Some of the stuff I handle is really interesting logistically and historically but I just do not have the right to get carried away and share it. Im glad that youve had time to think about it and can own the mistake, thats the most important part when we mess up. Or you mistyped her email by one letter and it went to a colleague who had no reason to respect the embargo? Yep! And definitely let go any butthurt about your coworker they did nothing wrong and followed clear policies on reporting this incident. Yes, the ratted me out thing is probably not a fair assessment of what actually happened here. Egress Software Technologies Ltd. Find out what you should do when a misdirected email lands in your inbox. Same here. After all, nobody wants to tell their manager that they might (however accidentally) be responsible for a data breach. The 2nd chance is just too much risk as far as theyre concerned. If OP had never confided in any coworker about what she had done, it would still not be blind-siding to be fired for it. Phishing emails are emails that appear to be from a legitimate source, but are actually from a malicious source. This was actually a very kind way to get this point across. I reminded him that anything sent in our work email is subject to FOIA and not really completely private from our employer, so if he was going to continue to work against the plan, use personal email. Your assistance is much appreciated. I always wondered if they remained friends after that fiasco. Im not going to tell them about it, unless it actually falls out that I end up being the person who is put in charge of telling them their thing is done. Another engineer girl here, at a place where people have been fired for leaks and it hits the news when it happens: theres a warning during New Hire Orientation, and between that and our reputation, youre expected to know it. And then there are things you cannot even hint at under any circumstances. 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?. It may be unfair to assume a journalist is cutthroat and would kill for a lead, but its also nave to assume they wouldnt let anything slip to the exact wrong person. 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. And I told Mom, so so so many times that I didnt build it myself! I now work somewhere where I have access to sensitive information, including my own. Agreed. If someone stole money from their workplace, or illegally harassed a coworker, and their colleague reported it would that person be a rat too? But when youve broken someones trust, they dont owe it to you to offer that opportunity and shouldnt offer it unless they sincerely believe that you could meaningfully repair the breach quickly and comprehensively. You didnt have a right to privileged information once you demonstrated that you werent trustworthy. how do employers know if you're answering "have you ever been fired" honestly? Nah. Some certainly will, especially those who are more security-conscious. Sometimes when we receive an email meant for someone else, its just spam. The main problem is that 'copying data in a very insecure way to be able to bring those data. Maybe OPs workplace does the same? quite a lot of people are going to feel as though youre making them an accomplice in your bad behavior. what did you want to get out of sharing with her? This is 100% on you. I understand that you get that what you did was a very big deal as a single event, but I think you might need to spend some more time examining for yourself why you would describe this as a victimless crime. The fact that your friend didnt as far as you know tell anyone else about your bombshell doesnt meant that nothing happened. If you want to work in comms, you need to be crystal clear that the TIMING of disclosure is a crucial issue. How did you talk to your boss about the slack channel full of journalists? Were you able to correct the factual mistake in context, and what phrasing did you use? "I made a dumb mistake and misjudged the sensitivity of some data" is both more accurate and less severe. 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. Or when she builds a pattern of sharing harmless information until suddenly it isnt harmless? Yikes. Im sorry, but I think you were fired with pretty good cause and it would be important to own that or you wont be able to spin the story for future employers. I see it a lot and I wonder sometimes if its not sending the wrong message that its okay to break confidentiality because Friendship/Family Conquers All or something. . It may be a requirement of employment regarding compliance. Can you get fired for accidentally sending confidential information? Spek raised a good point- find out what your HR policy is so you know what to be prepared for in an interview. As the other commenter noted, this could have been a very serious offence considering you were working for the government. Getting fired sucks. You can never rely on people to be 100% trustworthy, no matter how long youve known them. But you see that now I hope. And if the coworker didnt tell and it somehow got out that she knew another job lost. What I ended up doing is learning to avoid mopped floors as much as possible and warning people to be careful around them. That functions differently from confidential information in government sectors and sounds closer to your examples in your original comments, but it would still be a really bad idea to share that information. OP, there is another thing to keep in mind. That was the profound breach of the OPs duty. a. problem then you APOLOGIZE and APOLOGIZE rather than defend yourself. Every hospital Ive worked at requires yearly HIPAA compliance training. We literally filled a room with records for them, and 99% of it was people asking what flavor of donuts to bring to a meeting or requesting copies of informational flyers. As others have noted, it probably isnt anything especially exciting. Oh yes. The person is trying to make someone else feel bad about their own transgressions. But there was no way we were actually going to get the contract now if they didnt. Think of speaking with a colleague like speaking with your boss. I dont feel like we need that caveat though, there of course will be exceptions, but this is kinda derailing. Cut to a couple hours later, and Im called into my bosss office because she has heard that I leaked this information to a SLACK CHANNEL FULL OF JOURNALISTS. It pretty much doesnt matter what field you are in the higher up you go the more likely you are to be privy to information that you MUST NOT share no matter how excited you may be. Granted, it was to your older co-worker rather than your boss, but that still shows you felt uncomfortable with your actions. When we accidentally receive a confidential email from people outside our own organisations, things are a little trickier. You've learned from this mistake and had no malicious intent. That all strikes me as stuff someone quite young and without strong professional and personal boundaries acts. Id like to know what LW said at the two meetings they gave her before firing her. 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. I remember the line of people walked out the door for looking at OJ Simpsons records when he was arrested. ), You also werent fired for technically breaking a rule. You were fired for actually breaking a rule, and a serious one. OP erred, which she knows, but I dont think that means her mentor no longer has the obligation to be honest with her. trouble, it doesnt seem applicable. Long since past, now.). It may help in your next position to transpose your thinking around these things a bit. Either way, if you commit an offense, its best to never go with its not that big of a deal anyways. Owning up to your mistakes at the right time is hard and the natural instinct to defend yourself is strong, but ultimately thats the best thing to do and garners respect. 