Theres an element of common sense to be used. 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. Yeah, I wish the mentor had walked the LW directly to the boss to discuss this openly. Thats another instant firing, even if the information isnt ever misused. Your assistance is much appreciated. It may be a requirement of employment regarding compliance. 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. On the other hand maybe they didnt listen to her or believe her, and in that case shes been fired based on a misunderstanding but that doesnt help her because what she actually did wasnt OK either. This is why you never ever confidentially share work-related things with colleagues. We will always be privy to confidential information in our roles, its the nature of what we do. Pro tip: when working in mental health residential treatment, do not have clients write your staff logs. LW, people in the comments are also ragging on you for being upset with your coworker but frankly, I would be mad too! Just wanted to point out that OP said they worked in the government, so while yours might be the public understanding of confidential, it wouldnt apply to anything their job considered confidential. "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. She was fired for the leak to the single friend, the slack channel thing was a brief misunderstanding but shes annoyed it ever happened. 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. how to explain you were fired, when interviewing. Non-public just because it hadnt been announced yet isnt the same as the location of the emergency bunker. 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. But the judge's response to the request for a. I understand your irritation with your former coworker. Its was exciting and you couldnt wait?! I am a govt worker in NY. This x 1000 to the comment by ENFP in Texas. The person is trying to make someone else feel bad about their own transgressions. 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. The terminology is often not eligible for rehire., And every time Ive ever given a formal reference, that has been one of the questions: Would you hire her again? or Is she eligible for rehire?. So seriously, just dont tell anyone at all, fight the temptation, its an icy slope. We received a staff email that shared that they were going to release some BIG news about positive new office changes and remodeling and that there was going to be a BIG press conference in 2 days at our office with a lot of high-up political bigwigs and asked everyone to show up for support. What happens if an email is sent to the wrong person? : r/gdpr - Reddit can you get fired for accidentally sending confidential information JustAnswer is a public forum and questions and responses are not private or confidential or protected by the attorney-client privilege. Ramp up your privacy settings across all accounts. Yes you can. Regulation people have heard of is going to be changed/repealed and its a big deal trouble, it doesnt seem applicable. Contact the recipient Get in touch with the recipient as soon as you notice the mistake and ask them to delete the email without reading or sharing it. 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. It was spur of the moment and, as soon as I realized what Id done I circled back to her to clarify that that information was confidential. My mother got a reference-check call recently regarding someone shed managed and then fired. Understandably, the agency had to let me go. Something to show that you didnt get caught you confessed. Its a huge risk that if discovered by the employer would likely result in being blacklisted from the company and if the LW is employed there immediate termination. It was a couple of telling E-mails that helped bring down Bear Stearns with the subprime loan mess crashing . It may be that the decision is made and it is just a matter of time before you are gone. I sent a compromising message to the wrong person. How will I ever It will also help you to not repeat the mistake in the future. The secretary is going to be featured at [cool upcoming event]! And Im happy to report that I have never shared that news (still remember it bcs this was so hard that first time!). I love my younger co-workers and value their fresh take on things and energy, but there is a clear pattern of not understanding reputation risk and liability. As others mentioned, the breach is possibly a fire on first offense potential, but since they fired you after investigating slack that makes me wonder if you had too casual and friendly of chats with the journalists whose job it was for you to talk with. OP, take a deep breath. Coworker did nothing wrong and isnt untrustworthy but OP erroneously decided to trust her which is key. Plenty of folks are friends in my business lobbyists, journalists, staffers you cant lose control of your impulse to share information. Yeah, but never let anyone else see it, and absolutely still use code names in case someone does see it. Access rules are very, very strict, and there are reminders all the time. The embargoes I deal with are not earth-shaking (or even quivering), but the people involved are dead serious about not publicizing the information before a specific time. As in I am so, so sorry! I felt as defensive and upset as you. 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. Where the investigation uncovers evidence of divulging confidential information, then the employer should take formal action. One of my coworkers saw another coworker sexually harassing a woman. Right. Im also miffed by the fact that the coworker kinda blind sided OP. Build sneaky protections into your life so you get away with violating important rules is NOT what LW needs to learn. Separately, when you share, you have to still be oblique enough to not get yourself in trouble. Im sure they thought she was a fruit cake. You did wrong, fessed up, and got fired anyway. Accidents or mistakes are bound to happen. The type of violation you are talking about normally only applies to confidential (shall close) records and not non-public (may close) records. The actual problem is that OP shared confidential information. I found out accidentally.) He had a fairly high security clearance and was stationed at NORAD for a time. This was more or less what I was thinking. 