Thanks for sharing all of this. Im glad youve learned from your mistake, and I really hope you take this experience to heart as you continue your communications career. Before I hired you, Id want to know you were familiar with and in agreement with our ethical code, which talks a lot about protecting our clients. At the end of your explanation, look your interviewer in the eye, and dont say anything else. Maybe you let them know more then they should even without meaning too? Why is it so hard for people to just keep their (figurative) mouth shut? Yes, this was a fireable offence, but Im less interested in the nuances of violating confidentiality than in the bigger picture question I have done something where I really screwed up how do I move on? (Someone above mentioned someone bringing a gun to work (Dwight? Situations like this are one reason I think workplaces with confidential/sensitive information should regularly remind their employees of what confidentiality means for them, rather than leaving it as a blanket statement or only discussed during new employee training. Yes, this is the way to do it: Friend, I just got the best news at work, I am so excited! It stinks but in this industry, thats a deal-breaker for many. You knew better. 1) Slack vs text: doesnt matter. Im not understanding how OPs update comment reads as defensiveit shows significant progression from deflection to ownership, to me. We had a discussion on a work committee about not using our work emails when discussing some sensitive information. If you shared something with me that I didnt ask you about or probe for, and just knowing it could jeopardize my reputation or career you bet your ass Id share it with our manager. It could also end poorly if the employer actually sees a job opening posted for the position the LW claims was eliminated. update: is my future manager a bigoted jerk? (Even before learning it was to a reporter!) 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. Animaniactoo is right that folks who have to manage confidential information begin to cultivate the skill of sharing without making an unauthorized disclosure. Handling confidential information discreetly is a day to day part of working in communications, particularly for government entities (I say as someone in this field). So this. A number of US governmental agencies specifically require that the co-worker NOT tell LW that she will be reporting this to management. Oh honey UGH you are just the worst. You would never want someone to find out from the news media that they no longer have a job, for example. how else could you have met that need?) Or, she just needs to buy a journal and write the good news, and her feelings about same, down and go on with her job. Your feelings are wrong, in this context means,Your feelings arent *morally* wrong.. But, bald facts, they told you not to do the thing you turned around and did. If it comes across like you dont think it was a big deal or that you blame the coworker for alerting your employer, thats not going to go over well. These policies are sometimes written down in employee handbooks. 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. I think thats misunderstanding the severity of why what OP did was not ok. Theres any number of non-confidential matters that are embargoed prior to their public announcement. Its hard to imagine what at a government job could be SOOO Exciting! Same here (investing). broke a rule can be trivial, even if its technically a firing offense. You know thats not how that works. In my role there I was sometimes privy to confidential information that was not to be shared with the public. Noooo. 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. This seems like a no-brainer to just not do, and if you did, certainly not to tell someone at work that you did this. For me, it was like OK, she shared embargoed information something she shouldnt have. Yep, I think its worth LW remembering that while she knew shed never leak anything again, her boss and co-workers dont. People just seemed to forget that with Epic, even one second of accessing a chart is recorded. No, not if its classified or embargoed. I work in retail, and the company has yearly mandatory training on How to handle confidential info. I have accidentally terminated people, messed up HRIS changes that prevented people from getting their paycheck, and scanned/sent confidential information to an employee instead of myself. I came here to say this. Which is actually good most of us get making a mistake when were young, and really learning from it. That guilt is because you KNEW you did something that was explicitly not allowed, and you went to your coworker in the hopes theyd absolve you of your guilty conscious. Yes, but lets face it, theres no way its as exciting as what any of us are imagining it to be. Because when your mentor is a coworker at the same employer, you cannot, cannot speak as freely. "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. 