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. Im very aware of that reality, so I confine my work email to work stuff only. Examples that most journalists would find pretty snoozy (although journalists who cover the agency super-closely for trade publications, Politico Pro, Bloomberg Gov, etc, would still be interested): Your assistance is much appreciated. Where I work, there are policies that state an employee that finds out about certain kinds of misconduct is mandated to report it or face consequences if it comes out that they knew and didnt report it. All mom did was hand dad the phone. But even the first is really really, really bad. Thats why they told you no. That was not an enjoyable situation at all. 2. I realize you want to minimize your mistake! I will never not believe the publisher did that intentionally and threw him under the bus. In most reporting policies i am aware of it would be considered tipping off and get the person reporting in trouble. Accidents or mistakes are bound to happen. In government, keep this confidential almost always means never share ever on pain of serious legal sanctions.. There are offenses, especially regarding releasing items, that would be serious enough to warrant immediate dismissal. 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 am really jaw-on-the-floor stunned at people taking aim at the coworker. Oh my. Humans, in general, are not geared towards confidentiality and secrecy long-term. Disclosing confidential information has, at best, resulted in nothing, and at worse, resulted in injury/death, or even political systems toppling. 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. If you told, you breached confidentiality, no matter what the other people did. Why is there a voltage on my HDMI and coaxial cables? 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. From a government point of view, the only thing that matters is this: LW was trusted to handle confidential information and keep it inside the agencys control; instead she passed that information to someone outside that permission (whose job is to disseminate information to the public!) 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. exciting! No one is trying to tell the OP that she needs to be friends with this former coworker. I actually think your big mistake was telling your coworker, not telling a trusted friend.. And that even one second counts as a HIPAA violation. Whether it's done to work from home, to print . You undertook those actions while working for (1) A Large Governmental Organization, who is answerable to Congress and to the general public for the actions undertaken by their employees, in the (2) Communications department, which is a department where employees will specifically, systematically, regularly be exposed to confidential information that should be kept confidential until such time as it is explicitly said to be something that can be shared publically. And theres a difference between feeling (sensation) and feeling (conclusion drawn from integrating sensations and information). That means that you definitely shouldnt get into anything about anyone ratting you out; that would make it sound like you dont think it really should have mattered. Id say forgive that coworker NOWyou put her in a terrible position by being a big blabbering blabbermouth. None of this makes you a bad person, untrustworthy, or unemployable. 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). What am I doing wrong here in the PlotLegends specification? It should go without saying: a breach of confidentiality could and would wind up in a bar complaint in my jurisdiction. Confidential information is meant to be confidential and not shared with anyone. So yeah, confidential stuff is confidential for a reason. You can bounce back! Period. Where the investigation uncovers evidence of divulging confidential information, then the employer should take formal action. We go through training every 6 months, that we should NOT to tell the coworker or customer that we will need to report them. Oh yeah, my response wasnt to you it was just to continue what Alanna said. and that was interestingthey had criticisms I hadnt thought of. If you lie during the interview and the truth later comes out, thats enough to get you fired. My company is not going to jeopardize a $500M/yr contract over my mouth. In those cases I have to be even more careful, because minor details might get linked to the news story and suddenly its not anonymous any more. I deal with it by having friends in the firm who I can say it to (but not in a bar!). 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. I dont believe this falls under inadvertent, though OP deliberately gave that information to her friend. Perhaps over official lines it could be interpreted by the journalist as on the record comments. 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. In other words, dont assume the information only went to the person you sent it to. Its a common occurrence, especially within a large business where autocorrect can incorrectly select people with similar names. Maybe she had to report it for her job (as some people are speculating) but even still, its okay to be annoyed at someone even if its not 100% logical. 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. Confidentiality is not just an issue in communications. ), Because honestly, the more I thought about this letter as I read it, the more uncomfortable I got, too. If she had been doing something perfectly acceptable, seen by someone who misunderstands the situation, and fired because of that, then she would be an innocent victim of a very unfair employer. You still have to go through the same information request as someone who doesnt work there. Moving forward, the best way to handle it is be honest. When I read the letter, it struck me that the VERY EXCITING nature of the news was more of a reason NOT to share it. 