can you get fired for accidentally sending confidential information

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Same here. OP, please do not take this comment string seriously, because internalizing these statements will severely harm your ability to address your error effectively. Excellent points, especially LWs use of ratted out. Alison has said so many times that theres no tattling in the work world. the coworker? 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. Oh yeah, my response wasnt to you it was just to continue what Alanna said. A further 2 years can be added onto the sentence for aggravated identity theft. The only thing an employer may not do is make employment decisions based upon you being a member of a protected class. Regulation people have heard of is going to be changed/repealed and its a big deal If it keeps happening, you can report the sender as junk or spam to block future messages. And youre being very generous toward the coworker in saying she misunderstood and mistakenly misrepresented it. Whether nor not anyone got fired might depend on context, but somebody would at the very least get a serious talking-to. This. 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. As this was almost the entirety of your job they really couldnt keep you around. OP, its worth examining whether trying to assuage your guilt by sharing this with your mentor, rather than with some outside person who doesnt touch on your industry, was a version of getting post-mortem permission. And theyll be first with the story. Good luck with your job search! Was alphabet city watching his ass, no idea. They sound far more serious than what happened. This is probably not a feasible strategy, unless the OP was at the job for only a few months. Judgement errors tend to repeat themselves. This is a much more fulsome explanation of what I meant! Not to mention if you tell a lie (even by omission), its a lie you have to keep up, indefinitely. 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). 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. Sometimes I see stuff that is cool to nerds of that particular field, but 95% of my Secret Information from clients is not even interesting to them. 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. This is one reason why I could only ever give a vague explanation of what my dad did. Those kinds of disclosures often rise to the level of immediate termination, which is what happened, here. Sometimes I need to talk about what Ive heard or am excited about something I did which made a significant improvement to someones life, but I have to talk about that in a way that doesnt risk identifying the person at all. Thats the person were gonna call the blabbermouth in this situation? Best of luck, and believe us all when we tell you that if you sound at all dismissive of the seriousness of this, prospective employers will (rightfully) worry that you may have a similar lapse in judgement again. Regardless of what the coworker did, ideally we want to nudge OP toward exercising greater impulse control and discretion if OP wants to have a successful career in the same sector/field. Phrase it as a serious learning point, because you sure as hell aren't going to do it again after getting fired. Your contract can still be terminated if you violate a lawful . Shouldnt she be in trouble too? and there she would be, going down with you. I feel LWs pain. From OPs comment, it seems like shes already taken responsibility for her actions and knows what she does wrong yet 95% of the comments are lecturing her about how dumb she is (not in those words, but thats undeniably the gist), which is completely unhelpful and honestly, incredibly sanctimonious and obnoxious. Or did you double down on not my fault, not a big deal, and co-worker shouldnt have said anything? Don't say "I was escorted out by armed guards" where you can say "My manager was disappointed enough to let me go". Almost every situation I know of where someone was fired for cause was presented publically as a position elimination.. What happened is reputation-ruining for such jobs so re-assessing what is realistic in terms of job expectations after this is important to moving on successfully It happens. 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. There could be a situation where it might be the journalists job to share the information LW thought they were telling to just a friend. Does that matter? However, placing the blame on the coworker for the entire situation, even just in her own head, is likely to come though when she talks about why she was fired. Our newspapers report quite frequently on gossip of whats happening behind the scenes. How do I make amends and go about apologizing to former manager(s) after being dismissed for gross misconduct? I get that youre trying to take responsibility here, but your Im still pretty upset that I had no second chance, I suppose suggests to me you still have a long way to go toward recognizing and acknowledging the seriousness of what happened. People just seemed to forget that with Epic, even one second of accessing a chart is recorded. Given how much we have learned about foreign intelligence operations in American social media in the last few years, this is yet another reason why information security of all levels is taken so seriously. OP erred, which she knows, but I dont think that means her mentor no longer has the obligation to be honest with her. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top, Not the answer you're looking for? That really set the tone for the reference she gave. In some cases, there can even be criminal charges for knowingly releasing certain information. A little time isn't unreasonable. 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. Thats why they told you no. A first offense is still a breach in trust. No one ever called for a reference. I question that there are no details about your Monday meeting with HR here. 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. I just want to remind people that it happened. The misrepresentation of what happened is my concern. (I mean, I think its a great program, but Im realistic about things lol.) This is what I wanted to say but you said it better. 