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. 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. Noooo. We asked them why they did it. Messages like this can simply be ignored and deleted. We've added a "Necessary cookies only" option to the cookie consent popup. reading. The OPs comment here didnt seem defensive to me at all, and its definitely understandable that the letter was written in the heat of the moment. Yup, landline. This kind of reaction from the company screams 'serious laws broken' and there aren't many other possibilities on what these laws maybe. 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. But that was the right response to what you did. Talking about your work on a more general level is usually allowed unless your employer or their client is unusually paranoid. I was under the impression that most big companies had a policy against telling a reference checker anything beyond dates of employment. 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. Government tends to operate differently. Yup! Accidental disclosure is the unintentional release or sharing of sensitive information. Well its possible your coworker just had it out for you, but it sounds more likely that she genuinely misunderstood or that she understood perfectly but thought leaking info to a journalist friend was serious enough to report and then it was your boss who misunderstood the details. OP has been mature about admitting fault, lets not undermine that by implying it was no big deal. It doesnt matter that its a good friend of yours who happens to be a journalist shes a journalist, and her JOB is to tell people about things she finds out about. Even though he loves the MCU and would have enjoyed the anecdotes. People leak or share things to journalists they know all the time, with agreements by those journalists on how to share it. Thats not really a response to the OP but more a pushback on some the comments. Everyone messes up. 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. An example: This mixed with the coworkers inflated story, I would be more than annoyed by this coworker too. I empathize, having both been in government service where the people can let the boundaries get too loose and, separately, had a career-breaking moment in a toxic workplace. Someone would then check into it to see if there was a valid reason for someone to be poking at it. If the email involves sensitive information, this could be a serious problem for the people involved. If she hadnt told the superiors, she could have been on the hook as well if it came out that you told a journalist confidential information and then told her about it. I was coming to the comments section to say the same thing. 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. ! mode if she told me a general were harassing her, unless making this public is something shed want. *(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. Point is that the higher-level feelings or lowest level conceptualization (that is, the integration of the gut punch and the sense that it cant have been that bad, if it wasnt meant badly, and sense that it cant have been wrong to trust friend, because friend was trustworthy) are still encouraging OP to draw incorrect conclusions about the seriousness of their action, and the appropriateness of their employers actions. Separately, when you share, you have to still be oblique enough to not get yourself in trouble. 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). Thank you for pointing this out! That doesnt mean you need to go into all the details or give a lengthy mea culpa, but you dont want to sound like youre minimizing it. One of my friends is working on projects that she cannot list on her resume now that shes applying to jobs and I only know that because Im looking at it and she told me shes frustrated because she has good work that she can quantify but cant talk about yet. "Yes, humor in the workplace is a fabulously invaluable thing that any workplace can benefit greatly from, but when your colleagues already feel buried under a pile of never-ending emails, adding. OP, its great that you trusted your friend enough to be confident that she wouldnt share what you told her. 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. Theres a great blog called SorryWatch (.com) that analyzes & critiques apologies made by public figures. Please keep us updated and let us know how things work out for you. I now work somewhere where I have access to sensitive information, including my own. Perhaps the way you feel (felt?) +100 to this. I understand that the breach was very bad and that the organization needed to take some disciplinary action, but it seems to me that firing an employee who fessed up to something like this to a senior coworker sends the message: If you mess up bad enough, dont tell anyone. Share information about the new roller coaster being put in at a theme park? My code is GPL licensed, can I issue a license to have my code be distributed in a specific MIT licensed project? What exactly do you want her to do so you feel satisfied that shes recognizing and acknowledging the seriousness of what happened? Your coworker then followed proper procedure when learning of this data breach- their actions were not ratting you out, their actions were following proper protocol for what an employee who is working at a company that frequently deals with sensitive data is tasked with doing once they learn of a data breach. Im now turning my head sideways and re-reading/rethinking. I didnt agree with it myself, and knew that it wasnt really possible without raising a lot of money, something my organization just isnt that good at doing. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top, Not the answer you're looking for? They also rely on constant prompting that can give even the most diligent employees click fatigue after a while. Not because my coworker ratted me out, but because I came to her for guidance and instead of being straight with me, she made me think it would be OK only to be questioned hours later. If it hasnt worked out yet, it isnt the end. That was the profound breach of the OPs duty. 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 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). Ive seen many workplaces that dont spend an amount of time discussing confidentiality that is commensurate with its importance, or that dont go into specifics about when it is and isnt ok to tell somebody something you heard at work, and a general statement tends not to hold up to the in-the-moment excitement of oooooh I know THING about CELEBRITY! or whatever. Oh, thats a risky tack for OP to take if they want to stay in their field. But I agree that reporting coworkers for actual errors that actually affect the company isnt ratting. And it doesnt sound to me as though the OPs coworker was in any way a rat. 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. 