You may ask them to delete the email before they read it. Oh honey, how young are you? This may have been part of why the manager took the steps she did. In McMorris v. Or it could be about a broader picture like if youd had performance issues or other problems that made it easier for them to decide to just part ways. Confidential email sent to wrong address? | Email DLP | Egress They may. You unpromptedly wrote a message to the friend. UK government has fired people for looking up records of contestants on reality TV series, multiple times. Journalists are very charasmatic and will fish for info its their job. Not advising you to lie, but you can present the circumstances in as flattering manner as you like. I used to work at a government agency and it was super hard to get fired so I can understand your consternation. Wrong is wrong- regardless of scale of the offense, and LW has no one to blame but themselves. 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. Messages like this can simply be ignored and deleted. Second chances arent a foregone conclusion in any aspect of life or work; your expectation that there should have been one at all suggests a level of entitlement that needs to be examined. 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. Unauthorized Emails: The Risks of Sending Data to Your Personal Email Accounts. She probably felt she had a duty to disclose it and she may well have. This mixed with the coworkers inflated story, I would be more than annoyed by this coworker too. Im also a supervisor. Yep. The reason all this info is locked down tightly is so that they can control the message when it goes out. Is it possible to rotate a window 90 degrees if it has the same length and width? (I think, I never worked in government communications so Im not positive of this.). Im sorry this happened to you OP, yeah, in communications at nearly any company this in indeed A VERY BIG DEAL. There is a greater issue here regarding judgement. If nothing exculpatory came out in that meeting then maybe firing was the appropriate response. Im not trying to teach her a lesson, necessarily, she seems to have gotten the point. I remember the line of people walked out the door for looking at OJ Simpsons records when he was arrested. This is especially true if the employee in question signed a confidentiality agreement prior to starting the job. So, you've accidentally sent an email to the wrong person. Thats the wrong lesson to learn. You did wrong, fessed up, and got fired anyway. A federal appeals court recently addressed whether employees had standing to bring a lawsuit when their personally identifiable information (PII) was inadvertently circulated to other employees at the company, with no indication of misuse or external disclosure. Depending on the circumstances, you can indeed get fired for sending what you assume to be a private email or text. Fired. But Im a journalist whos covered federal agencies, so I know super exciting to agency employees does not necessarily equal huge news for everyone else. My company is not going to jeopardize a $500M/yr contract over my mouth. Its not a victimless crime and you have to understand the seriousness of what you did, even unintentionally. It all comes down to the nature of the data you are handling. Find somewhere else to tell it in order to release the steam valve. It could be that she did (and I think no employer should ever fire anyone without hearing their version of the story) but the employer still thought its bad enough that they need to fire OP. She would ask every rep if they were using TEAPOT o service accounts, and would proudly exclaim, My daughter built TEAPOT! She thought she was connecting with the people who helped her. Maybe OPs workplace does the same? It would have been nice- but Im sure the coworker was also pooping masonry. 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. She would have learned a valuable lesson and still kept her job. I doubt it was the plan to storm Area 51. 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. Even a private company would consider this a breach of trust, and could could consider firing. Which is actually good most of us get making a mistake when were young, and really learning from it. In the US, sexual harassment wont merit a police response. The Families First Coronavirus Response Act now requires employers to give up to two weeks of paid sick time if you get the coronavirus or were told to quarantine by a doctor. LW already feels wronged. The point still stands, however, that Contract Killers proposed sanctions likely dont appear to apply here. On other occasions, you might accidentally receive a confidential email with information meant for one person (or a few people) you know. You were wrapped up in a project and yes you messed up but no you didn't mean to. I sent confidential documents to someone by accident via email - Google 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 ? Is it a HIPAA Violation to Email Patient Names? - HIPAA Journal 2007-2023. High-profile thing the president wanted and agency employees opposed isnt going to happen Acidity of alcohols and basicity of amines, Using indicator constraint with two variables. I sent a compromising message to the wrong person. How will I ever But when the guilt is deserved, its got a purpose. If you need to share with the boss do so. Screw-ups happen. Having worked in communications and journalism for the past 15 years, I think this ishonestly really bad. But the judge's response to the request for a. That doesnt mean youre a horrible person who should never work again! While they may not state why someone was fired, Ive found it pretty common to state that someone was fired (or laid off etc) and if the person is eligible for rehire. Let me be clear she did not leak it. Its so very context and field dependent. The employer has a policy against this and everyone working there has signed that they read the policy. (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.). Theres no way your managers could safely assign other confidential projects to you after leaking the information