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. It seems like LW has had time to process and isnt being combative. Within hours, there were writeups on tech blogs about the new iPhone before its official release. You hear something genuinely classified and blab it too because its so cool? I ran across an old letter recently where someone had negotiated themselves into a poor position, and hit on dragging some subordinates out there on the plank with her. Ive been poking around in our payroll system for the last two weeks. But the judge's response to the request for a. Letter writer: If youre still dealing with this emotionally, focus on the facts. I doubt she is the only person that has ever done anything like this. She was an employee of the agency, who shared it with the journalist. 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. Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, and our products. Or does it only matter that I broke a rule? I do have to wonder if the hospital failed to educate its employees on how freaking serious that kind of breach was, although Id still put the failure on the feet of the violators. +100. No, no, no, no, no. Yeah, but never let anyone else see it, and absolutely still use code names in case someone does see it. ), You also werent fired for technically breaking a rule. You were fired for actually breaking a rule, and a serious one. Ill add one point: You dont know that she didnt leak it. LW I encourage you to ask yourself why you wrote this: Your actions showed you were not trustworthy with confidential information. Heres the story: I worked for a large government agency, in communications. You arent entitled to a second chance to screw this up. Even though I was only suspended for two weeks, it hurt so, so much. She just needs to learn discretion. But what might walk that back to a performance plan would be a sincere, unqualified apology showing understanding of the gravity of the error. The only thing even slightly puzzling is why during the conversation with the mentor, mentor didnt say you do understand I am obligated to report this? Maybe mentor thought that might prompt LW to do something track-covering so it was better left going directly to the bosses without warning. Later the coworker left the company and at company B was asked to write a similar report for the new company. Its always easier, at least to me, to close your mouth than open it. OP I dont want to pile on, many people have made the point that this would be a very big deal in many industries, and that your coworker was not responsible for your being fired, and indeed may have been obligated to report the violation. Is it possible to rotate a window 90 degrees if it has the same length and width? All of that being said, I wish her the best in moving forward and finding another job shell bounce back and be the wiser for it. If you are still defensive or dismissive about this, it will come through in an interview. Me too. She got paid to pose as Roeders* mistress, once. I say dont lie during any part of the job application. It has to be violent sexual assault before theyll even consider responding. can you get fired for accidentally sending confidential information Ideally. assigning women extra work to help them, calling out when youre in the ER, and more. 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. Honestly this feels well intentioned but not right. So yeah, confidential stuff is confidential for a reason. What video game is Charlie playing in Poker Face S01E07? Sorry this happened, OP! She showed no contrition or reflection. Your tone is very this wasnt a big deal and I shouldnt have been fired for it, when it really should be I made a foolish mistake which I deeply regret and Ive definitely learned my lesson. Besides the stuff that has already been discussed upthread like potential for insider trading, unfair advantage in things like competing for federal contracts or grants, or derailing a communications strategy, one of the biggest reasons to keep work information private is due to counterintelligence concerns. 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. It happens. Me too in Government. These comments seem harsh for the most part. A lot of times, the actual employee might not be important, but they might know something like when a key senior person works, or gossip about so-and-so, that is then used to either help with hacking, help with fraud, do additional social engineering where they know just enough about a topic to lead the conversation, or in some cases to put pressure on a higher-level person to try to get them to give further information or make certain decisions. Yeah, Im wondering that too. Dont blame the co-worker for ratting you out. I work for a public universitys PR office and I 100% know Id be fired if I shared info with anyone before pub date. I sent confidential documents to someone by accident via email I need the file completely removed - Gmail Community Gmail Help Sign in Help Center Community New to integrated Gmail Gmail Stay on. (Even before learning it was to a reporter!) 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. I thoughtlessly mentioned an embargoed announcement to a longtime friend in journalism before it was public. OP, you truly buried the lede: you leaked to a journalist. While irritating, email from mass marketing lists dont require a response and you probably wouldnt get an answer anyway. LW is undisciplined and has a big mouth. People are going think, If OP can minimize all the responsibility for this incident, she is going to be able to rationalize it away some other time in the future. 