Unfortunately there are certain positions where you dont get a second chance when the error knowingly breaking a rule. A selfie was reportedly taken that accidentally also showed the dispatch screen. But would the government do that? 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. Learn how to protect your investment management firm through intelligent email DLP. My employer lost a lawsuit where they had been sued for violating open records and meetings laws. Under the "General" tab, you'll see a section called "Undo send.". One day its pre-public FOUO information; what next? Also ratty. (The fact that your friend is a journalist makes it particularly egregious.) I was working on some client confidential information on my client issued laptop and I emailed this info to my personal mailbox as I wanted to continue doing work on my personal laptop; I couldn't take my work laptop away whilst on extended leave overseas. In a truly dangerous/vital public information sphere there are agency heads/regulators/IG offices/congressional members/even the police depending on the issue that you should contact before going to the press. Depending on their responses it ranged from retraining, to suspension, to immediate dismissal.. a. problem then you APOLOGIZE and APOLOGIZE rather than defend yourself. Similar in IT in my first internship, I had access to about 40,000 social security numbers. Itd be much safer for the LW to ask HR what theyre going to say to other employers asking for references. about your coworker reporting you, betrayed and hard done by, is the way your employer feels about you. You still have to go through the same information request as someone who doesnt work there. I fully expect that whenever they find the source of the leak the people involved will face some pretty serious consequences up to and including dismissal and possible criminal proceedings. That means that you definitely shouldnt get into anything about anyone ratting you out; that would make it sound like you dont think it really should have mattered. You arent entitled to a second chance to screw this up. For example, a lot of insider trading is based on the TIMING of someone finding out information. The Census Bureau does NOT play with that sort of thing, and you would indeed be given the boot as soon as the breach was uncovered. They are designed to trick the recipient . 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. In a roundabout way, they somewhat did you a kindness by firing you. Youre not in a gang or on a schoolyard playground or fighting with your sibling in the backseat of the family station wagon. 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. I was fired for technically breaking a rule but it was my first offense, and nothing bad actually happened, and Im definitely learned my lesson. Even though shes made the same mistake 2 times). Thank you it was getting boring to read everyones outrage. No. Im a publicist. 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. ); Im also thinking of someone I know whose work depends on his being able to drive who got a DUI last year, and someone who essentially had a full emotional breakdown in a workplace I was in when I was a lot younger, who ended up under her desk sobbing and throwing things). exciting! I agree that the companys response was wrong the sexual harasser should have been fired but in the US, authority doesnt care. Wait, what the friend is a *journalist*?. If you cant keep your mouth shut then you need a new line of work. Does that matter? LW, people in the comments are also ragging on you for being upset with your coworker but frankly, I would be mad too! 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. Sometimes their hands are tied too. This has to be, and often is, done formally, with agreements to give something secret in advance so the journalist can prep a story for later, when its OK to share. Journalists seek out and report information thats their job.. Im now turning my head sideways and re-reading/rethinking. How on earth could you know this was a misunderstanding? YOU know you wouldnt do it again, but nobody else can really know that. 2. Keep rewriting what happened in the most factual, dispassionate way possible. You broke a rule and you have to take responsibility. 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? I think also this illustrates how hard confidentiality is; these are trained and likely reasonably experienced people who still couldnt resist this temptation. How do I tell potential future employers why I got fired and have them still want to hire me? It would have been better if she had told you first that she was going to tell someone Sure but I think its highly unlikely that someone at OPs level would have access to that. 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. Then whenever you send a message, you'll be given an option to "Cancel" at the top of the message before it's sent. What!!! 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. Sharing HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL info with a JOURNALIST? and starting the work of rebuilding reputation. Or they might have a zero-tolerance policy for leaks as a deterrent. OP: Move to a sector and a position where you wont be called upon to handle confidential information, and admit that you are doing so because youve recognised your own limitations and are willing to actively avoid being a liability to your future employer. But heres the thing you still have to have a ton of discretion about how you share and where. Now I just leave and cry and deal with the long-term consequences, like never moving up. I work as a contractor on a program that just announced 10 new cities will be joining. The initial complaint filed against Google is currently under seal because the judge has asked the bank to redact the Gmail account from its filings. It seems like LW has had time to process and isnt being combative. Im also a supervisor. Plenty of folks are friends in my business lobbyists, journalists, staffers you cant lose control of your impulse to share information. As Alison said, its a lot like DUI; even if no one gets hurt, theres a reason we shouldnt take those risks. The coworker did the right thing. Appropriately so, but still, wow. This is a great point LW. I always assumed the phrase meant no feelings are incorrect, and it made a lot less sense than the way youve laid it out! Im glad youve learned from your mistake, and I really hope you take this experience to heart as you continue your communications career. You breached confidential information to a journalist. Remember when Beyonc lip synched at Obamas inauguration? January 31, 2022 . More commonly it means that you either cant share anything, or you cant share parts that someone could connect to a particular client. 