2. This is what I wanted to say but you said it better. Yeah the world just being what it is, if youre this bad at keeping secrets, youre gonna get burned by it pretty quick. Report and act quickly Based on the post its probably public now, so I would guess its likely not too exciting. Im not trying to teach her a lesson, necessarily, she seems to have gotten the point. Absolutely! It was a really bad decision on my part and I have learned a lot from the experience. Its sounds like you are pretty young and people tend to be a slightly more forgiving when you are young a make a mistake like this as long as you take ownership of it. If I know that Senator Y is releasing a health care plan on Monday that would require mandatory surgery for every American, and he has bipartisan support for it, thats a much more specific news tip, and Id rather my friend just not tell me and save me the heartburn. Thats also real life. So to summarize, while an individual in your circumstance can be fired for the accidental dissemination of confidential employment information, their employer cannot press criminal charges against them, both because a private entity lacks the authority to make that decision and more fundamentally because the accidental dissemination of . He shared it with one person, telling them it was a joke. You kind of glaze over this, OP, but if you spoke in this meeting as you did here then I wonder if thats the real reason for the firing. This is a very important life lesson, both for your professional and personal life. If you are still defensive or dismissive about this, it will come through in an interview. I agree, but its been called out and I dont want to derail on it. +100. Assuming this is in the US, and were talking about FOIA laws, typically a records request will come through a particular channel (not likely to be some random employee in communications.). Then what? This is a GREAT way to position it. If that is so, there is nothing you can do to avoid the termination and you should be looking for new employment. I work in communications for a large organization and I see this as a trust issue with leadership. Oh yes. People working on campaigns get to be privy to all sorts of information that is not intended to be public. You unpromptedly wrote a message to the friend. That mindset is just so messed up. Youve got some great feedback from Alison and I hope it all works out for you. Loved your opening act for Insolent Children, btw. I tell the character and imagine their response, and the urge to share subsides. Or did you double down on not my fault, not a big deal, and co-worker shouldnt have said anything? Check out this article on that HERE. There are people who would refuse to acknowledge their error and go about their lives being bitter and blaming others. The hospital I was working for last year had the best of this kind of presentation that Ive ever seen. This will suck for a long time writing this post has made me feel anxious thinking about my own lapses and consequences from years ago but it all works out in the end. What if there was another leak and someone found out that OP had told Coworker that she had leaked info previously, but didnt report it as she was supposed. She got paid to pose as Roeders* mistress, once. Im sorry this happened to you, OP, Im sure it feels devastating, and it sounds like some of the details were inflated but there is a good reminder here for all of us as some things cant be undone. By Candice Novak. There could be Official Reasons, but it could also be something as simple as the coworker, while being made somewhat uncomfortable by this confidence originally, got more and more uncomfortable the more she thought about it. I totally get how it can be really exciting to hear about cool things, and the impulse to tell the people close to you. This is mostly a matter of describing your motivation appropriately, and in this respect "At that time, I did not realize" does a better job of conveying that your basis of judgment has changed in the course of that experience than a mere "I did not realize" would. Or, maybe they totally overreacted, who knows its impossible to say from here. In my experience, a FOIA request can come from anywhere. I feel your pain. Its a great professional resource with a lot of professional development around ethics. 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! Your second co-worker who sexually harassed a woman was put on a PIP? 3. how do you handle being pregnant at work? should I be so emotionally drained by managing? Ohhhh come on. We dont know if the coworker intentionally or mistakenly misrepresented the scope of OPs disclosure. In government, keep this confidential almost always means never share ever on pain of serious legal sanctions.. The difference is if the potential for and type of jail time you risked. Of course, but if you think that there arent tons of people out there whove made huge mistakes and managed to keep it from getting out, youre kidding yourself. Plus you might be doing them a massive favour when it comes to catching a data breach early. Once you told your coworker, you dragged her out there on the plank with you. It can bring vital information to the public who have a right to know. Heck, at my agency were cautioned to not use work email on our personal devices (unless were management or its an emergency) because records requests could potentially get our personal devices as well. Its the only way they can maintain control of the information. But would the government do that? One day its pre-public FOUO information; what next? 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. Egress Software Technologies Ltd. Find out what you should do when a misdirected email lands in your inbox. Letter writer, it sounds like youre new to our field and may not understand the importance of keeping confidence. OP came to her, she felt guilty, they apparently talked about this a bit, so why not tell her that this cant be kept secret and she has to come forward to her boss ? I just think it serves OP to choose a more benign explanation because it will help OP deal with the fall out of the situation going forward. Thats the person were gonna call the blabbermouth in this situation? This is a solvable problem. still cant believe that happened. I think it helps that you told your coworker. A true 100% owning of what you did. and sent to multiple people (!!)? And you might know that you trust that friend 100% to keep it confidential but your employer would prefer to make that call themselves, and thought theyd done so when they told you the information couldnt be shared. The mistake was breaking company policy not that they announced to a coworker they broke company policy. If you own your mistake, meditate on it, learn from it, and learn to tell the story of how you learned from it, then you might be able to get another job in the communications industry working for a company that does not handle sensitive client data, or in another industry where there are no potential confidentiality issues with your job. Think of speaking with a colleague like speaking with your boss. 