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). This was also my thought. LW I encourage you to ask yourself why you wrote this: Your actions showed you were not trustworthy with confidential information. The LW blabbed, why would her friend have more self-control? (I dont know if the OP explicitly said off the record, but its not like journalists dont handle that all the time when people do.). Maybe you let them know more then they should even without meaning too? Telling the trusted friend was the fireable offense. Im a publicist. Or did you double down on not my fault, not a big deal, and co-worker shouldnt have said anything? 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. If that puts it in perspective. If its a marketing message, spam, or something that looks entirely unimportant simply delete and move on. Noooooo. This disclosure was not inadvertent, and trying to frame it that way could backfire pretty hard. Moving forward, the best way to handle it is be honest. OP should be counting their blessings they only got fired and be upset with themselves for making such an obvious and preventable error, not expecting a large bureaucracy to break its own rules to accommodate them. Which is not how I would handle things now, but I was a lot younger and in a bad place in my personal life, so. 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. PRSA is an excellent suggestion! Actually advertising is not going to be any better. I get so exasperated with TV shows where a SO throws a tantrum about a cop/government worker not being able to tell them stuff, and turns it into a trust issue. 10 Ways to Rebound From an Embarrassing Email Mistake 'Pay Secrecy' Policies At Work: Often Illegal, And Misunderstood So have a lot of other people who have managed to find other jobs. Thats just not something you can let yourself do. Copyright 2007 - 2023 Ask A Manager. If you cant keep a secret, this is not a field you should be in. Journalists are very charasmatic and will fish for info its their job. 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 was coming to the comments section to say the same thing. Ultimately, its your choice to make. All mom did was hand dad the phone. It stinks but in this industry, thats a deal-breaker for many. 4) The coworker was absolutely right to report the breach in confidentiality. Humans, in general, are not geared towards confidentiality and secrecy long-term. I dont think you have to be Catholic.). I missed the phrase ratted me out in the original message, but given those feelings, it doesnt really count as self-reporting. The communications team is often brought on board to develop strategy for organizational decisions that may not be public for weeks or even months. Report and act quickly If you had stayed they would have never trusted you again.. Confidentiality, especially in government, is no joke and should be taken very seriously. Im sure the letter writer has plenty of that to deal with already. I had the same thoughtthat was very unwise. Confidentiality is a big deal for a lot of reasons, and people in those types tend to respect that. Its good to hear from you! Can I Get Fired for Private Texts or Email Messages? | Money how do I get out of an active-shooter drill at my office? For example, a lot of insider trading is based on the TIMING of someone finding out information. 2.) And youre being very generous toward the coworker in saying she misunderstood and mistakenly misrepresented it. I wont lie, Im tremendously curious, but I also know this is just one of those things I will never get to know. 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.) OP, please do not take this comment string seriously, because internalizing these statements will severely harm your ability to address your error effectively. "Compose the email, and only then go back and enter the address (es)," he says. You technically did something, your friend happened to be a journalist, victimless mistake, and so on. As someone who practices public relations, calling this victimless gives me a lot of anxiety. And the young comment. You can -and often should convey emotion in your official public statements. One of my favorite shows had a plotline about a sibling not liking someone not breaking doctor confidentiality. I was dismissed for a breach of confidentiality. blue_haddock wrote: . what did you want to get out of sharing with her? But sending e-mails about a seemingly innocuous hobby cost one . I hope there are things at your job that are exciting to you! journalists dont leak information, unless its something confidential about their own employers. Breach of confidentiality at work - Dealing with employees - Peninsula UK It sounds like OP is young enough that they havent learned that there are some jobs where gossiping about your workplace with your friends is okay, and some jobs where that absolutely cannot fly. Yeah, seconding this. What is the correct way to screw wall and ceiling drywalls? 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. What if another journalist saw the email over your friends shoulder? I am assuming you had a clearance of at least Secret. I was trying to disagree with the idea that it puts journalists in a terrible position to receive off-the-record info, not that it would ameliorate the employers concern. How do I prevent staff accidentally sending personal information Also to prevent someone who might be a bit dangerous, from hurting you. Oh, so LW cant keep a secret from her reporter friend or her coworker, but were ragging on the coworker for not keeping LWs secret? This comment comes across as quite clueless I work for a government entity where nonpublic information often affects peoples day-to-day lives and pocketbooks and people put a lot of money (lobbying) into knowing whats happening. 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. 