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. Any message that starts with Oh honey is going to read as rude and condescending unless its followed by a sincere Im so sorry in response to something terrible happening. However, if the message appears urgent to somebodys life or career, its likely youll want to consider stepping in. Submitting a contact form, sending a text message, making a phone call, or leaving a voicemail does not create an attorney-client relationship. My guess is thats where some of the defensiveness in the initial letter comes from that no one would have known if not for the self-report. What video game is Charlie playing in Poker Face S01E07? I got defensive and young from OPs response. That was not an enjoyable situation at all. @bent in my experience most companies view the data leaving their possession as the real concern, anything else is secondary. And this will definitely have an effect on how you come across to people interviewing you in future. The rules are severe because people need externals to keep them motivated. (For your job search, this might be obvious, but steer clear of medical, legal, PR, or any other field that deals with privacy.). But doing so would likely out the department LW worked for, and probably LW herself. But the other person she spoke to, her coworker, told others, and somehow that message (of who and how she leaked it) got twisted into something much worse. But if I did, itd basically just be gossip (I hear Senator Ys staff is really frustrated) that they could choose to report out in detail or not, and definitely wouldnt be traced back to me. When we accidentally receive a confidential email from people outside our own organisations, things are a little trickier. It may help you to know that the dreaded why are you unemployed right now question doesnt come up in every interview. Our grant program is going to be fully funded by Congress! 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. And not even trusting her not to publish it, but what if SHE got so excited by the news, just as LW did, that she just had to tell someone, and she picked someone that she trusted implicitly, and told them in strict confidence. Between that and having family members who have been laid off and lost access to their work account that they used for personal use as well, I have learned to keep work and personal email accounts separate. 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. OPs best bet is to stop blaming their coworker or minimizing what happened. 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. 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. Oh yeah, my response wasnt to you it was just to continue what Alanna said. A supervisor discovers that an employee has recently downloaded thousands of pages of confidential Company billing and financial information, and e-mailed it to her personal e-mail address. Can you explain to us what you learned? That doesnt mean youre a horrible person who should never work again! You are fortunate to get the opportunity to learn it early when it hasnt resulted in severe long term consequences. Sure but I think its highly unlikely that someone at OPs level would have access to that. You can bounce back! 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. Sorry this happened, OP! This was actually a very kind way to get this point across. Share information about the new roller coaster being put in at a theme park? Finally I decided to own it at the next interview and I got the job. Maybe OPs workplace does the same? I work for a public universitys PR office and I 100% know Id be fired if I shared info with anyone before pub date. And even worse when it can have legal implications like for insider trading or government secrecy. If anything went down, you could say But Older Coworker knew! It is not clear at this stage whether the 911 caller will be pursuing a civil claim for damages as a result of the privacy violation. Accept the responsibility for your actions and it will make life a lot easier going forward. In a job interview, how do I explain why I was fired? they dont owe it to you to offer that opportunity, That reminds me of the guys who say, I know I cheated on you, but I want a second chance.. I have absolutely no clue in your situation, but there are times when it really can be appropriate to let someone go without any second chances. Not just confidential, but confidential from *journalists*!! Learn how to protect your investment management firm through intelligent email DLP. That is exactly what could have happened to her government agency with the info that she leaked in the first place. AND I told somebody within the company about that? Browse other questions tagged, Start here for a quick overview of the site, Detailed answers to any questions you might have, Discuss the workings and policies of this site. This incident was a huge violation of trust. Unfortunately, there are instances where employees have accidentally leaked confidential information. 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. 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. 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. The Families First Coronavirus Response Act now requires employers to give up to two weeks of paid sick time if you get the coronavirus or were told to quarantine by a doctor. I hope you mean it when you say you understand the magnitude of this mistake and why you were fired for it. 