. How do I go about asking for a job on another team? Sorry if this sounds like nitpicking, Im only pushing because, as PollyQ said, if OP uses this as a reason and her former employer tells a prospective employer the reasons for her termination, it will appear that she was lying and make her look untrustworthy. And calling this victimless isnt a helpful framing; if you do something thats clearly forbidden and could result in real harm, thats a problem even if no harm resulted this time. My late dad worked for a government defence research agency for most of his career. (Also the NASA leaker didnt get fired. Absolutely this. Cmon, it was. One piece of information I learned (that has since been announced publicly, but hadnt been at the time) was SO EXCITING that in a weak moment, I texted one friend about it in celebration. A selfie was reportedly taken that accidentally also showed the dispatch screen. But it absolutely does not mitigate it AT ALL. How on earth could you know this was a misunderstanding? Its also possible that she got caught in a broader crackdown on leaks and thus wasnt given a second chance when she otherwise might have been. We dont even know where the LW is; Alison has gotten letters from outside of the United States before. "I made a dumb mistake and misjudged the sensitivity of some data" is both more accurate and less severe. FIFTY?! As a government employee they are obligated to report a breach of information regardless of whether they like the employee they are reporting or hate their guts. You arent entitled to a second chance to screw this up. I think she got paid in sandwiches and the knowledge she was the only woman to neck with Nero Wolfe, though. I work in communications for a large organization and I see this as a trust issue with leadership. If it keeps happening, you can report the sender as junk or spam to block future messages. Im also a supervisor. I think it most likely would be very boring, but some stuff like the jobs report a few days early would be very interesting to unscrupulous investors. Yep. LW, I work under some pretty hefty NDAs (currently, Im working on a project where the security protocols themselves are considered to be non-shareable with anyone who doesnt have a business need for them and hasnt also signed an NDA. It makes me so happy that I had to tell someone is a reason to text them, OMG, huge news that I cant tell you, but you will be SOOOOO happy when its in the papers in a few days! Not to actually, yknow, tell them the private information. One colleague really didnt like the plan, and he was communicating with people who were organizing opposition to it using his work email. Nothing got out about this before it was supposed to. I am in this place when I read OPs response. You committed battery. Am I missing something? (I thought Al Frankens apology to the fellow entertainer was pretty good, actually. No, shes a person with ethics who plays by the rules. Hows work? Having a natural, human reaction doesnt mean shes in the wrong field. Once you told your coworker, you dragged her out there on the plank with you. This will suck for a long time writing this post has made me feel anxious thinking about my own lapses and consequences from years ago but it all works out in the end. No, no, no, no, no. Second chances arent a foregone conclusion in any aspect of life or work; your expectation that there should have been one at all suggests a level of entitlement that needs to be examined. Or you mistyped her email by one letter and it went to a colleague who had no reason to respect the embargo? Journalists are very charasmatic and will fish for info its their job. This mixed with the coworkers inflated story, I would be more than annoyed by this coworker too. And if we do, well tell them not to tell anyone.. Some offenses are so serious that you immediately get fired. OP: The sharing of information is a violation of your professional duties and ethics and would get me 60% of the way to firing someone if I were your boss. I was in tech there and had worked on a new interface for agents, lets call it TEAPOT. But from there you can talk about what you learned from the experience and how this makes you a better employee/candidate now. Count your blessings that you just got fired. More employers are still going to be turned off by that than impressed. Egress Software Technologies Ltd. Find out what you should do when a misdirected email lands in your inbox. Copyright 2007 - 2023 Ask A Manager. A person who is aware of a breach is required to report it. But Im a journalist whos covered federal agencies, so I know super exciting to agency employees does not necessarily equal huge news for everyone else. And honestly, you broke an embargo for your own company. (Many of these claims have to be handled by specialists who have security clearance, but not all of them.). This is a situation that youre going to have great difficulty explaining away and I might prefer a resume gap to being at such a disadvantage. The terminology is often not eligible for rehire., And every time Ive ever given a formal reference, that has been one of the questions: Would you hire her again? or Is she eligible for rehire?. Its always easier, at least to me, to close your mouth than open it. But I had a boss who always used to try to cover his ass 110%. Which is not how I would handle things now, but I was a lot younger and in a bad place in my personal life, so. I get why maintaining confidentiality is important, and I understand why the OP was wrong in this particular situation, but balance is also needed. I can imagine all kinds of things that wouldnt be that exciting