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. Those kinds of disclosures often rise to the level of immediate termination, which is what happened, here. This was a person whose reviews had been glowing up until that moment and I am sure they are still upset that this came out of the blue. People dont talk about it very much but it definitely happens. The information was work i was working on at the moment and I emailed it as I needed to do work on my personal laptop ; I couldn't take my work station away whilst on extended leave overseas. read something out loud THEN realize that it wasnt public information. Oh honey, how young are you? Agreed. Yep. 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. If I happened to expose that to my BIL who runs the comic book store and has a bunch of media and arts and entertainment contacts? 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.. I had to learn the hard way, Im afraid, but I did learn. If you can trust someone, you can trust them, journalist or not. 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. how do employers know if you're answering "have you ever been fired" honestly? Now, hopefully that would never happen, but if you consider reporting serious breaches to be ratting out, narcing or even tattling, your (potential) employers are going to know that you cant be relied on to report when its necessary. Stack Exchange network consists of 181 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers. We all developed what we called the [cityname] twitch of looking over our shoulders before we talked about work stuff in a public place. This violates workplace compliance and trust. Click the "Settings" icon (the wheel/cog) and click "See all settings". 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. No one was allowed to approach her and her desk for the week and every night she locked up the removable ribbon from her typewriter because it could be unspooled and read. If it was something that was a big deal to LW but not huge news externally, yeah, its not a thing. 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?. You might not immediately get the same job you had before and might have to accept something more junior but be clear in your communications and you'll get there. Before someone decides to do that, I encourage them to get legal representation. But, its important for an employer to know that you understand the need for reporting and would report things yourself if needed. For most cases in the US, I'd expect it to be legal. I think thats a ridiculous overreach but whatever). Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, and our products. I just wasn't thinking at the moment I sent the information. All this said, I think Alisons approach is the best one when youre applying for jobs. I always appreciate your combination of kindness and firm clarity. We've added a "Necessary cookies only" option to the cookie consent popup. Moving on from that company is probably a mixed blessing. Even if healthcare providers and business associates are compliant to HIPAA Standards, there is always a possibility of unintentional or accidental disclosure of Protected Health Information (PHI). If someone stole money from their workplace, or illegally harassed a coworker, and their colleague reported it would that person be a rat too? +10. Any of them. I worked for a federal government contractor and we were awaiting news of whether we were getting a contract renewal. Completely unrelated to the topic at hand, love the username! I dont think your coworker ratted you out. Employees can't just post anything they want on Facebook or anywhere else. I always wondered if they remained friends after that fiasco. Yep, I think its worth LW remembering that while she knew shed never leak anything again, her boss and co-workers dont. Sending work-related information to personal email account: a fast If you told, you breached confidentiality, no matter what the other people did. My philosophy is that it doesnt matter what city you live in, its a small town. What you did was misconduct. But thats where having friends in the same workplace comes inyou can expend the impulse by gushing to them and then zip your lips once you leave the building. I would feel terrible about it, definitely, and probably think about it for a while after, but ultimately, Id need to prioritize my family and act in a way that would protect my job/salary/health insurance so I could continue to provide for my them. 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. 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. Does your company know she could have called the police? 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. Thats the one that needs to learn to keep things to herself? If someone told me something that I know Id have to report, I would report it. Things worked out this time, so I was right! Thats an important impulse to explore to avoid other similar situations with gossip. If you go in there going "my. That said, I am curious if theres other context that explains why they fired you for a first offense without warning you first. But it could be that GSA's dad had a code/password to verify it was actually him and the caller forgot to verify that first. It makes the sender aware of their mistake and less likely to bother you again in the future. And Im not saying it was fair or unfair or whether your previous employer made the right call. Maybe consider a career in advertising, where its your job to tell people about exciting things. Its very possible that LW could think what happened to me wasnt totally fair and still accept full responsibility for it during interviews (which is obviously the smart thing to do). Im not sure what the best way is to address this, but were trying! ), This didnt involve a records request. 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. OP is in a pickle for sure. OP notes that she is a government employee. In the worst cases though, businesses can lose clients and employees can lose jobs. and sent to multiple people (!!)? There are many ways to say thing like this without lying. Phishing emails are emails that appear to be from a legitimate source, but are actually from a malicious source.