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. If it does, you can explain calmly that in a moment of weakness, you broke a serious rule regarding sending information to someone outside the company, but youve learned a hard lesson you never intend to repeat. should I be so emotionally drained by managing? [duplicate]. Plenty of folks are friends in my business lobbyists, journalists, staffers you cant lose control of your impulse to share information. As I read it, LWs friend couldnt pass the information along at all. 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. I came here to say this. I feel your pain. The violation was only victimless by accident and confidentiality rules dont hinge on whether or not the leak is known to have caused damage. Its going to bite someoneand this time the person it bit was herself, which gives her a good opportunity to work on discipline and discretion. Or it could be about a broader picture like if youd had performance issues or other problems that made it easier for them to decide to just part ways. I wonder LW, would your interactions with the higher ups have been different if your co-worker/mentor had given you the heads up that she was going to have to report this? It doesnt matter if your friend is a journalist or not; thats a total red herring. Absolutely! 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. Where the investigation uncovers evidence of divulging confidential information, then the employer should take formal action. someone in another department saw the post, reached out to the person who made it and asked for information about the person they had heard it from. 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. Communications professionals are privy to so many deals and information that cant be divulged to even spouses until they become public. Are you being GDPR compliant in your marketing? A senior UK diplomat has resigned over the matter. blue_haddock wrote: . Im also miffed by the fact that the coworker kinda blind sided OP. Its your actions that are right, wrong, or in that confusing gray area, and what you feel doesnt have to dictate what you do. If someone preempts that, theyre not happy about it generally. I understand the issue had to be reported, but why this way ? He and my mother kept their noses clean. Agreed. Yeah, thats a good point. A non-disclosure agreement (often referred to as a confidentiality agreement), is a legally-binding contract which governs the sharing of information between people or organizations and sets limits on the use of the information. AND I told somebody within the company about that? Rule 1.6 Confidentiality of Information - Comment But at the end of the day, the reputational risk to my company, versus the relatively low-level risk of having to replace someone entry-level, was just too great to bear. A recent Harvard Business Review article indicated widespread use in the workplace, with over one third of the US . I actually think your big mistake was telling your coworker, not telling a trusted friend. 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. Doesnt matter if it was a friend. Can I get fired for . Im not trying to teach her a lesson, necessarily, she seems to have gotten the point. If when when LW talked to their boss, they conveyed the sense that theyre thinking Whats the big deal, its all fine, the coworker who ratted me out sucks, I did it once and Id do it again but next time I wouldnt self-report to my coworker the boss would probably be unwilling to give a second chance, whereas a oh shit I screwed up, heres what Im going to do to make sure this never happens again could have gotten one. And by becoming the must fanatically trustworthy discreet person. However, at the time, I did feel guilty so I confided in an older coworker who I considered a mentor. Your employer lost control of this information, even in a very small way, and thats a big deal. Or well often hear from contacts on the Hill about something going on behind the scenes, like that a bill is about to be introduced. 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. There was no warning, no suspension, nothing. This violates workplace compliance and trust. Mostly, Im saying this to you so that you understand that you should never have trusted that co-worker to keep that kind of information to herself, no matter how much of a mentor shed been to you I do think that she should have told you that this was serious enough that she couldnt not report it. Id say forgive that coworker NOWyou put her in a terrible position by being a big blabbering blabbermouth. (And even then, the existence of the record has to be disclosed even if the actual record is not disclosed. This. 3. I wouldnt lead with it, but I wouldnt hide it either if it ever comes up, and folks will likely ask about why youve left past jobs. Which means have to vet things like your friend is a journalist, but doesnt cover your area? That all strikes me as stuff someone quite young and without strong professional and personal boundaries acts. In the US, sexual harassment wont merit a police response. I missed the phrase ratted me out in the original message, but given those feelings, it doesnt really count as self-reporting. I think youd be in trouble for sharing that kind of information over the phone, regardless of who he was talking to. I think the wider point is that anyone can make that mistake at any age, and speculating about this part of it is irrelevant and not helpful. The type of violation you are talking about normally only applies to confidential (shall close) records and not non-public (may close) records. This is your making, and while I wish you luck, you have zero cause to be disgruntled with your coworker or employer. Changing how you feel (as opposed to what you say or do or think) is not something you need to do to solve the problem. And if the coworker didnt tell and it somehow got out that she knew another job lost. For example, a lot of insider trading is based on the TIMING of someone finding out information. The secretary is going to be featured at [cool upcoming event]! OP, if everything that was predictably risky, harmful, dangerous, bad, illegal or wrong really felt bad on some core level, we would almost never need to make rules. Also, the OP wont be able to ever claim the good work experience she gained from the role. 