Moving forward, the best way to handle it is be honest. I work for a public universitys PR office and I 100% know Id be fired if I shared info with anyone before pub date. The US is a large jurisdiction, and generally have what I consider very little protection for private data. I can remember almost exactly what I said: It was wrong of me to put that information out. What the saying about eyes, ears, mouths??? I recently saw a movie in pre-screening thats being pushed to be a blockbuster. And even more so in ballistic missile submarines! It makes her someone with morals and a respect for her employer. Unless this job was the bulk of your experience, I would leave it off your resume. So no matter what, she cant be the person that you reach out to in any kind of way to share that kind of information. You've learned from this mistake and had no malicious intent. I was dismissed for a breach of confidentiality. (I think, I never worked in government communications so Im not positive of this.). When you accidentally receive a confidential from someone within your own organisation, things are pretty simple. Can an Employee Be Fired for Posting on Facebook? - The Balance Recurring theme here is that tattling isnt a thing at work. I used to handle accounts, but could not handle my own. This is especially true if the employee in question signed a confidentiality agreement prior to starting the job. With all the Data Protection rules, the E-privacy Regs, yes - and sorry, GDPR, my friend was in panic mode as they still didn't really understand their situation. Tessian Cloud Email Security intelligently prevents advanced email threats and protects against data loss, to strengthen email security and build smarter security cultures in modern enterprises. 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. I once interviewed someone with a great resume but had switched specialties within the field. Yes! Honest Mistake: Have You Ever Shared Sensitive Data to the Wrong Person? Yeah, one of my former coworkers, who was allegedly fired from our company for bringing a gun to work, found another job a couple months later in our same industry. obviously i cant know that for sure though. rev2023.3.3.43278. Frequently there would be confidential news like, The tiger had her baby and its a girl! or Were getting hippos! that we couldnt share with the public for a few days (to be sure the baby was healthy and would survive past a critical period, or so the news could be shared in the way the marketing department deemed appropriate, or whatever.) Thats real life. This issue recently came up for me as an interviewer. I dont know the OPs financial status but if she needed the $$$ its not that easy to look at it as a kindness in the moment. If *you* got that carried away, you cant guarantee that she wont, either. As a former journalist, I can assure you journalists dont leak information, unless its something confidential about their own employers. The employer has a policy against this and everyone working there has signed that they read the policy. In some cases, those policies . It being Silicon Valley, not only was the phone found, it was immediately identified for what it was. He was valuable. They know it happens. Me too in Government. Its good to hear from you! Shes never even heard any of the names of our clients, except for a couple she met once at an adjunct social function. Letting stuff out early could mean that goes off with a whimper instead of a bang and might be a financial difference in driving extra purchases for that initial season, and the implication of The Things staying power if it doesnt do well enough during that time. Even if you feel that way, definitely dont say that! LW is undisciplined and has a big mouth. Yes, you can get fired for opening a phishing email. . What Are the Ways to Respond to an Unintentional HIPAA Violation? That is exactly what could have happened to her government agency with the info that she leaked in the first place. Theres a difference between wishing you had a second chance (acknowledges they arent entitled to one) and being upset you didnt have one (expected that there would be one). Dan is such a pain! To say my friend was mortified would be an understatement. If someone preempts that, theyre not happy about it generally. 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. (Even if its not an area she covers, she likely knows the person who does, and journalists share tips/info all the time.). OP erred, which she knows, but I dont think that means her mentor no longer has the obligation to be honest with her. Later the coworker left the company and at company B was asked to write a similar report for the new company. 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. I understand your irritation with your former coworker. (IE: if they think you f*cked up, then respond like you did, however you actually feel). The Solicitors Regulation Authority has also issued a written rebuke to Christopher Gossage, of Russells solicitors, who confided to his wifes best friend that Robert Galbraith, author of The Cuckoos Calling, was really one of the most famous and wealthy authors in the world. That was not an enjoyable situation at all. And then they did it again. She was an employee of the agency, who shared it with the journalist. This is so well said. Here are five such rules, most of which were broken by Block (who reportedly left Oracle yesterday.) 