on this project. Your failure to understand the gravity of your actions is alarming. It might possibly be seen as less bad that the information shared was intended to be made public anyway, as opposed to it being information that wasnt ever supposed to get out. Fired. Better to say in a single instance of poor judgment I let a piece of information get outside of the company to one person which I immediately knew was a mistake and I notified someone in my company. But I cant talk about the specifics of that scene. I gossip too much, including at work. That really set the tone for the reference she gave. Im more curious about what KIND of exciting information it was. (And yes, the records request would come through the custodian of records, but the point of my second paragraph is that non-public information does not have special protections like confidential information and that the general public has a right to access that information as soon as it is available, and not just when the agency finds it convenient to send out a press release.). Bye. The violation was only victimless by accident and confidentiality rules dont hinge on whether or not the leak is known to have caused damage. I dont think your coworker ratted you out. Like, its so obviously wrong that people dont even talk about it. Im thinking of the Elizabeth who went on a 20-email rage about being called Liz, or even the old 1970s memos from the Tiger Oil CEO that found new viral life in the digital age. Heres one: You work for the Census Bureau , which runs demographic surveys beyond the decennial Census, and came across [popular celebrity]s personal info, perhaps noting they live near you. A person who is aware of a breach is required to report it. You asked how to handle this in future interviews and one key is owning the mistake, taking responsibility for it. We see people destroy themselves with guilt, and so we try to tell people theres no need to feel guilty or ashamed. Im just explaining that the information was likely a non-public record and not a confidential record. I did something similar over 20 years ago. i think we often send the message (societally) that making someone feel bad is a mean thing to do; its not. Or does it only matter that I broke a rule? I have a friend whose mother did work for an intelligence agency during WW2. Almost every situation I know of where someone was fired for cause was presented publically as a position elimination.. Dec. 17, 2009 -- You probably don't think twice about sending personal messages through your work e-mail. The mistake was breaking company policy not that they announced to a coworker they broke company policy.. Your assistance is much appreciated. Everyone messes up. Plus, I think part of it was that it was exciting BECAUSE it was secret, and now its apparently common knowledge. Im also not going to tell anyone else! Giving her information relevant to her beat and asking her not to share it is basically asking her to stand on the sidelines and fail to do her job, while somebody else gets the scoop. It was absolutely drilled into all of our heads during grad school and training that you can never, ever do this. If youre excited about a new, increased source of funding, that shows your agency has money to spend. Which means have to vet things like your friend is a journalist, but doesnt cover your area? So. I understand that you get that what you did was a very big deal as a single event, but I think you might need to spend some more time examining for yourself why you would describe this as a victimless crime. The fact that your friend didnt as far as you know tell anyone else about your bombshell doesnt meant that nothing happened. 1. 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. Reduce human activated risk to protect against email data breaches, Allow your teams to communicate securely and share sensitive data, Guiding principles that govern how we operate as a team, Diverse and inspiring individuals passionate about making a difference in the world, Join our team across a range of roles and help shape the cyber security market, Tailored compensation and career paths designed to attract and retain world-class talent, Unique and personalized benefits to help maximize your potential with us. While it is possible the line could be actively tapped/monitored by someone else, even if it was an unsecured line it would be reasonable to assume the home phone number on file for GSAs dad would lead to the dad. I once interviewed someone with a great resume but had switched specialties within the field. You didn't accidentally email the material to yourself, you did it on purpose. It makes her someone with morals and a respect for her employer. Period. Your employer lost control of this information, even in a very small way, and thats a big deal. Let me tell you what happened to the people who were not on the care team and accessed a newsworthy medical case. I am a govt worker in NY. Request that they email you to confirm they've done so. If it does, you can explain calmly that in a moment of weakness, you broke a serious rule regarding sending information to someone outside the company, but youve learned a hard lesson you never intend to repeat. Im sure the OP will find a new job. 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. We got [Celebrity Y] to promote a big public health initiative! What is the point of Thrower's Bandolier? We were interviewing someone who had broken the #1 cardinal ethical rule in our industry (a branch of health care). The best case scenario is former company only verifies employment. Yup. I dont know. I was sent home, and then fired over the phone a few hours later. A number of US governmental agencies specifically require that the co-worker NOT tell LW that she will be reporting this to management. Agreed. Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, and our products. Don't worry, you're not alone. Accidents do happen, we are all human but what rights you have if you share private company information by mistake really depends on a few things: the type of information that was accidentally distributed, how this impacted your company, and what the consequences were for you. This issue recently came up for me as an interviewer. 