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. Not saying you did this! Theres a difference between wishing you had a second chance (acknowledges they arent entitled to one) and being upset you didnt have one (expected that there would be one). You simply let the sender know you've received it by accident, then they can rectify their mistake and you can delete the email. I sent confidential documents to someone by accident via email I need the file completely removed - Gmail Community Gmail Help Sign in Help Center Community New to integrated Gmail Gmail Stay on. If you need to share with the boss do so. Practice talking about it until you can truly pull it off. If someone preempts that, theyre not happy about it generally. |. It can depend on what mechanisms are in place to protect the content of the email, who is sending the email, who it is being sent to, the content of the email, and whether the subject of the HIPAA information has provided their written authorization for unsecured PHI to be . Good Lord, no. They might try to use silence to get you to say more. If I were you, I would examine WHY I decided to tell my journalist friend the info. Yes and thats the consequence they now have to live with. I agree. In fact, think of it this way: you put your journalist friend in a situation where she was potentially sitting on a scoop but she actually kept mum to protect you. I think that is also part of the lesson that OP needs to learn. That has an impact on real estate values and could make a government employee excited. In my role there I was sometimes privy to confidential information that was not to be shared with the public. But unfortunately, the rules of your job are such that you justcant. Id instantly think that youd learned nothing, that no information we kept around you would be secure, and that anything we brought to you as far as behavior we needed you to change would suddenly be labeled as victimless and only because *truly irrelevant fact here* and unfair. It was a big enough thing that they gave you a 1st chance. The LW actually had a responsibility to keep the info confidential, and the friend doesnt. Right. I was talking about this upthread before I saw this discussion. None of this makes you a bad person, untrustworthy, or unemployable. I deal with it by having friends in the firm who I can say it to (but not in a bar!). As far as I know, he held the highest security clearance a civilian could have. You know thats not how that works. Don't say "I was escorted out by armed guards" where you can say "My manager was disappointed enough to let me go". Maybe the information was a big deal to the agency but not externally (say getting a big grant funded), but if it was something that was legitimately important news, her friend would have been at least a little torn between loyalty to her friend and loyalty to her job. It could be that the info you leaked was especially confidential, or that theyve been concerned about other leaks and are taking a hard-line stance. Journalists discuss things all the time that dont make it into published stories, or make it into stories that get killed, or get used for shaping further investigation, or even just as gossip. All the meanwhile you're still trying to run a successful business and handling other things that are coming up. I dont think your coworker ratted you out. Build sneaky protections into your life so you get away with violating important rules is NOT what LW needs to learn. I have been fired for a dumb mistake. Perhaps the way you feel (felt?) Even if you feel that way, definitely dont say that! 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. If people really need jobs, they need to act like they really need jobs. It makes her someone with morals and a respect for her employer. The LW blabbed, why would her friend have more self-control? Not to mention if you tell a lie (even by omission), its a lie you have to keep up, indefinitely. Thats why they told you the information was confidential. And theres a difference between feeling (sensation) and feeling (conclusion drawn from integrating sensations and information). Those kinds of disclosures often rise to the level of immediate termination, which is what happened, here. Journalists are very charasmatic and will fish for info its their job. 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). I know there are cases where someone might fear retaliation etc, but with a higher up getting a subordinate into (deserved sorry OP!) Its no more blind-siding because the coworker reported the issue, than it would be if, say, IT had reported it after monitoring OPs traffic. How does this make it any better or worse..? Ill add one point: You dont know that she didnt leak it. Some agencies will only provide title and dates of employment, which is a lucky break for you. 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. People working on campaigns get to be privy to all sorts of information that is not intended to be public. 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. Alisons given you great words to say now its to you to live out your learning with sincerity and build trust with a new employer. The penalty for breach of confidentiality isn't restricted to employees who have . I was sent home, and then fired over the phone a few hours later. I see a lot of people saying that its always wrong to share confidential information with the press, and thats not necessarily true. We asked them why they did it. I would not immediately snap into how can I report this? If you open a phishing email and it results in your company's confidential information being compromised, your employer may fire you. If someone stole money from their workplace, or illegally harassed a coworker, and their colleague reported it would that person be a rat too? (I thought Al Frankens apology to the fellow entertainer was pretty good, actually. The communications person from the Marine Band was immediately fired when it was discovered she had leaked this information. +1 on the choice of language and framing. 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. I know this is pedantic, but as someone raised by a mother with BPD, I feel like its important to say that no ones feelings are wrong. Its a great professional resource with a lot of professional development around ethics. I guarantee you that somewhere in the company handbook for the Government Agency where you worked there is a paragraph about the obligations of an employee who learns of a data breach. I used to work at a public Zoo that was owned by the state, and so we were all state government employees. I mean in the end there is not a lot of reasons to trust either, but demonstrating ongoing cluelessness is not a good way to sell this will never happen again. Im sure the letter writer has plenty of that to deal with already. I agree with Alisons response. The anger I hold for my coworker is something I will deal with over time. In "Labs," scroll down to "Undo Send" and enable it. :) :) :) :) Being a wealthy heiress and a socialite IS a full-time job! Its going to be a hurdle. Leaking anything that could put those things at risk is an insta-fire offense. This is NOT a myob type situation at all. Im sorry, what? If you want to work in comms, you need to be crystal clear that the TIMING of disclosure is a crucial issue. A statement added: 'Irish Ferries crews train regularly to deal with incidents at sea, and the company has put its training into action and the fire has been extinguished. 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. I think it helps that you told your coworker. That oh honey is so unnecessary, and questioning LWs age is just rude. Then, when someone particularly notable would enter our database, we would get a reminder email not naming names but reminding us that no matter how interesting the information is, its private and not ok to share. It would have been better if she had told you first that she was going to tell someone, but whether she warns you first has no bearing on whether she was obligated to disclose. I agree with you that its ok for OP to feel resentful (at least in the short-run)!