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. How risky is sending a sensitive work email to the wrong person? If theres anything else you can say about your work there to put this in context like that you had received a glowing performance review, were taking on increasing levels of responsibility, etc. No checking out salary information permitted! its not condescending to point out that what LW did was incredibly foolish. Telling the trusted friend was the fireable offense. Access rules are very, very strict, and there are reminders all the time. This reminds me of the story of the Apple employee who left a prototype iPhone in a bar by mistake, before the official release. When dad got on the phone he explained to the person that he understood the situation and that he was going to have to report him because he gave my mother classified information. I dont love not being able to tell her things (even though we are each others I promise not to tell anybody (but Friend) person), the way we share this information is by forwarding press releases once the information is public. Take full responsibility. If we receive confidential information, there are very specific and non-flexible procedures we have to follow to handle those documents/information. All three have kept their mouths shut, at least to the best of my knowledge, and I can talk it over without worrying that I will cause a problem with my disclosing. That was a stressful week for all concerned. I dont know that I agree she should have thought twice (since going to a mentor is a good thing to do when youre in a difficult situation), but I think thats absolutely the lesson some people will take away! They fell prey to the Its just a quick peek and it wont hurt anybody fallacy. Leaking information can actually be the right thing in some cases. Goes a long way to being the right way to describe this. And this will definitely have an effect on how you come across to people interviewing you in future. It would have been a ticking timebomb for them, and the next time it could have leaked beyond the friend. It was the wrong thing to do, and Im sorry. The info I released did not in fact cause any problems, but I tremble now because it so easily could have, in even slightly different circumstances. Can I Get Fired for Private Texts or Email Messages? | Money NEVER by email unless explicitly given the go-ahead). And definitely let go any butthurt about your coworker they did nothing wrong and followed clear policies on reporting this incident. 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. Phishing emails are emails that appear to be from a legitimate source, but are actually from a malicious source. Fired for gross misconduct because I sent confidential information to How to Handle the Dreaded 'Reply All Moment' - New York Times There are people who would refuse to acknowledge their error and go about their lives being bitter and blaming others. Actually advertising is not going to be any better. Theres beating themselves up, but then theres also understanding and feeling properly appalled that they did something really unconscionable. But I had a boss who always used to try to cover his ass 110%. We've added a "Necessary cookies only" option to the cookie consent popup. Ah! > On Monday, I was called into a fact-finding meeting with HR. LW, we are all human. Spek raised a good point- find out what your HR policy is so you know what to be prepared for in an interview. 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. This is 100% on you. Agreed, that immediately got on my nerves. If that puts it in perspective. What if another journalist saw the email over your friends shoulder? When theres something I really want to share with my wife, I mask it, pretty much what we do here talking about how the client invested in llama shearings, or called up asking about rumours of purple llamas, or asked us to sell all their teapots that kind of thing. Even a private company would consider this a breach of trust, and could could consider firing. In this case you will get a second chance it will just be with another employer. Im not curious at all, but Im different. Yep, I think its worth LW remembering that while she knew shed never leak anything again, her boss and co-workers dont. The advance knowledge of something pending going public is a very powerful position. (Many of these claims have to be handled by specialists who have security clearance, but not all of them.). I would absolutely be fired for checking out things for curiosity, I only have access in the first place so I can see whether people are currently clocked in (if you change their access to something while they are actively using it, odd things happen, so I need to check to see if they clocked in that day before I begin). The best workplace I ever saw in this regard was a law firm that specializes in foreclosure (I am not a lawyer, but I worked there in another capacity). 