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. If not, an investigation would be started on which employees were poking around in Famous Persons account and why. She cut a guys LVAD wires so that hed be bumped up to the top of the heart transplant donor list? We all make stupid mistakes. Leaking private information in a huge breach, especially if that leak is to a journalist. Your former job will probably only verify your employment unless you broke a governmental regulation. But you see that now I hope. (Im not from the US, and not in government) If I were in OPs place, I would also be upset and feel betrayed. Ultimately, its your choice to make. Wait, what the friend is a *journalist*?. This is 100% on you. I dont think you have to be Catholic.). Also ratty. Im also a public affairs officer for a government agency- one that almost exclusively deals with highly classified information. Point isnt that OP doesnt have a right to feel what OP feelsif OP has a sick, gut-punch feeling, thats the truth of how OP is feeling. 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. 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. No. I tell the character and imagine their response, and the urge to share subsides. about your coworker reporting you, betrayed and hard done by, is the way your employer feels about you. When it came up during her interview, the candidate said it was complex and that shed learned from it. This is a GREAT way to position it. 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. They are pretty free with stating exactly why someone was fired. When telling me about the call, she said that when the checker said the guys name, she couldnt stop herself from bursting out, Wait, he told you to call me?!. However, were only human. Where did you go from here? My guess is that the LW was fired for a first offense because they refused to take responsibility for their breach. Resist the temptation to gossip about fellow employees and don't express your disdain for your. For excellent reasons. And youre being very generous toward the coworker in saying she misunderstood and mistakenly misrepresented it. There are offenses, especially regarding releasing items, that would be serious enough to warrant immediate dismissal. Especially since the letter seems to have been written almost immediately after the incident, before their feelings had time to settle properly. Good luck! If youd like to learn more about human layer security and email data loss prevention (DLP), you can explore our content hub for more information. She should have told her this is serious and Im going to have to report you. Then at least OP could have avoided the slack room full of journalists escalation. OP is in a pickle for sure. I get why maintaining confidentiality is important, and I understand why the OP was wrong in this particular situation, but balance is also needed. And all you learned was to avoid freshly mopped floors? Please do not include any confidential or sensitive information in a contact form, text message, or voicemail. She could have been a secretary or a spy; no one knows because she went to her grave never telling anyone, not even her husband. Ive been thinking a lot about apologies in general lately, and one of the most thought-provoking pieces of advice Ive seen is to always err on the side of assuming that whatever you did was a bigger deal than you think. How do I politely turn down the call for an interview by another employer? Egress Intelligent Email Security is an example of human layer security, as its able to adapt to your individual behaviour through machine learning. Its especially challenging if youve grown up immersed in social media, where confidential emails with the names and sensitive details blacked out are frequently posted on Facebook or Twitter or someones blog, where they go viral. 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. I think interviewers will pick up on the equivocation in your language here. I was kinda thinking that an otherwise level headed and calm employee wouldnt punch a colleague unless the other guy had been doing something truly egregious. I feel LWs pain. Dont fall for it. its not condescending to point out that what LW did was incredibly foolish. Having said that, as a hiring manager, if you were able to talk to me about how this one-time error in judgment caused a deep shift in thinking and was a critical pivot point in your professional development I would hear you out. Both your friend AND your co-worker. 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. It may be a requirement of employment regarding compliance. If you had the same role in a public company, you could have have been fired because of regulations preventing insider trading. Until the boys parents threw the uncle out. Its understandable that you feel betrayed by your coworker, but she probably felt obligated to say something. But I now realize that I had no business sharing my bad behavior with colleagues it put them into a completely untenable position. It would have been nice- but Im sure the coworker was also pooping masonry. You cant even take a look at *your own* records if you are also a patient at the medical facility. If her friend never told anyone it never would have gotten out. Youre not in a gang or on a schoolyard playground or fighting with your sibling in the backseat of the family station wagon. 2) Multiple people is relevant, but its easy to misunderstand 3rd hand stories. This was not the coworker telling the boss that OP left 5 minutes early, took a personal call during work hours but OP violating a strict rule even if they trusted the friend. You will bounce back! I work as a contractor on a program that just announced 10 new cities will be joining. 