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. Alison, I really liked your advice, because it can apply to any situation where the person has truly done something egregious but has to move on. I can see a manager getting pressure from the top to reduce leaks choosing to fire someone over even a minor leak. about your coworker reporting you, betrayed and hard done by, is the way your employer feels about you. it really should be I made a foolish mistake, Its more a case of I broke the rules bigtime and expected someone else to cover up for me.. PRSA is an excellent suggestion! I would have serious questions about your judgment if I found out you told any reporter about something that was confidential. And while you felt mad at coworker, really youre mad at yourself. 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. As a government employee she would have been trained on that rule and should have fully understood the ramifications of breaking it. But OP gets to choose what they think the coworkers motivations may have been. If someone told me something that I know Id have to report, I would report it. We all make stupid mistakes. 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. 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. I do not believe in using it for personal gain, even the minor personal gain of sharing juicy secrets with someone. 27 April 2021. That the information eventually became public is not in any way relevant. Whose to say OP isnt right that the coworker had it out for her? 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. Contact the unintended recipient It's a good idea to contact the unintended recipient as soon as you realize the error. 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.) Having a natural, human reaction doesnt mean shes in the wrong field. This disclosure was not inadvertent, and trying to frame it that way could backfire pretty hard. Ive been actively observing how my more senior colleagues handle that sort of thing (we need written permission to share information about clients with people connected to their situation, and knowing how to answer questions from people who arent authorised to be told something but who are definitely going to ask is covered in training). Judgement errors tend to repeat themselves. Really? Theres truly no compelling reason to break confidentiality here. 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. 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. OP is in a pickle for sure. Im very aware of that reality, so I confine my work email to work stuff only. Employer found out and had grounds to fire you. The answer hinges in part on what constitutes truly private communication, says Christine Walters, an independent consultant with FiveL Company and author of Helping Leaders Limit their Liability by Learning the Law. Thank you it was getting boring to read everyones outrage. Her best chance of moving forward and looking as good as possible in an interview is to accept full responsibility and say that she made a mistake and learned from it. And that wasnt even technically confidential. My point is that you learn how to share AND maintain confidentiality. (For your job search, this might be obvious, but steer clear of medical, legal, PR, or any other field that deals with privacy.). I have also had to recommend the firing of a personal friend. If you had stayed, they would never have trusted you again. Whether or not you knew about the policy upfront, you need to be ready to discuss steps you take to stay informed about policies and ensure you're following them. Agreed. Some offenses are serious enough that a single incident is enough to fire someone. Thats why your organization wants it to stay within their walls (and possibly HAVE to keep it within their walls by law)they cant control what outside people do, whether theyre only one person removed (your journalist friend, who apparently DID keep the secret in this case) or hundreds of people removed if the gossip chain goes long enough. Im a journalist, so, yes. Later when I moved on, it became my absolute best interview topic when asked about a mistake and how I handled it. Let me be clear she did not leak it. Identify the cause of the information leak. Weve all made mistakes. And even more so in ballistic missile submarines! Additionally, J. K. Rowling won a lawsuit against the lawyer and the firm. Your assistance is much appreciated. 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. It would probably breach a few laws in other European countries too. I would have been fired if I did any one of the things OP did when I worked for the feds (e.g., using Slack, speaking to a journalist without authorization even if they were a long-time friend, disclosing soon-to-be-public information before it was publicly available). Thats an important impulse to explore to avoid other similar situations with gossip. 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. The coworker did the right thing. 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. All rights reserved. Theres no way your managers could safely assign other confidential projects to you after leaking the information on this project. Taking full responsibility isnt just the better moral choice, its the more effective one. the coworker? Specifics dont matter, but to me, being able to explain you told your friend your employer was about to buy this farm to build a park so they bought the farm so they could raise the price and make a profit would make a huge difference in terms of making the OP aware of the consequences of their actions. I had the same thoughtthat was very unwise. I wouldnt be obligated by anything other than displaced loyalty if I wanted to try to be squirrelly of course but I respect myself way too much and have my own standards to just keep quiet about things. Then both OP and Coworker could be out of a job. The problem here is that the OP misjudged the level of confidentially expected in the situation, and maybe by their office/profession in general. Negative emotions are a learning toolfeeling guilty is very uncomfortable, so we dont repeat the behavior that led to the feeling guilty. Maybe OPs workplace does the same? It doesnt, but we still shouldnt state assumptions like facts if theyre not supported by whats said in the letter and theres nothing wrong with Michaela pointing it out. (Presumably easier to get caught via company comms but doesnt make the leak any different imo). Where I work, I cannot legally share information about very exciting things that are happening/about to happen. Good luck to you I think Allisons advice for answering questions about this experience is spot on. You will find another employer who will trust you and will give you that chance to shine for them. 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. And I dont think it helps the OP to say that she doesnt have the right to have feelings of resentment toward the coworker. No, no, no, no, no. I dont think your coworker ratted you out. Yes, when I worked at a financial firm I believe that exact question was on a privacy training test: If I run across the name of a celebrity in the client management system while performing my duties, its okay to tell friends and family about it, True or False?. Find somewhere else to tell it in order to release the steam valve.
