can you get fired for accidentally sending confidential information

In fact, if you are being sent overseas, you have to take a special counterintelligence training before you go that includes tips like dont wear items with your agencys name written on them while you travel and never park next to a panel van.. 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. Or did you double down on not my fault, not a big deal, and co-worker shouldnt have said anything? about your coworker reporting you, betrayed and hard done by, is the way your employer feels about you. Dont fall for it. It was the wrong thing to do, and Im sorry. The info I released did not in fact cause any problems, but I tremble now because it so easily could have, in even slightly different circumstances. Email violations can jeopardize your job. Phrase it as a serious learning point, because you sure as hell aren't going to do it again after getting fired. While it's not always easy to identify the cause for leakage of information, it's important to try to find the security vulnerabilities that make your information less secure. She did her job. 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. Besides the stuff that has already been discussed upthread like potential for insider trading, unfair advantage in things like competing for federal contracts or grants, or derailing a communications strategy, one of the biggest reasons to keep work information private is due to counterintelligence concerns. This was all public information, but the original report was work product of Company A even if it had originally been created by the coworker. If there was no record, then there is no possible sanction under FOIA or sunshine law (because that only pertains to records). I have information that I have kept confidential for more than a decade that I know the patients wife does not even know (think undisclosed criminal record). Ive definitely been guilty of sharing exciting but not-yet-announced news with colleagues. Communications professionals are privy to so many deals and information that cant be divulged to even spouses until they become public. In addition to 100% needing to own it when asked about it, I think OP may also benefit from focusing the job search on jobs that dont involve handling sensitive or high profile information. From a government point of view, the only thing that matters is this: LW was trusted to handle confidential information and keep it inside the agencys control; instead she passed that information to someone outside that permission (whose job is to disseminate information to the public!) For a market where most of this stuff lives in a big way for one season, and then only has some ongoing staying power? Right. Im still pretty upset that I had no second chance, but I suppose I just lost their trust. An employee who doesn't know about a policy important enough to fire someone over is just a ticking time bomb to an employer. Remember when Beyonc lip synched at Obamas inauguration? Or the surrounding land if its something that will raise property values. Either way, if you commit an offense, its best to never go with its not that big of a deal anyways. Owning up to your mistakes at the right time is hard and the natural instinct to defend yourself is strong, but ultimately thats the best thing to do and garners respect. Its no fun to be fired. I have worked and volunteered at government-related organizations before. Right. Unfortunately, a lot of times people mistake the first for the second. The secretary is going to be featured at [cool upcoming event]! I think interviewers will pick up on the equivocation in your language here. We all make stupid mistakes. (Im not from the US, and not in government) If I were in OPs place, I would also be upset and feel betrayed. There are many ways to say thing like this without lying. My mother got a reference-check call recently regarding someone shed managed and then fired. If you live in a place where its illegal to shoot guns into the air, and you shoot a gun into the air and the bullet does not actually kill anyone in its fall, you have still broken the law and placed others in danger. How do I go about asking for a job on another team? If you had stayed they would have never trusted you again.. Am I likely to be rehired after being fired for misconduct? 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). and that person did what they were told to do and reported it. Check out this article on that HERE. OP, please do not take this comment string seriously, because internalizing these statements will severely harm your ability to address your error effectively. Thank you for explaining this! so that youre ready the next time it happens at your next job. 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. 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. This is so true. People do stupid or extreme things all the time; their lives dont end, but they *can* be turning points for a downward spiral. I would have ratted you out too. Its not great, but some breaches really are that serious, and employers cant always be like the library giving amnesty for late fees if people bring the books back. Aug. 4, 2008, at 11:14 a.m. 7 Ways Your E-mail Can Get You Fired. If you embezzle from the company and tell a coworker who then reports it, the mistake is embezzlement, not telling a coworker about it. One of the things your field requires is to be able to think and act dispassionately about the information you have custody over. It stinks but in this industry, thats a deal-breaker for many. 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. How to you ensure you're aware of it, and following it? I dont mean to sound harsh but you really need to break out of this frame of mind. 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. The org needed to know in order to assess potential damage and limit future opportunities. Yup! When you are genuinely accept the error, analyze why you made it and address how to alter yourself to not be vulnerable to this kind of mistake again, it will naturally come across when you talk about it in interviews because youll be genuine and not trying to find a strategic angle and that genuine quality will land well with other mature professionals who have made their own mistakes. I think the fact finding phone call cleared that up, otherwise OP would have said so? but to start the process of damage control. Or, she just needs to buy a journal and write the good news, and her feelings about same, down and go on with her job. Yeah, this is an excellent point. Confidentiality, especially in government, is no joke and should be taken very seriously. Obviously telling the friend was the fireable offense here, Im not arguing that. (sorry for all the theys. English has a pronoun problem.). How to not get fired from work for what you post or send online: Make sure your Facebook and social media accounts are locked down. Being honest going forward really will help OP to repair the damage to her reputation and show she has integrity. I am not falling on the sword or putting my job on the line for a coworker. Trying to understand how to get this basic Fourier Series, Linear regulator thermal information missing in datasheet. She should have told her this is serious and Im going to have to report you. Then at least OP could have avoided the slack room full of journalists escalation. The fact that the LW just couldnt resist sharing this tidbit should have been a red flag that maybe her friend couldnt, either. Me too. My (unclear) point is that there are some options for OP that extend beyond you can never share anything before its public with anyone ever and completely change career tracks.. (For your job search, this might be obvious, but steer clear of medical, legal, PR, or any other field that deals with privacy.). You can bet Id be gone with no second chance despite my almost-20-years and ton of good work. Likewise, they would have fired you anyways regardless because they now feel that they cannot trust you with information. My guess is thats where some of the defensiveness in the initial letter comes from that no one would have known if not for the self-report. If you are still defensive or dismissive about this, it will come through in an interview. 