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. You want to minimize this, and thats natural. That way, the Address box of every reply starts out empty. Hows work? You didn't accidentally email the material to yourself, you did it on purpose. But how do I explain this story to future employers? 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. how do I get out of an active-shooter drill at my office? I dont mean to sound harsh but you really need to break out of this frame of mind. They care a little more in the last 2 years, but not much. This will sound very, VERY strange, but if you have the urge to share things youre not supposed to, theres a trick you can try: telling a fictional character in an imaginary conversation. And if the coworker didnt tell and it somehow got out that she knew another job lost. Im still learning Slack, so maybe being naive. 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. Also, Ive seen plenty of firings that were absolutely not presented as position elimination. Even if the exact reason wasnt shared employer isnt going to say Oh, Jane took home a spreadsheet full of MNPI they will absolutely share that the ex-employee was fired for cause, not laid off. Passing it off as a mistake, or trying to portray ignorance (in the sense of saying "oh, I didn't realize it was wrong when I did it") is just going to make it sound like you don't bother understanding or following policies. 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. Ah! The Census Bureau does NOT play with that sort of thing, and you would indeed be given the boot as soon as the breach was uncovered. A selfie was reportedly taken that accidentally also showed the dispatch screen. 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.. Or at least, feeling like one should have been possible. Its like pain (heck, it IS pain); its telling you something important. You can get through this, but be honest with yourself! Yes. As a communicator, youre likely to be privy to confidential information on a regular basis during the course of your career, and if that information leaks for any reason, it could have serious repercussions for the organization especially if its a government body. Moving on from that company is probably a mixed blessing. Yes, own it. This was supposed to be a stand-alone comment. Yeah, seconding this. Contact the unintended recipient It's a good idea to contact the unintended recipient as soon as you realize the error. Every employer Ive worked for (finance) has done annual or semi-annual privacy/information security trainings, and while theyre tiresome for some of us, theyre certainly helpful in continually reinforcing hey, this is a very very very very very big mcf**king deal. (Presumably easier to get caught via company comms but doesnt make the leak any different imo). I used to work in a one-industry town. Im sure the letter writer has plenty of that to deal with already. 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. I think its very strange that so many commenters are trying to police the LWs feelings about the coworker. Im so sorry and I will never do anything like that again.. But when the guilt is deserved, its got a purpose. Sent a confidential email to the wrong address? They may. Thats just not something you can let yourself do. They did exactly the right thing to you. Our grant program is going to be fully funded by Congress! Im sorry, what? 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. Absolutely this. The coworker did the right thing. I wonder how trustworthy the LW considers themself (sp?)? Recurring theme here is that tattling isnt a thing at work. At the end of your explanation, look your interviewer in the eye, and dont say anything else. It only takes a minute to sign up. Yep. People tend to share with trusted confidants/partners/etc. I would not immediately snap into how can I report this? I have a whole bunch of very personal medical information swimming around my memory and I while some of it Ive wished I could share with my spouse, I never have. You need to be ready to show that you understand that you have responsibility to understand and comply with policy, and that you're willing to do that. Recently, the National Guard was hit with a data breach, where files containing personal information were unintentionally transferred to a "non-DoD-accredited data center by a . And that wasnt even technically confidential. If you are still defensive or dismissive about this, it will come through in an interview. Yep, I think its worth LW remembering that while she knew shed never leak anything again, her boss and co-workers dont. It goes through a game of telephone and the person at the end of the line gets mad that the first person would say such a thing. It may be that the decision is made and it is just a matter of time before you are gone. Its no fun to be fired. Another public sector worker here. Agreed. Some certainly will, especially those who are more security-conscious. Yeah, this is a big part of it. 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. My code is GPL licensed, can I issue a license to have my code be distributed in a specific MIT licensed project? While I agree that this needs to be explained in the right way. Oh honey UGH you are just the worst. Unauthorized Emails: The Risks of Sending Data to Your Personal Email Accounts. These policies are sometimes written down in employee handbooks. But what you do when youre on the other side of the inbox? When an employer says something is confidential, take it seriously If a breach is proved, the employee may be liable for hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages Howard Levitt Published Aug 01, 2019 Last updated Oct 28, 2019 4 minute read Join the conversation The letter writer came here and owned up to what she did and said she knows now it was her fault what do you want her to do, throw herself on a sword? OP needs to learn the art of discernment. Its a big difference if you sit together at a bar, your friend mentions chocolate teapots and you say oh, this morning I was asked to design a llama-themed one before you realize that you really shouldnt have said that. When you don't know the sender, but the email is clearly confidential and sensitive, things are little more complicated and you have a decision to make. 