3. Despite a good track record and being with this team for a few years now, the rules were made very clear to me and I know I wouldnt be given a second chance in that situation. Have you learned from your mistake? Same here (investing). If theyd covered up for her/not removed her access to confidential info and she did it again, their jobs would be on the line too the next time. There isnt really such thing as a rat in the workplace. And if I tell anyone, including a coworker ,that I processed said claim, my butt could very well get in a lot of trouble. Has 90% of ice around Antarctica disappeared in less than a decade? I understand the issue had to be reported, but why this way ? Yep. If you feel uncomfortable about a work rule you are clearly violating, your coworkers are not going to be thrilled that you get them out there on the plank with you. You can avoid finding yourself in this position by double-checking the recipient email address (especially when autocomplete is involved), the cc field, and the Bcc field. In "Labs," scroll down to "Undo Send" and enable it. Oh yeah, my response wasnt to you it was just to continue what Alanna said. Its not about breaking a rule, its about potentially causing some serious issues by leaking information. In my experience, it was highly effective. I love telling people things! Yeah, but never let anyone else see it, and absolutely still use code names in case someone does see it. never actually say the words Gross Misconduct. My boss wanted to press charges, but his business partner didnt, so they just fired him. OP is in a pickle for sure. was. But what might walk that back to a performance plan would be a sincere, unqualified apology showing understanding of the gravity of the error. I hope there are things at your job that are exciting to you! It would have been nice- but Im sure the coworker was also pooping masonry. Second coworker only was put on an improvement plan. Im not sure you can conclude that it was publically disclosable. We also got early warning that legislators were encouraged to resign, a day or two before the press releases. It could be that she did (and I think no employer should ever fire anyone without hearing their version of the story) but the employer still thought its bad enough that they need to fire OP. Regardless of what the coworker did, ideally we want to nudge OP toward exercising greater impulse control and discretion if OP wants to have a successful career in the same sector/field. So, are you clear about the severity of your action and the significance of this rule? If you dont need to / want to share with the boss share with your closest family/friend, assuming they dont work at the same place or have friends/contacts there. Maybe you havent worked with, or known anyone whos worked with, sunshine law and right-to-know, but this is incredibly serious for anyone who has. Yeah, if the LW is in the US or things operate the same way in their country, theres no point in trying to lie or even waffle about what happened. Or, maybe they totally overreacted, who knows its impossible to say from here. My father worked on defense contracts for a large portion of his professional career. Excitedly texting confidential, FOUO information to a friend who happens to be a journalist, unconscious of the optics and real potential harm? In sending that information to your own mailbox, you transmitted the data to a number of machines, any number of which could be intercepting the data for reading, and many do albeit for legit purposes of scanning for advertising relevant stuff or scanning viruses. This kind of reaction from the company screams 'serious laws broken' and there aren't many other possibilities on what these laws maybe. A very long-term employee who did excellent work, as a joke, made up a fake news release that indicated we got the contract. The thing is, its a big deal that you were given confidential information and then texted it to a friend. That makes a certain subset of people *extremely* excited. She broke a very real and important rule. You made a mistake. Even though he loves the MCU and would have enjoyed the anecdotes. This is a tough lesson to learn. 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. Or, heck, for all I know he didnt actually work on anything that interesting. Whose to say OP isnt right that the coworker had it out for her? Your contract can still be terminated if you violate a lawful . I was in tech there and had worked on a new interface for agents, lets call it TEAPOT. Regardless of what word you use when you disclose what happened, understanding that difference, owning up to it, and showing how you've changed as a result is your best hope of gaining future employment. And then THAT person got so excited that they just had to tell someone Each person thinks theyre only telling one other person, and that they can trust that person. Maybe you let them know more then they should even without meaning too? When I worked for the bank in the security investigation department, we had systems in place that monitored Famous Peoples accounts and would flag them if they were opened/touched. Im more curious about what KIND of exciting information it was. And there was no social media then, so 100+++ times that now. Breach of confidentiality can be described as an act of gross misconduct, so deal with issues that arise in a timely manner, in line with your procedures and look at any previous cases to ensure fairness and consistency. Absolutely this. Your coworker was not at all in the wrong here, OP. And youre a risk, on top of having done a fireable offense. Also, its not clear from your response Do you understand how serious what you did was? People working on campaigns get to be privy to all sorts of information that is not intended to be public. Thats the wrong lesson to learn. 2007-2023. For what its worth, one thing I noticed from your letter is language that sounds very social, discussing your trust in your friend, being ratted out by your mentor, not being given a second chance, and so on. 