to the world but that I would still want to tell a friend. But this was a self-inflicted wound, and you shouldnt frame it otherwise. These policies are sometimes written down in employee handbooks. It doesnt matter if theyd trust this person with their firstborn child. Confidential email sent to wrong address? | Email DLP | Egress A major penalty for breach of confidentiality is termination of employment. Wouldn't employers just throw my application to the bin once I declare I have been dismissed for gross misconduct? As others have noted, it probably isnt anything especially exciting. how do I get out of an active-shooter drill at my office? A while back I had a coworker/friend who created a memo, for our company A, all based on publicly available information, along with suggestions and comments by the coworker. If that is so, there is nothing you can do to avoid the termination and you should be looking for new employment. can you get fired for accidentally sending confidential information ninkondi prime stance 3d parallax background mod apk latest version take me to st ives cambridgeshire can you get fired for accidentally sending confidential information. And there was no social media then, so 100+++ times that now. Not saying you did this! If the coworker said that when that wasnt communicated to her, that was wrong as hell. Does that matter? I always wondered if they remained friends after that fiasco. Organisations can set up static rules (for example, you can send emails to business A but not business B), but these traditional methods are rigid and unreliable. I could have just sent the report and most likely no one would have ever known, but it would have been a violation of company policy. Its hard to imagine what at a government job could be SOOO Exciting! I want to encourage you to drill deeper on something you said in your letter: I did feel guilty. I think this really depends. This former employee who was fired for social media posts will get his Sometimes, like you said, you dont get a second chance. Resist the temptation to gossip about fellow employees and don't express your disdain for your. The main problem is that 'copying data in a very insecure way to be able to bring those data. We call this a misdirected email and it's really, really easy to do. 911 Dispatcher Fired for Privacy Violation - HIPAA Journal I felt as defensive and upset as you. Choose your time limit (you can only choose from between 5, 10, 20, and 30 seconds) Hit save changes at the bottom of the page. Also, legally email addresses themselves dont typically count as 'personal information' as they are contact addresses and are treated in similar ways to phone numbers legally, as opposed to, say, identifying information like full name, DOB and home address all in one document. You did a dumb, impulsive thing and when you took time to consider it, you did the right thing. Not me. In the worst cases though, businesses can lose clients and employees can lose jobs. was my company right to fire my coworker for accidentally sending me a Even innocuous-sounding information, like the name of a database, can be a huge security risk. I understand your irritation with your former coworker. That is exactly what could have happened to her government agency with the info that she leaked in the first place. The above divulged details to a journalist about allocation and resources they should not know about. (It also might be notable that you didnt originally mention that your friend was a journalist until I asked about it which makes me think youre underestimating how much that matters.). Damn, thats hard core. Even if the coworker had malicious intentions, they were following privacy laws and regulations. What probably really hurt the OPs case was that the friend is a journalist. 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. All this said, I think Alisons approach is the best one when youre applying for jobs. I will never not believe the publisher did that intentionally and threw him under the bus. Oh, thats a risky tack for OP to take if they want to stay in their field. Really? Lose that part of the defense completely, OP. You certainly don't need to blurt out a 5 minute monologue unprompted, but you do want to be ready to answer these questions because they will come up if you disclose what happened as you intend to. I actually think this was a little rough of her mentor. Dec. 17, 2009 -- You probably don't think twice about sending personal messages through your work e-mail. You shouldnt be upset at your coworker, if anything she should be upset with you for putting her in that situation. Same here! As this was almost the entirety of your job they really couldnt keep you around. Sometimes when we receive an email meant for someone else, its just spam. Can You Get Fired for Opening a Phishing Email [Deep Research] Even though I was only suspended for two weeks, it hurt so, so much. While it clearly appears LW would not have done any of this, the regulations and policies are written to protect the employer and coworker from any potential negative actions. And this will definitely have an effect on how you come across to people interviewing you in future. At the same time, though, its a program the average American would likely never have heard of and would give less than a crap about. She would have learned a valuable lesson and still kept her job. Many, many of us in similar positions have made similar mistakes. You may want to target less security-sensitive industries or environments until you've worked up enough of a resume after this event to show that you're reliable. This disclosure was not inadvertent, and trying to frame it that way could backfire pretty hard. Sorry, Im tired and I think that metaphor got away from me. I actually think your big mistake was telling your coworker, not telling a trusted friend.. Once youve actually done the thing, its out there. Sometimes people screw up and they still really need their jobs. I just wasn't thinking at the moment I sent the information. There could be Official Reasons, but it could also be something as simple as the coworker, while being made somewhat uncomfortable by this confidence originally, got more and more uncomfortable the more she thought about it. 