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. The part I think is dangerous is calling the coworker a rat and saying that disclosing to friend was not a mistake. I think this really depends. This mixed with the coworkers inflated story, I would be more than annoyed by this coworker too. Confidential information is meant to be confidential and not shared with anyone. The best workplace I ever saw in this regard was a law firm that specializes in foreclosure (I am not a lawyer, but I worked there in another capacity). Sure, thered be a record in Slack of prior messages. It helps you to catch context-driven mistakes such as adding the wrong recipient, attaching the wrong file, or forgetting to use Bcc instead of cc. Yes, I did filing in a small-town law office where almost every name was familiar and nothing I read or saw left the office. That brings us to your questions. 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?. +10. How to get feedback on application rejections sent from a noreply mailbox, Is it bad to answer "Why/how did you get into that job" with "Because I just wanted a job". Im not sure what the best way is to address this, but were trying! For excellent reasons. On Monday, I was called into a fact-finding meeting with HR. (It also might be notable that you didnt originally mention that your friend was a journalist until I asked about it which makes me think youre underestimating how much that matters.). It can bring vital information to the public who have a right to know. Honestly this feels well intentioned but not right. a. problem then you APOLOGIZE and APOLOGIZE rather than defend yourself. Our grant program is going to be fully funded by Congress! In "Labs," scroll down to "Undo Send" and enable it. My mom worked in sunshine law for state government, and what constitutes a record is a lot broader than most people realize. 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. We cannot do our job with our leaders if they cannot trust us. The type of sanctions that Contract Killer is talking about would only apply to confidential records, not non-public records. Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. Its always easier, at least to me, to close your mouth than open it. I work in a field (not government) where some nonpublic is newsworthy but only in the arts and style sections. Like I said, very strange but its worked for me. If any of those connections were being intercepted by an unknown third party, however, you've just put your customer's data into their hands. obviously i cant know that for sure though. Yes and thats the consequence they now have to live with. But she also would not tell me if she spent a day at work planning for a war!). OP, I can understand why you would want to talk to someone who was mentoring you about something like this, but when you tell someone you work with that you committed a pretty serious breach of duty and sharing nonpublic information is pretty much always a serious breach!! @bent in my experience most companies view the data leaving their possession as the real concern, anything else is secondary. 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. High-profile thing the president wanted and agency employees opposed isnt going to happen The fact is, its just not their secret to share. that one would be unable to resist texting a friend. We will always be privy to confidential information in our roles, its the nature of what we do. It can take down evil people who mean to do others harm. about your coworker reporting you, betrayed and hard done by, is the way your employer feels about you. Yep! Oh, I wish Id seen this before replying. I wont get into too many details, but where I work had a plan that was controversial and there was both opposition to it, internal and external. This is so true. Your first step should be to contact your old HR department and ask about their policies for reference checks. 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. 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. Sorry this happened, OP! Egress Intelligent Email Security is an example of human layer security, as its able to adapt to your individual behaviour through machine learning. super! "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. Feelings can be irrational though, or overblown, or immature, or any number of shades of wrong that means you shouldnt give them 100% credence. Im not curious at all, but Im different. The person whos emailed may have inadvertently caused a data breach, so it could be important you get in touch and let them know. A majority of those who work from home would use their own personal digital devices such as laptop, tablet or mobile to perform their daily work tasks and it is also convenient for employees to. In fact, if I ever got a query from someone I knew, I was required to hand off the query to a colleague. Yes, the ratted me out thing is probably not a fair assessment of what actually happened here. Well, you certainly can do that, but its one hell of a risk, and a continuation of poor ethics. I wish I lived in your country. Yeah, but never let anyone else see it, and absolutely still use code names in case someone does see it. 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. 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. 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. Like, how did HR and OPs boss come to the conclusion that this information was spread through Slack (!) Although paragraph (b) (2) does not require the lawyer to reveal the client's misconduct, the lawyer may not counsel or assist the client in conduct the lawyer knows is criminal or fraudulent. Request a personalized demo to see how Egress Prevent will help you prevent data breaches over email. 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. and starting the work of rebuilding reputation. What is the point of Thrower's Bandolier? They also rely on constant prompting that can give even the most diligent employees click fatigue after a while. If you are facing much trouble, look for job in domains where confidentiality is not too critical and the employer is not paranoid about it. Interpretations, justifications, conceptualizations can also be wrong, surely. If you had to process the cool news, it may have been better to process with the mentor instead. I supervise a manager who falsified an employee write-up but I dont think she should be fired. Your coworker was probably legally obligated to report this, and even is she wasnt this is the type of breach that reasonable people WILL report. Yup! 