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. My first thought was of the whole JK Rowling / Robert Galbraith fiasco. I was fired over the phone. Oh, dear. I would go through the channels to fire someone immediately over this, because it would make me lose all trust in them and if I can no longer be confident in their abilities to do their job effectively without spillage, theyre of no use to my team. Accidents do happen, we are all human but what rights you have if you share private company information by mistake really depends on a few things: the type of information that was accidentally distributed, how this impacted your company, and what the consequences were for you. Sure, its not going to be easy, but being honest and upfront will serve them a whole lot better than a potential employer finding out from a different source (and its not unlikely that they will find out). I did not get fired for the offense, but I genuinely learned a great deal from the experience and it changed the entire way I interacted with clients, for the better. 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. 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. Im sorry it happened to you, though, and it definitely stinks. Theres a lot of admittedly not very exciting info the federal government is sitting on at any time. 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. Right. Better to have a 30% chance than a 0% chance. Its the Im still pretty upset that I had no second chance, but I suppose I just lost their trust. that did it for me (especially after all the ways the OP dodged responsibility in the original letter). Sorry that this happened to you (Ive made stupid mistakes too) but you may want to consider keeping problems like this to yourself. This is awkward to frame as apparently it would have passed unnoticed if you hadnt taken aim at your own foot and then pulled the triggerit would be better if you were fired after fessing up to your superiors, rather than involving anyone else. But unfortunately, the rules of your job are such that you justcant. If you had the same role in a public company, you could have have been fired because of regulations preventing insider trading. Sure but I think its highly unlikely that someone at OPs level would have access to that. 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. Our actions and our thoughts can definitely be wrong, but calling someones feelingswhich they have little to no control overwrong (or, dead wrong with double asterisks), only contributes to shame and self-loathing. Or maybe one of those people isnt quite as trustworthy as the person who told them thought they were, and they tell the wrong person, or tell multiple people, or write an article about it because theyre also a journalist. Sometimes its because someone could obtain an unfair benefit from early access to what will later become public information (e.g., think analogous to insider trading). Shouldnt she be in trouble too? and there she would be, going down with you. I dont want to beat up on the LW, but I do think they fundamentally need to understand that the loss of trust made it impossible for the agency to give you a second chance in this position. I am replying under Engineer Girl for a reason. Monitoring should not be excessive and the employee must know what will and won't be caught, for example, whether personal emails will be read. Fired. To be fair Jules, I was making the assumption that it had been, in effect, sexual assault, which may not have been the case. This may have been part of why the manager took the steps she did. Those questioners would hammer her on this. An employer of mine got a FOIA request where they asked for every email wed sent to anyone from any regulatory agency. Its good to hear from you! Non-public just because it hadnt been announced yet isnt the same as the location of the emergency bunker. LW, we are all human. Thats also real life. Alisons given you great words to say now its to you to live out your learning with sincerity and build trust with a new employer. Basically, I was fired for X mistake. It can be exciting to know whats going to happen before it happens, even when the news itself isnt *that* thrilling. Ill add one point: You dont know that she didnt leak it. We all make stupid mistakes. Please banish the phrase ratted out from your vocabulary and thinking. The co-workers obligation is to the employer, not to the OP. 