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. I think it helps that you told your coworker. If you were fired for an embarrassing reason that would torpedo your chances in an interview, say that your position was eliminated. Lack of rigor. He and my mother kept their noses clean. The part I think is dangerous is calling the coworker a rat and saying that disclosing to friend was not a mistake. I would argue if you acknowledge your error in judgment, it would work more to your benefit, then classifying it as a one-off mistake and overreaction by your company. Best of luck with your search. Im in public relations/global communications. The joker on the other hand was running off at the mouth. Im sure he knew about things that he would have liked to talk about, and my dad can talk about anything to anyone at great length. . You texted proprietary information to a journalist. Hows work? I suspect youre referring to a case where a patient was put in danger, but where no obvious harm occurred like a psychiatrist consensually sleeping with their patient, which an unscrupulous psychiatrist might see as a victimless crime, but which is incredibly risky behavior. But it sounds like it doesnt really matter that HR jumbled the details because neither was a permitted thing to do anyway. To be clear, you were fired for admittedly breaking confidentiality not because of your coworker. Its also true that people do break confidentiality for a variety of reasons, but people who are really really REALLY aware that they are breaking confidentiality and how big the consequences of it are, are also on top of not leaving a footprint that can be traced back to them. When I asked about the job move he said he had failed to make a required disclosure on a sale and so was fired, but how he took it to heart and had behaved since. But this was a self-inflicted wound, and you shouldnt frame it otherwise. And youre a risk, on top of having done a fireable offense. Everyone in the workplace has an equal obligation and responsibility to ensure that rules are upheld because thats what keeps the company operating smoothly and in business and able to provide jobs to you all. They sound far more serious than what happened. Thats crazy (and crazy lucky for the embezzler). Lack of the maturity to keep exciting news to onesself. Misdirecting an email can be awkward. We can't tell you the best way to answer, since the best way to answer is honestly and you're the only one who can give your honest answer. And especially in the field youre in, leaks are a big deal, and ESPECIALLY leaks to a member of the press. Heres the story: I worked for a large government agency, in communications. While I was working there, I started dating an entertainment journalist who then covered some Marvel projects, and there were definitely things that happened at work which I did not share with him because of my NDA. Ive heard complaints from folks who arent allowed to give positive references to former coworkers who earned them. Quite recently, a client of my firm contacted us to say they had heard staff in a bar gossiping about another client. Yup. The contact form sends information by non-encrypted email, which is not secure. She was understandably very uncomfortable with what I did, and we had a very nice conversation about our duties as communication officers, and trust, etc. Obviously leaking to one journalist that youre friends with is better than leaking to a whole Slack channel full of them, but partly because its possible to do the first innocently, whereas theres no question of innocence with the latter. You still have to go through the same information request as someone who doesnt work there. That said, if this was going to be public anyways, your boss may have been inclined to write you up rather than fire you if you were sufficiently remorseful/petrified/mortified. The mistake may not have been trusting the friend with that information, but it was definitely telling her. They may very well have not had the option to give you a second chance, whether you wanted to or not. Take this to heart in your next position and deal with sensitive information. You broke a rule and you have to take responsibility. Your understanding of confidential is not mine. So, the implication is actually the opposite of giving your feelings 100% credence its saying, separate how you feel from what you do. LW told a human known to be a journalist about The Thing. It was bad. When we think about misdirected email, we often put ourselves in the shoes of the sender. 2) Told someone you broke a rule. Everyone makes mistakes at all points in our careers. Im confused about the fact-finding meeting. It was a big enough thing that they gave you a 1st chance. It might not be that the coworker reported you. I dont mean to sound harsh but you really need to break out of this frame of mind. Confidentiality, especially in government, is no joke and should be taken very seriously. What probably really hurt the OPs case was that the friend is a journalist. This is an actual security headache/nightmare for my government department as its so common for people to go out to lunch and start discussing what theyre working on while eating. I encourage you to spend some time really thinking about this and absorbing the very good feedback you have generally received here. This. Long since past, now.). It involved something the OP had learned about in confidence, but hadnt even been publicly announced and the OP blabbed about it to someone completely unrelated to her job.

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