100%? That brings us to your questions. This reminds me of the story of the Apple employee who left a prototype iPhone in a bar by mistake, before the official release. January 31, 2022 . Your first step should be to contact your old HR department and ask about their policies for reference checks. 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. It would have been better if she had told you first that she was going to tell someone I, too, have made foolish mistakes that cost me a job. Can I get fired for . its not condescending to point out that what LW did was incredibly foolish. Me too. I constantly have journalist friends asking for confidential tips, and there is no way I would ever give up any information. I agree that its ok to be upset with people, even if its irrational or illogical, as long as we ultimately let it go and refrain from mistreating someone because of our illogical emotional response. Yes of course it feels bad that you were fired. Sorry, Im tired and I think that metaphor got away from me. On the non-security side of things its fascinating to learn what the folks in the booth behind me are working on as Im quietly eating lunch, but its a serious security violation to discuss that kind of thing in public and it makes me cringe so hard when it happens. What you did was misconduct. But heres the thing you still have to have a ton of discretion about how you share and where. I understand the issue had to be reported, but why this way ? December 15, 2009, 1:05 PM. Like its going to be easier to find a job because she has the integrity to say she got fired. Any info I pull, I have to be able to explain why I pulled it and what I was doing with it. That being said, I think you can overcome this. Even if you trust her 100%, she is still too high risk. A person who is aware of a breach is required to report it. Log the incident in an 'cyber accident book'. They may. While that obviously wasnt the result Id have wanted, I learned an important lesson about confidentiality, and its not a mistake Ill ever repeat.. You are almost certainly an at-will employee so you can be discharged at anytime and for any reason or even no reason at all. Life is full of these weird potholes we find ourselves in at times. I encourage you to get involved with PRSA. 3) The recipient was a journalist thats super relevant, even if its not in their area Under the "General" tab, you'll see a section called "Undo send.". Its a risk when you ignore these compliance issues especially willfully. 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 But from there you can talk about what you learned from the experience and how this makes you a better employee/candidate now. picture of male guinea fowl . I used to be a journalist, I have lots of friends who are journalists and I never tell them anything that I shouldnt, even the ones I really trust. My boss and I had a very serious conversation about it, and I think the only reason I was not fired was that I immediately and unequivocally took responsibility. Is anyone else dying to know what the information was? You are right. If anything went down, you could say But Older Coworker knew! Its a bigger deal because that friend is a journalist. We dont even know where the LW is; Alison has gotten letters from outside of the United States before. Yes. Are you being GDPR compliant in your marketing? and the agency lost control of the information. In most reporting policies i am aware of it would be considered tipping off and get the person reporting in trouble. (And even then, the existence of the record has to be disclosed even if the actual record is not disclosed. Not necessarily for the leaking but for the way youre talking about it. Where I work, I cannot legally share information about very exciting things that are happening/about to happen. Rules are there because its so easy to do that thing that feels harmless, and sometimes nobody gets hurt.. Oh my. Oh honey UGH you are just the worst. Appropriately so, but still, wow. It would probably breach a few laws in other European countries too. 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. We all make stupid mistakes. If someone had been privy to the list of cities prior to the announcement, and leaked it, they would 100% have been fired. They are designed to trick the recipient . LW is undisciplined and has a big mouth. Any tax or benefit records, any survey or census records if I access them without good reason its a firing offence. Your comment above is much closer to an effective track. OP: . Does your company know she could have called the police? But they took confidentiality very seriously, and I signed an extremely ironclad NDA, so I never told anyone any of the interesting tidbits I found out about from working there. 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. Right? Those usually come out the morning of the speech. This is so well said. You're fired for violation but convince the Dept of Labor that no one without an IT degree could ever understand your policy. They are not neutral. It should go without saying: a breach of confidentiality could and would wind up in a bar complaint in my jurisdiction. 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. (For the record, I always told people I was interviewing as a source that there was no such thing as off the record with me its not a requirement of our field, theres no law saying we have to follow that request if asked, so if the subject didnt want me to print something, they shouldnt tell me. Request a personalized demo to see how Egress Prevent will help you prevent data breaches over email. This is a very important life lesson, both for your professional and personal life. The client can, of course, prevent such disclosure by refraining from the wrongful conduct. This is just an opportunity to choose words that allow for the most generous possible interpretation (similar to how you say with a friend rather than with a journalist). However, were only human. would be frustrating if she had a good relationship with them, or if she cared a lot about the reputation of her publication as a whole. The Workplace Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for members of the workforce navigating the professional setting. However, at the time, I did feel guilty so I confided in an older coworker who I considered a mentor. At the end of your explanation, look your interviewer in the eye, and dont say anything else. No. I dont believe this falls under inadvertent, though OP deliberately gave that information to her friend. Practically everything I do in my job is confidential to some degree. OP is in a pickle for sure. 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. OP, Im sure in your excitement you truly didnt think there was anything wrong with telling your friend, someone you trust implicitly to remain discreet. (The fact that your friend is a journalist makes it particularly egregious.) Its also totally understandable that youre disappointed about losing your job, but they might have just considered that kind of confidentiality breach too much of a risk going forward. A true 100% owning of what you did. Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been. (And yes, the records request would come through the custodian of records, but the point of my second paragraph is that non-public information does not have special protections like confidential information and that the general public has a right to access that information as soon as it is available, and not just when the agency finds it convenient to send out a press release.). The type of violation you are talking about normally only applies to confidential (shall close) records and not non-public (may close) records. 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.