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. Our newspapers report quite frequently on gossip of whats happening behind the scenes. Or did you double down on not my fault, not a big deal, and co-worker shouldnt have said anything? An in-person meeting might be more appropriate if you accidentally sent information about your plans to find another job to your manager. The rules are severe because people need externals to keep them motivated. Im a publicist. Yes, this is the way to do it: Friend, I just got the best news at work, I am so excited! But it absolutely does not mitigate it AT ALL. I empathize I LOVE being a person who is in the know and I can be impulsive. you can include that in there too, not as a way to cast doubt on their decision but as a way to indicate this was a fluke, not a pattern of bad judgment. Be careful. I accidentally sent the email about the female coworker to this other female coworker. a coworker at my company was discussing a future potential release at a bar loud enough that someone heard it, and then posted it on a public forum. For the other 2 questions, I would simply urge you to remove the phrase ratted out from your professional vocabulary. You could say that, but itd be a lie, which would be an automatic dealbreaker for many potential employers, and theres no guarantee that the previous employer would keep the cause for firing secret. This is your making, and while I wish you luck, you have zero cause to be disgruntled with your coworker or employer. The z department is not allocating the staff they promised. 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. but if you mess up and by the skin of your teeth get away with it, just DO NOT talk about it with anyone at the company. I went to my boss explained the situation and let me boss make the decision if we wanted to share the report. So, you just caused a data breach, by CCing the wrong person in an The co-workers obligation is to the employer, not to the OP. If you told, you breached confidentiality, no matter what the other people did. If I were in the coworkers position, I would need to do the same thing. I get that people can learn from their mistakes, but this could be an indicator of a lack of proper framework, and perhaps a boss wouldnt want to risk it. Second, OP should never have told their friend, trusted or notthe problem is that OP should not ave disclosed it to anyone. +10. In 2014 or so, I once slapped a superior in the face because they were yelling in my face because I was stepping on freshly mopped floors. Can you get fired for a PERSONSAL email accidentally sent to a coworker Im not understanding how OPs update comment reads as defensiveit shows significant progression from deflection to ownership, to me. This x 1000 to the comment by ENFP in Texas. Thats the very last reporting step for something illegal/dangerous. YOU know you wouldnt do it again, but nobody else can really know that. So please think about that aspect when youre thinking about how she ratted you out. As a fellow human being, I absolutely get the impulse to tell someone about something! And, yeah, that happens, its part of being a human. Government tends to operate differently. The penalty for breach of confidentiality isn't restricted to employees who have . Your understanding of confidential is not mine. @bent in my experience most companies view the data leaving their possession as the real concern, anything else is secondary. My guess is that the LW was fired for a first offense because they refused to take responsibility for their breach. That really set the tone for the reference she gave. how do I tell employers I was fired for a video I put on YouTube? I want to push back hard on this, the coworker is not a rat. Draft your UI forms and pre-write your objection to his unemployment on the grounds of "good cause" firing for willful misconduct- Then after all that you can fire him. super! The company I work for uses keyloggers and text scanners on our computers to catch these kinds of issues. Good Lord, no. I work for a state government agency and FOIA is a really big deal. what did you want to get out of sharing with her? This. I made a similar dumb mistake in my first professional job by sharing something that wasnt sensitive but was nonetheless governed by a broad company-wide confidentiality policy a complaint email sent to our companys contact us address by a customer whose name and address I had omitted. If you had stayed, they would never have trusted you again. 3. You didn't accidentally email the material to yourself, you did it on purpose. I feel your pain. I am replying under Engineer Girl for a reason. Yeah, wouldnt it be possible to prove (or rather disprove) that you leaked to a slack channel full of journalists? What video game is Charlie playing in Poker Face S01E07? Why is there a voltage on my HDMI and coaxial cables? Rather than leading you on and allowing you to continue to work for them under a cloud of mistrust (and all the downsides that come with that), they made a clean break and released you to get a fresh start elsewhere. Many, many of us in similar positions have made similar mistakes. Me too. This reminds me of people whose response to hearing no is well, how do we get to a yes? LWs response to this was unacceptable and we cannot have a person on our staff who would do this, was Oh, okay, well, next time I have a similar opportunity here I wont do this.. Im not cleared for it. If its something that would be a big deal for LWs friends news outlet to report first, not being able to say anything to the reporters who could write about it even, hey, I hear this might happen, you should make some calls! OP thinks she was super discreet in texting her friend. Maybe thats the case in your field, but usually confidential doesnt mean that. Thats not really a response to the OP but more a pushback on some the comments. But unfortunately, the rules of your job are such that you justcant. 