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! 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. Because I said I wouldnt, I knew there would be consequences if something like your story happened to me, and also because, hows that going to look to a potential future employer that might value confidentiality equally highly? How did you talk to your boss about the slack channel full of journalists? Were you able to correct the factual mistake in context, and what phrasing did you use? Coworker did nothing wrong and isnt untrustworthy but OP erroneously decided to trust her which is key. Dont blame the co-worker for ratting you out. And in this case, I beleive that is correct. This includes understanding what you did wrong and explaining how you might have approached this in future (hint: ask boss, transfer via encrypted USB if necessary and allowed. That brings us to your questions. 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. 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. Since this incident, Ive taken steps like [saving journalist friends as contacts in a different phone, deleting my Slack channel, etc. And definitely let go any butthurt about your coworker they did nothing wrong and followed clear policies on reporting this incident. Even there, be very sure the person youre talking to has the same access you do. Can you explain to us what you learned? Shes assuming the friend has more self-control than she does, which is precarious at best. No work friendship is worth putting my familys financial security on the line. I feel your pain. You can do this, if you keep working hard on yourself. With regards to getting a new job within the software engineering/analytics/data science field, I wouldn't lie on application form and in interviews if asked why I left my old job. Heres the story: I worked for a large government agency, in communications. Best of luck in your next job! I dont know the full text of the conversation and I dont want to, but she was probably in a position where she had to tell someone. This is important both in terms of owning your mistake and not blaming the person who reported it. I think people are reading defensiveness from the qualifiers probably and suppose. I can sympathize that this is still very raw for OP and perspective will only come with more time. was. You want to minimize this, and thats natural. You didn't accidentally email the material to yourself, you did it on purpose. Both of those would merit a reprimand, separately or together, but somehow in the telling it got turned into that the latter happened with the former as the method. It being Silicon Valley, not only was the phone found, it was immediately identified for what it was. Fired for gross misconduct because I sent confidential information to personal mailbox - how do I get another job? update: is my future manager a bigoted jerk? My mother got a reference-check call recently regarding someone shed managed and then fired. Thats not how embargoes work, and the reasons why we have embargoes are important and valid, even if they may seem like not a big deal in the context of a specific disclosure. 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). "It is likely not private if the employee used the employer . In my role there I was sometimes privy to confidential information that was not to be shared with the public. Actually advertising is not going to be any better. I dont feel like we need that caveat though, there of course will be exceptions, but this is kinda derailing. This is what I wanted to say but you said it better. Sorry if this sounds like nitpicking, Im only pushing because, as PollyQ said, if OP uses this as a reason and her former employer tells a prospective employer the reasons for her termination, it will appear that she was lying and make her look untrustworthy. I hope you mean it when you say you understand the magnitude of this mistake and why you were fired for it. Keep rewriting what happened in the most factual, dispassionate way possible. The org needed to know in order to assess potential damage and limit future opportunities. Same applies here as you stated. The person you wronged is not obligated to give you that second chance with them. Had OP not made the initial mistake and then compounded it by telling the coworker, shed still be employed. They sound far more serious than what happened. And then they did it again. 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. She knew about a leak and didnt say anything, who knows what else she is helping to hide, My boss, in a well meaning way and to correct some weird barriers previously put in place by the person before him, told me openly that if Big Boss [aka the owner] asks you anything, just answer him, its all good, you dont need to filter things through me or anything., And I just tilted my head and laughed at him saying Even if you told me differently, I would tell him whatever he wants to know. Which given our relationship he just giggled and responded with of course and thats the way it should be.. 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. End of story. I had not thought about this issue via this lens, but I think youre 100% right. Absolutely this. Feelings are frequently conflated with facts in our minds and it can take some work to separate them. Unfortunately, someone did leak the info so all the employees read about the information in a major business news website AND the local newspaper the night before the event despite the intention for the employees to hear the news firsthand at the event before it was released to the public. All journalists are human and many of us have spouses/friends who do things that are news, and this is a situation where good boundaries can protect everyone. My point is that you learn how to share AND maintain confidentiality. Second coworker only was put on an improvement plan. Sometimes that PHI belongs to people I know. Its too difficult to know which internally-discussed