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. At the risk exposing my identity to a reader who knows me offline, two big things Ive leaked without running afoul of any organizational trust are: Such and such church is giving away their building and my nonprofit is under consideration to be the recipient and Were going to be filing a lawsuit against X because of Y., To clarify, Im not trying to minimize the gravity of OPs mistake or the seriousness of strict confidentiality in other contexts. The awareness that anything sent in your work email is subject to FOIA and open records requests really varies. That would likely lead to your manager also getting fired (for not firing you in the first place) and also make your entire department/agency look bad to the public (whod be wondering who else still working there has done something similar without getting fired). Im also a supervisor. That the information eventually became public is not in any way relevant. 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. I screwed up in grad school and had to go in front of an IRB board for being sent information that I hadnt gotten full clearance for. 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.. Having worked in communications and journalism for the past 15 years, I think this ishonestly really bad. They might push the company to reverse your termination. Its what you do with what you learn that is important. Dont blame your colleague she may have been obligated to report this. Libel or slander or posting comments about individuals that are not related to your work environment are not protected. This just wasnt the place for you in the end. Good points, and good advice for anyone whos apologizing for anything. So have a lot of other people who have managed to find other jobs. 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. I am trying not to be too harsh but yes you screwed up. This is not about a public records requestits about how information is released to the public before that information becomes public. Not advising you to lie, but you can present the circumstances in as flattering manner as you like. The Smurfs have a secret colony in the woods of Maine!. Its like winning the jackpot in a slot machine then declaring that you KNEW you were going to win, so it wasnt really gambling at all. This mixed with the coworkers inflated story, I would be more than annoyed by this coworker too. Well meaning (or at least not meaning harm) maybe, but very foolish. The org needed to know in order to assess potential damage and limit future opportunities. Or you mistyped her email by one letter and it went to a colleague who had no reason to respect the embargo? If we receive confidential information, there are very specific and non-flexible procedures we have to follow to handle those documents/information. Ive been in the position of having the relevant information, and even if its hard, you just cant tell your journalist friends unless youre okay with them using it: its what they do, and its not fair to ask them not to. 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. When we make mistakes, they are impactful, but we're human and it happens. super! If it keeps happening, you can report the sender as junk or spam to block future messages. Its the only way they can maintain control of the information. 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 GSAs dad would lead to the dad. You just seem to still want an answer and I picked up on this as a possible avenue to reflect on in your letter. Though there are a few that would be exciting. 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. If she tried to downplay the seriousness of the breach in the meeting (like saying it was a victimless crime) then they may have decided that they couldnt afford to give a second chance. It might possibly be seen as less bad that the information shared was intended to be made public anyway, as opposed to it being information that wasnt ever supposed to get out. Im sure the OP will find a new job. Thats the one that needs to learn to keep things to herself? Sometimes the news is a dreadful burden to bear (staff reductions of people you know, elimination of services you think are important) and sometimes the news is exciting, you have the inside scoop and cant wait to share it. Perhaps something like the announcement of the new Amazon HQ? In fact, think of it this way: you put your journalist friend in a situation where she was potentially sitting on a scoop but she actually kept mum to protect you. I previously worked as a journalist. Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. Request that they email you to confirm they've done so. She shared *exciting* embargoed information. The employer has a policy against this and everyone working there has signed that they read the policy. and sent to multiple people (!!)? In a professional context, close friendships and personal trust arent always as ironclad as they can be in personal relationships, particularly when it comes to security and confidentiality. Can I be fired for sending a derogatory text about my boss to my - Avvo Really? exciting! Why is it so hard for people to just keep their (figurative) mouth shut? They can only control what their employees do, and thats why they have those rules, and not much leeway for people who dont adhere to them. A few weeks ago I worked on a medical chart for A Big Rockstar, but not only do I get fired if I tell anyone which one, I get fired if I open up a single page of his chart that I cant explain, if asked, what the exact and specific work-related reason for opening that page was.