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. I dont recall that Lily Rowan ever had a job. I sent confidential documents to someone by accident via email - Google Judgement errors tend to repeat themselves. Reacting to being fired for that as if being personally persecuted over some piddly technical rule violation and not being given a second chance? End of story. Coworker Jean who would CC her boss and her grandboss when Jean thought shed caught somebody in an errorbut would then cease CCing once she realized that there was in fact no error? Now were just nitpicking the OPs words here. In such cases, the employee should be given the benefit of the doubt. Im still pretty upset that I had no second chance, but I suppose I just lost their trust. Or does it only matter that I broke a rule?, For #1, Youre certainly allowed to bring up anything you want in an interview, the question you should really be asking is, Will it help or hurt my candidacy to bring this up?. 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. Your comment above is much closer to an effective track. and that was interestingthey had criticisms I hadnt thought of. I was an HR coordinator at a hospital and even though I did not deal with patient records or patients or anything remotely health care-y, I was required to take the annual training and accept compliance as a mandatory part of my employment. Im a long time reader posting my first ever comment to tell you that this comment is incredibly condescending, unnecessary, and unhelpful. Oh, thats a risky tack for OP to take if they want to stay in their field. My (unclear) point is that there are some options for OP that extend beyond you can never share anything before its public with anyone ever and completely change career tracks.. The embargoes I deal with are not earth-shaking (or even quivering), but the people involved are dead serious about not publicizing the information before a specific time. I think that WAS her second chance, and I think something she said at the meetings (perhaps about how the problem is the coworker for being a rat) blew that second chance. As a sidenote: *Even if* you think it *wasnt* a big deal, when you get hauled into the boss office and told it. Sometimes that PHI belongs to people I know. One Employee's Accidental Email Leads To A Significant Data Breach Send the attachment in a follow-up email and, in the future, attach the document before you even begin writing your email. That mindset is just so messed up. But you should try to understand how this happened (why that friend? I agree with you that its ok for OP to feel resentful (at least in the short-run)! So for instance when I got an emergency grant from a water supplier for a woman with no income, there wasnt any risk that telling my wife would identify the woman. And there are reasons the rule is dont leak, rather than dont leak (except to people youre *really sure* wont tell any one else (except people who they are really sure they wont tell anyone else (except people theyre absolutely positive wont tell anyone else))). Agreed. Why is it so hard for people to just keep their (figurative) mouth shut? And I dont think it helps the OP to say that she doesnt have the right to have feelings of resentment toward the coworker. Thats totally true, and when I worked for state government release of confidential information would have been grounds for immediate termination, but Alison is the only one who calls it confidential, OP calls it non-public. But if you act that way about a mistake at a previous job, I think people might worry about the same behavior in the future. (I thought Al Frankens apology to the fellow entertainer was pretty good, actually. 2 July 2018 at 9:11PM. The mistake was breaking company policy not that they announced to a coworker they broke company policy.. The one time I filled a confidentiality-bound role (as a temp) the information I was given was specifically NOT to tell the person you were obligated to report. If not, that would be an additional reason for your bosses to take the maximum option to respond. So, if you find out that company X is going to be reporting a surprising drop in profits next week, the person in the company who told you this is gone. Especially odd because LW emphasized how trustworthy the friend is for why the friend wouldnt blab. As in I am so, so sorry! Like, how did HR and OPs boss come to the conclusion that this information was spread through Slack (!) I get so exasperated with TV shows where a SO throws a tantrum about a cop/government worker not being able to tell them stuff, and turns it into a trust issue. Messages like this can simply be ignored and deleted. I agree. Im not sure whether this is something they can move on from or not, but they absolutely need to get themselves out of the mindset that their coworker ratted on them, because thinking that reporting things like that is tattling and childish is how corruption grows.