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. Separately, when you share, you have to still be oblique enough to not get yourself in trouble. Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, and our products. I can see a manager getting pressure from the top to reduce leaks choosing to fire someone over even a minor leak. It was a couple of telling E-mails that helped bring down Bear Stearns with the subprime loan mess crashing . Some agencies will only provide title and dates of employment, which is a lucky break for you. I was dismissed for a breach of confidentiality. Cut to a couple hours later, and Im called into my bosss office because she has heard that I leaked this information to a SLACK CHANNEL FULL OF JOURNALISTS. Judgement errors tend to repeat themselves. Compare someone in law enforcement happening to find out the (secret) address and phone number of their friend-groups favorite celebrity, or finding the contact information for the cutie in the convertible, after their roommate catches the license plate numberand sharing. 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. 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 minored in journalism and this attitude is why I never worked in the industry. 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. Its helped me when a friend has told me something in confidence but I really need to talk about it for whatever reason. Browse other questions tagged, Start here for a quick overview of the site, Detailed answers to any questions you might have, Discuss the workings and policies of this site. Also ratty. Then the stories died down and the pressure with it even though there were still occasional leaks. The only thing an employer may not do is make employment decisions based upon you being a member of a protected class. Click the "Settings" icon (the wheel/cog) and click "See all settings". On Monday, I was called into a fact-finding meeting with HR. This is a very astute comment, especially your last paragraph. As this was almost the entirety of your job they really couldnt keep you around. Unless his bedroom was a SCIF and the phone secured, thats really bad. While I agree that this needs to be explained in the right way. I didnt agree with it myself, and knew that it wasnt really possible without raising a lot of money, something my organization just isnt that good at doing. I gossip too much, including at work. 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. And in the future if you really cant hold something in (that is not full on illegal to discuss) and want to share it with your spouse or something, dear God dont ever do it in writing! Ive had to fire someone in a one-strike situation for what I genuinely believe was an honest mistake because it was too big a risk to keep that person on staff going forward. Our grant program is going to be fully funded by Congress! Regardless of what word you use when you disclose what happened, understanding that difference, owning up to it, and showing how you've changed as a result is your best hope of gaining future employment. Yes, if you're sending a mass email, BCC makes sure no-one else sees each other's emails and therefore reduces the risk of a breach. I want to push back hard on this, the coworker is not a rat. I strongly disagree with this. ! mode if she told me a general were harassing her, unless making this public is something shed want. Id spend some time processing how you felt and trying to learn to take accountability and personal responsibility for this (and seriously its something thats really uncomfortable and hard for everyone but it helps so much). 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. Hows work? Appropriately so, but still, wow. I think particularly since its the government, they couldnt take the risk of it happening again and it becoming public that not only was their a breach of confidentiality but that the person responsible had done it before. Good luck! 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. I agree that the companys response was wrong the sexual harasser should have been fired but in the US, authority doesnt care. OP, think about your choice to share with this person. LW used Slack at work (and was not supposed to) Sure, its not going to be easy, but being honest and upfront will serve them a whole lot better than a potential employer finding out from a different source (and its not unlikely that they will find out). It simply means that your employees are not to disclose proprietary information or data about your company to another person without your consent. She should have just sat with that feeling and let it fuel her resolve to never share confidential info with an outside party again. I now work somewhere where I have access to sensitive information, including my own. You didnt have a right to privileged information once you demonstrated that you werent trustworthy. would be frustrating if she had a good relationship with them, or if she cared a lot about the reputation of her publication as a whole. This is to prevent LW from trying to destroy any evidence. And, yeah, that happens, its part of being a human. Every hospital Ive worked at requires yearly HIPAA compliance training. Im not trying to teach her a lesson, necessarily, she seems to have gotten the point. Until the boys parents threw the uncle out. However, at the time, I did feel guilty so I confided in an older coworker who I considered a mentor. Pro tip: when working in mental health residential treatment, do not have clients write your staff logs. So, thats to say that I *completely* get the idea that at some point, you get to a point where you just really really need to share. This makes it seem like they owe LW something, to be loving and release her to her best life. Gov employee here and I would be in trouble as well for not reporting what LW told coworker. They might tell superiors accidentally, out of frustration (e.g. I wrote back and asked, Is there more context for why your coworker thought that? Not to mention if you tell a lie (even by omission), its a lie you have to keep up, indefinitely. Youll get another job. Ah! LW, people in the comments are also ragging on you for being upset with your coworker but frankly, I would be mad too! How do I politely turn down the call for an interview by another employer? 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?!. A person who is aware of a breach is required to report it. If I know that Senator Y is releasing a health care plan on Monday that would require mandatory surgery for every American, and he has bipartisan support for it, thats a much more specific news tip, and Id rather my friend just not tell me and save me the heartburn. 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.