information is confidential and which isnt. Loved your opening act for Insolent Children, btw. If you are still defensive or dismissive about this, it will come through in an interview. Yeah, if the LW is in the US or things operate the same way in their country, theres no point in trying to lie or even waffle about what happened. what did you want to get out of sharing with her? Agreed. The co-worker absolutely had a responsibility to bring this information forward. This is NOT a myob type situation at all. Also, am I even allowed to bring up the fact that someone ratted me out? the coworker? I can't remember the details, but there was a point about the fact the word "confidential" added in every e-mail by such a notice wasn't actually helpful, since tools that looked for the word confidential were flagging everything up, including a large number of false positives. I encourage you to get involved with PRSA. Changing how you feel (as opposed to what you say or do or think) is not something you need to do to solve the problem. I also wanted to address a couple things that jumped out at me in this part: Also, am I even allowed to bring up the fact that someone ratted me out? Third, with bright line rules, we cannot adopt situational ethics where its ok to disclose to close-trusted-journalist-friend because we trust them. Yeah, I thought it was from her personal cell too. 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. People just seemed to forget that with Epic, even one second of accessing a chart is recorded. You may not even realise your mistake until the person you meant to send the message to says they didn't receive it (or you have a flurry of missed phone calls, as in Serena Williams . If it was the 2nd option then, yeah, they were going to let you go. Me too. I was reading the email at home and after reading the first paragraph I exclaimed out loud (so my spouse could hear) Ooooh. That OP knew it was wrong and felt guilty about it is a sign of strength. On the weekend, I was sending a personal email to a friend. I agree that you can learn how to share without breaching confidentiality. But, its important for an employer to know that you understand the need for reporting and would report things yourself if needed. It makes me so happy that I had to tell someone is a reason to text them, OMG, huge news that I cant tell you, but you will be SOOOOO happy when its in the papers in a few days! Not to actually, yknow, tell them the private information. Breach of confidentiality can be described as an act of gross misconduct, so deal with issues that arise in a timely manner, in line with your procedures and look at any previous cases to ensure fairness and consistency. Sorry this happened, OP! As I said below, that may be why you werent given a second chance. And it is so hard! Maybe you havent worked with, or known anyone whos worked with, sunshine law and right-to-know, but this is incredibly serious for anyone who has. People leak or share things to journalists they know all the time, with agreements by those journalists on how to share it. And theres a difference between feeling (sensation) and feeling (conclusion drawn from integrating sensations and information). She was an employee of the agency, who shared it with the journalist. You believe your friend is trustworthy but, wow, the optics of sharing with a friend who is a journalist are really bad, and . Employees who violate their companies' email policies can face penalties ranging from disciplinary action to termination. 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. It still sucks, but its not really personal per se, and perhaps it will help a little bit to think of it that way. 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. What I find interesting in the original letter is LWs insistence that it was a victimless crime because nothing bad happened as a result of their leak. how do you handle being pregnant at work? The problem here is that the OP misjudged the level of confidentially expected in the situation, and maybe by their office/profession in general. OP, I join Alison in wishing you the very best of luck! OP, if everything that was predictably risky, harmful, dangerous, bad, illegal or wrong really felt bad on some core level, we would almost never need to make rules. While some employers will accept the I take personal accountability and heres how I address it path, this probably does remove some employers from consideration. I got that impression as well and have had younger coworkers who sent random, very personal info to me in texts. Can I be fired for sending a derogatory text about my boss to my - Avvo As much as I love some of my coworkers, Im not taking one of the team. That said, is there any reason you need to answer these questions? 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. Just because a story wasnt published about it doesnt mean it wasnt discussed internally among coworkers. Also, if your mentor went through the trouble of having a conversation with you about your duties and seemed concerned, I doubt she was out to get you she probably felt it was her duty and to her best interest to report now that you have made her an accomplice-after-the-fact in any potential breach (say, your friend was the one out to get you and it leaked before your department had any plans for dealing with a leak, this mentor would also be in trouble for not reporting it as soon as she knew if they found out she did), OP I want to comment on one aspect that I didnt see anyone mentioning directly. Thats crazy (and crazy lucky for the embezzler). Age doesnt matter here. 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?. Im not sure whether this is something they can move on from or not, but they absolutely need to get themselves out of the mindset that their coworker ratted on them, because thinking that reporting things like that is tattling and childish is how corruption grows. From the other persons perspective, its always easier to say Oh, dont worry, its not that bad than to get a half-hearted minimizing apology for something youre really stinging from.