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. 1) Broke a rule You arent entitled to a second chance to screw this up. Disclosing confidential information has, at best, resulted in nothing, and at worse, resulted in injury/death, or even political systems toppling. 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 rules are severe because people need externals to keep them motivated. Coworker Jean who would CC her boss and her grandboss when Jean thought shed caught somebody in an errorbut would then cease CCing once she realized that there was in fact no error? I got fired due to sending an email by mistake to the wrong person that had someone else's credit card information in - Answered by a verified Employment Lawyer . And, yeah, that happens, its part of being a human. Someone would then check into it to see if there was a valid reason for someone to be poking at it. 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. 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. a coworker at my company was discussing a future potential release at a bar loud enough that someone heard it, and then posted it on a public forum. If you break certain unspoken rules, you can lose your job or ruin your career. can you get fired for accidentally sending confidential information. its not condescending to point out that what LW did was incredibly foolish. OP, take a deep breath. I remind people about once a year that not only can I not look up their medical info on my own, I cant look it up even if they ask me to, and I get in even more trouble if I look up my own medical info. Likewise, LW needed to understand that you dont get a next time not to tell anyone confidential information just because you get it now that they meant it when they said the information was confidential. the coworker had an obvious physical feature that the poster mentioned, so the company was able to figure out who was discussing it in a public place and *fired* them for it. I work in patents, and regularly see information that can definitely not be made public and has to be sent back and forth with extra security measures, but would also be tremendously boring to everyone but the IP team for a few specific rival companies in a very tiny field. For what its worth, one thing I noticed from your letter is language that sounds very social, discussing your trust in your friend, being ratted out by your mentor, not being given a second chance, and so on. If it hasnt worked out yet, it isnt the end. Im thankful I did this in grad school rather than on the job. The employer has a policy against this and everyone working there has signed that they read the policy. Or does it only matter that I broke a rule? 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. Other agencies will provide title and dates, and whether you are eligible for rehire. Embarrassing or inappropriate communications sent via company email can damage professional credibility, reputations, and careers. Thank you for saying that feelings are never wrong. Im sure the letter writer has plenty of that to deal with already. Also ratty. While I agree that this needs to be explained in the right way. If asked specifially try to describe in detail what happened and what you learned from it, for example: ask if the new employer has clear guidelines on data handling. Thats the very last reporting step for something illegal/dangerous. Ramp up your privacy settings across all accounts. It doesnt matter that the information is going public next week. The anger I hold for my coworker is something I will deal with over time. That response will likely impress an employer that she has grown and learned, that she is honest and has some self-awareness, and that she would be worth trusting. Humans, in general, are not geared towards confidentiality and secrecy long-term. But how do I explain this to show I learnt from my mistake and get a new job ? She broke a very real and important rule. 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. As soon as someone has decided you're not a team player, or are a problem employee, then even tiny things get seen as evidence that you should be fired. What you did was misconduct. You did a dumb, impulsive thing and when you took time to consider it, you did the right thing. And the young comment. It wasnt particularly kind to her friend, either. So I guess my coworker could have misunderstood when I said I texted one friend, but I wish she would have talked to me about that first? But how do I explain this story to future employers? Once its out, you have no control over it. And the coworker, well, this was information that was a major conduct infraction, not just embarrassing or private if a coworker told me theyd done this, Id have promptly reported it, not to humiliate them, but to start the process of damage control. UK government has fired people for looking up records of contestants on reality TV series, multiple times. 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. 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. Plenty of folks are friends in my business lobbyists, journalists, staffers you cant lose control of your impulse to share information. If theres anything else you can say about your work there to put this in context like that you had received a glowing performance review, were taking on increasing levels of responsibility, etc. If I were your coworker I would have done the exact same thing. It was a refreshingly candid answer and so we wound up hiring him. Agreed. I am assuming you had a clearance of at least Secret. 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. Sharing HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL info. That said, is there any reason you need to answer these questions? Thats a good friend but you put her in a bad position. 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.. Sometimes that PHI belongs to people I know. 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. 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. 