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. and that person did what they were told to do and reported it. This comment comes across as quite clueless I work for a government entity where nonpublic information often affects peoples day-to-day lives and pocketbooks and people put a lot of money (lobbying) into knowing whats happening. Its going to be a hurdle. Am I likely to be rehired after being fired for misconduct? still cant believe that happened. OP, think about your choice to share with this person. So mention it only if explicitly asked. She can come to value the lesson while seeing it all clearly. People find new jobs after being fired all the time. Confidentiality can stink at an interpersonal level, everyone tends to talk about their work and it can be hard to hide things from people we care about. I have news from my job that I cannot share with some coworkers. Discretion and brand protection are as critical to this role as promotion and talking to the media. I didnt agree with it myself, and knew that it wasnt really possible without raising a lot of money, something my organization just isnt that good at doing. A member of the public wants some data, they contact anybody in the agency they can think of, the internal employees bounce it around because somehow they dont know who to send data requests to, and finally it gets to us and we respond. Yep, we regularly are reminded about FERPA requirements (academia) and staff members have gotten in hot water for not promptly picking up student transcripts from the printer (for instance). To be fair Jules, I was making the assumption that it had been, in effect, sexual assault, which may not have been the case. Every bit of what Ive said is probably hearsay. It would have been better if she had told you first that she was going to tell someone, but whether she warns you first has no bearing on whether she was obligated to disclose. How you analyze the situation and internalize the lesson is more important than wording for future employers right now. Its also possible that the way you talked to your boss about it cost you a second chance too- if you were anything other than mortified and taking 100% responsibility, they likely thought it wasnt worth trusting you again. Fired. Heres another the state Supreme Court will probably make a decision on voting district gerrymandering soon., (This one happened to me, and was probably the most exciting confidential information I got access to my desk was close enough to the GIS employees that I could see the increased traffic out of their area and infer that Something was Happening. Ramp up your privacy settings across all accounts. Additionally, J. K. Rowling won a lawsuit against the lawyer and the firm. Theres no mitigating circumstance here. The heads on spikes of the modern workplace. I am assuming you had a clearance of at least Secret. OOPS! As much as I love some of my coworkers, Im not taking one of the team. If any of those connections were being intercepted by an unknown third party, however, you've just put your customer's data into their hands. Reporting misconduct is the right thing to do, and thats how an interviewer is going to see it. A very long-term employee who did excellent work, as a joke, made up a fake news release that indicated we got the contract. An example: Thats the very last reporting step for something illegal/dangerous. Ive seen many workplaces that dont spend an amount of time discussing confidentiality that is commensurate with its importance, or that dont go into specifics about when it is and isnt ok to tell somebody something you heard at work, and a general statement tends not to hold up to the in-the-moment excitement of oooooh I know THING about CELEBRITY! or whatever. What happened is reputation-ruining for such jobs so re-assessing what is realistic in terms of job expectations after this is important to moving on successfully |. As a fellow human being, I absolutely get the impulse to tell someone about something! Report and act quickly I got that impression as well and have had younger coworkers who sent random, very personal info to me in texts. I missed the phrase ratted me out in the original message, but given those feelings, it doesnt really count as self-reporting. If youre found to be lying, thats an instant rejection in a way that a well-explained firing would not be. I will be in so much trouble if anyone finds out! your blindsided coworker is not required to enter into a cover-up conspiracy with you. The coworker did the right thing. Oh yes. Re-evaluating my original comment, Id still consider lying if attempts to explain the firing in interviews end up in disaster. In my role there I was sometimes privy to confidential information that was not to be shared with the public. Penalizing or firing such employees may lead to the loss of good talent and even create a negative impact on employee morale. Your second co-worker who sexually harassed a woman was put on a PIP? If something like this would help, maybe try it.