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. Unfortunately these days a lot of the regulators are crooked and will never do anything about problems without a lot of public pressure (and sometimes not even then). Feelings can be irrational though, or overblown, or immature, or any number of shades of wrong that means you shouldnt give them 100% credence. what did you want to get out of sharing with her? Its not about breaking a rule, its about potentially causing some serious issues by leaking information. Not to mention if you tell a lie (even by omission), its a lie you have to keep up, indefinitely. You arent entitled to a second chance to screw this up. Am I missing something? a. problem then you APOLOGIZE and APOLOGIZE rather than defend yourself. I know this is pedantic, but as someone raised by a mother with BPD, I feel like its important to say that no ones feelings are wrong. I agree with you! I feel like this misses the overall lesson Allison is trying to impart here. Other agencies will provide title and dates, and whether you are eligible for rehire. And then there are things you cannot even hint at under any circumstances. Im also not going to tell anyone else! How to you ensure you're aware of it, and following it? OP, you truly buried the lede: you leaked to a journalist. Its also something that happens in a business relationship rather than a personal one, because the assumption is that personal relationships are entirely off the record. If we receive confidential information, there are very specific and non-flexible procedures we have to follow to handle those documents/information. Best wishes to OP in her work on this. journalists dont leak information, unless its something confidential about their own employers. *(assuming that you did so)* She covers a totally different subject area so it never even crossed my mind that her career would be an additional conflict. 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. Reporting misconduct is the right thing to do, and thats how an interviewer is going to see it. Sharing HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL info. We got walked through several juicy gossip or personal information scenarios during our orientation in an interactive way, so we could experience the kind of decision-making they wanted, and it was much more memorable. 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. I wanted to say, it sucks you lost your job after this one time indiscretion, but Im glad you understand the seriousness of it and with Alisons script, I hope youll find a new job soon. ), This didnt involve a records request. Once info is out in the community, you have no control over where it goes and any and all ramifications. Gov employee here and I would be in trouble as well for not reporting what LW told coworker. In an ideal world, it doesnt happen at all. Yup, landline. assigning women extra work to help them, calling out when youre in the ER, and more. Employees. If it bleeds, it leads, and if its not bleeding, you might as well kick it a few times to see if itll start bleeding Nope. I was reading the email at home and after reading the first paragraph I exclaimed out loud (so my spouse could hear) Ooooh. Not generational, just a young person thing. For many fed and state agencies, non-public records _must_ be released on a records request despite their non-public status unless they fit into a narrow set of explicit exemptions. its not condescending to point out that what LW did was incredibly foolish. Its not their call. I had to learn the hard way, Im afraid, but I did learn. LW used Slack at work (and was not supposed to) You colleagues are often the closest people to you, so it makes sense to want to tell them about your problems (which include work screw-ups), but you cant. You knew better. Its what you do with what you learn that is important. As far as I know, he held the highest security clearance a civilian could have. Actually advertising is not going to be any better. I want to caveat that when I originally wrote this, it had just happened and I was still extremely emotional about it, which is probably why I chose to leave out important information in my initial question. Dont fall for it. [duplicate]. Having worked in communications and journalism for the past 15 years, I think this ishonestly really bad. Accidents happen inadvertently but this is not the case here. All the meanwhile you're still trying to run a successful business and handling other things that are coming up. I have information that I have kept confidential for more than a decade that I know the patients wife does not even know (think undisclosed criminal record). And that is a hard pill to swallow, for sure. Of course, it wasnt your mistake and youre under no legal obligation to do anything at all. Being honest going forward really will help OP to repair the damage to her reputation and show she has integrity. 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. Perhaps something like the announcement of the new Amazon HQ? True story: in my last job someone mistyped an email address by a single letter and instead of going to a related government org it went to a journalist. You texted proprietary information to a journalist. With regards to getting a new job within the software engineering/analytics/data science field, I wouldn't lie on application form and in interviews if asked why I left my old job. If I was that coworker, Id have to think shed continue to go around blabbing about this, and there is No Way I could just sit on it until *I* got called on the carpet. +1 on the choice of language and framing. I guarantee you that somewhere in the company handbook for the Government Agency where you worked there is a paragraph about the obligations of an employee who learns of a data breach. It may help in your next position to transpose your thinking around these things a bit. Got my first job. In my experience, a FOIA request can come from anywhere. Yeah, I think CA meant, the message was only sent to the friend/journalist, but you dont know where she opened it: if shes in an open newsroom or something, someone could have seen it on her screen over her shoulder. That said, I am curious if theres other context that explains why they fired you for a first offense without warning you first. This has to be, and often is, done formally, with agreements to give something secret in advance so the journalist can prep a story for later, when its OK to share. Lack of integrity. Additionally, J. K. Rowling won a lawsuit against the lawyer and the firm. Absolutely! 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.
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