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. Im so paranoid about it, that I only talk about what the company has already shared publicly. It may help in your next position to transpose your thinking around these things a bit. Honestly, I got the impression that the writer was on the younger end, just in their self-reported actions and reactions. Im not saying the employer didnt do these things or even if they didnt that its anybodys fault other than LW that this happened, but its a good way to stop situations like this before they happen. ), This didnt involve a records request. LW best of luck! Share information about the new roller coaster being put in at a theme park? In most reporting policies i am aware of it would be considered tipping off and get the person reporting in trouble. You believe your friend is trustworthy but, wow, the optics of sharing with a friend who is a journalist are really bad, and . That being said, I think you can overcome this. LW already feels wronged. It only takes a minute to sign up. OP, its great that you trusted your friend enough to be confident that she wouldnt share what you told her. And you did it over company lines. 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. Choose your time limit (you can only choose from between 5, 10, 20, and 30 seconds) Hit save changes at the bottom of the page. This type of thing could have easily happened to your journalism friend in the office. If OP doesnt recognize and own up to that, thats going to be a bigger red flag for potential employers than if OP said, I made a mistake, learned from it, and it wont happen again.. Of course I understand that I broke a rule, and that it was my mistake 100%, and it was no one elses fault. The co-workers obligation is to the employer, not to the OP. OPs best bet is to stop blaming their coworker or minimizing what happened. 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. Ultimately, its your choice to make. Sometimes when we receive an email meant for someone else, its just spam. 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. If the policy says people who tell information to non authorized individuals must be fired they could have been fired for not firing you. You wrote, The only reason I got fired was because I was ratted out by a coworker for a victimless mistake and was fired unfairly. But you werent fired because your coworker reported you; you were fired because you broke a serious rule. "Compose the email, and only then go back and enter the address (es)," he says. Cringe. Hows work? 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. And depending on the circumstances, if the co-worker knew you broke the rules and didnt report it, then THEY could be in trouble also. Why are Suriname, Belize, and Guinea-Bissau classified as "Small Island Developing States"? In my job I often get embargoed advance copies of speeches that politicians are going to give they send them out to press to help us start working on getting most of a story written and cleared so we can just drop in a few quotes and crowd reactions and publish the story within 5-10 minutes of the speech ending. I dont / cant post it publicly, but I can share all kinds of stuff with people close to me even friends in journalism, though I always specify off the record before i dish and my employer doesnt care because the concerns about confidentiality arent strict NDA / security issues. Any of them. 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. But doing so would likely out the department LW worked for, and probably LW herself. 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? and that person did what they were told to do and reported it. Well, this is both unkind and off-base. If someone stole money from their workplace, or illegally harassed a coworker, and their colleague reported it would that person be a rat too? You just seem to still want an answer and I picked up on this as a possible avenue to reflect on in your letter. Letting stuff out early could mean that goes off with a whimper instead of a bang and might be a financial difference in driving extra purchases for that initial season, and the implication of The Things staying power if it doesnt do well enough during that time. This makes it seem like they owe LW something, to be loving and release her to her best life. And youre a risk, on top of having done a fireable offense. Forgetting to attach a mentioned attachment is common, but still embarrassing. (They could be facing prison time.). Certainly not an electronic blog. I was sent home, and then fired over the phone a few hours later. I didnt know how to say it without seeming to condone the breach. Since its a government agency, I have to wonder if there are regulations in place about this kind of leak as well, most places that deal with confidentiality clauses arent messing around with them. 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. Minimizing it will make it harder for future employers to trust OP, whereas frank ownership and an action plan will read as much more responsible and accountable. Its going to be a hurdle. In a job interview, how do I explain why I was fired? When telling me about the call, she said that when the checker said the guys name, she couldnt stop herself from bursting out, Wait, he told you to call me?!. Whether she is under FOIA or a state public records law, there are a lot of rules about non-disclosure of certain information. Im not feeding a narrative, Im expressing my opinion. I love telling people things! If you had stayed they would have never trusted you again.. Not advising you to lie, but you can present the circumstances in as flattering manner as you like. A supervisor discovers that an employee has recently downloaded thousands of pages of confidential Company billing and financial information, and e-mailed it to her personal e-mail address. Gossage said he believed he was speaking in confidence to someone he trusted implicitly, but the story subsequently appeared in the Sunday Times, to the dismay and rage of the author of the Harry Potter books.. Email DLP: A key investment management tool. Im a publicist. Hopefully whatever she disclosed doesnt violate a public access law, since the information was released publicly shortly afterward, but wow did she dodge a bullet. At some workplaces, the hiring process includes security checks that even go into your social media profile, blogs, etc, to see whether your personal communications display a suitable level of discretion.

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can you get fired for accidentally sending confidential information