If something like this would help, maybe try it. Journalists are very charasmatic and will fish for info its their job. LW used Slack at work (and was not supposed to) For context I work with PHI covered under HIPAA for my job. I wouldnt be surprised if there was a state or federal regulation that she violated by sharing that information. Not so here because what she did was wrong, just not quite as bad as the misunderstood version. Here are five such rules, most of which were broken by Block (who reportedly left Oracle yesterday.) But despite how liberal weve gotten with sharing information, you really do have to be very strict about upholding confidentiality policies without making any exceptions. The protected classes are race, age (40+), sex, national origin, religion, or disability. I doubt it was the plan to storm Area 51. Yes, the ratted me out thing is probably not a fair assessment of what actually happened here. In such cases, the employee should be given the benefit of the doubt. To be clear, you were fired for admittedly breaking confidentiality not because of your coworker. Yeah it totally sucks but now you at least have a chance to start fresh. and sent to multiple people (!!)? If someone stole money from their workplace, or illegally harassed a coworker, and their colleague reported it would that person be a rat too? Im so paranoid about it, that I only talk about what the company has already shared publicly. I think if the OP had framed the situation as, how can I get another job after being fired for being a whistleblower after I shared important but unfortunately confidential information with a journalist because the public has a right to know, these comments would be very different. (Many of these claims have to be handled by specialists who have security clearance, but not all of them.). And I did use Slack on my work computer, and I did interact professionally with some journalists who covered my area over Slack. However, I will agree that, per OPs statement, the information appears to be unsolicited and doesnt seem like it would have been considered a records request (who knows, we dont have a lot of information and what we have has been proven to be distorted). The person is trying to make someone else feel bad about their own transgressions. Per my story above, when I made the mistake that I was fired for, I did take responsibility at the time, and they fired me anyway. If each person tells just one person it can end up being a lot of people. Age doesnt matter here. 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. They looked at themselves as an organization and realized that the damage was irrevocable. 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. As a government employee they are obligated to report a breach of information regardless of whether they like the employee they are reporting or hate their guts. Maybe she had to report it for her job (as some people are speculating) but even still, its okay to be annoyed at someone even if its not 100% logical. I was fired from a job and when I started interviewing for following ones, I kept trying to spin it and it did not work at it. 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. Ohhhh come on. That oh honey is so unnecessary, and questioning LWs age is just rude. Good luck to you I think Allisons advice for answering questions about this experience is spot on. Perhaps Archie neglected to mention it. Oh, thats a risky tack for OP to take if they want to stay in their field. 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. Im not cleared for it. This was not the coworker telling the boss that OP left 5 minutes early, took a personal call during work hours but OP violating a strict rule even if they trusted the friend. This was more or less what I was thinking. Then the second paragraph said Do not release this information to anyone outside of the office because the press are not to know about these changes until the morning of the event. How do I tell potential future employers why I got fired and have them still want to hire me? In a job interview, how do I explain why I was fired? Im not trying to teach her a lesson, necessarily, she seems to have gotten the point. A lot of times, the actual employee might not be important, but they might know something like when a key senior person works, or gossip about so-and-so, that is then used to either help with hacking, help with fraud, do additional social engineering where they know just enough about a topic to lead the conversation, or in some cases to put pressure on a higher-level person to try to get them to give further information or make certain decisions. When I read the letter, it struck me that the VERY EXCITING nature of the news was more of a reason NOT to share it. Yes, some employer will bin you, others might give you a second chance. While it clearly appears LW would not have done any of this, the regulations and policies are written to protect the employer and coworker from any potential negative actions. Contact the unintended recipient It's a good idea to contact the unintended recipient as soon as you realize the error. Just a bad situation. Like, how did HR and OPs boss come to the conclusion that this information was spread through Slack (!) If youd like to learn more about human layer security and email data loss prevention (DLP), you can explore our content hub for more information. 2. Theres beating themselves up, but then theres also understanding and feeling properly appalled that they did something really unconscionable. Sure but I think its highly unlikely that someone at OPs level would have access to that. If you want to work in comms, you need to be crystal clear that the TIMING of disclosure is a crucial issue. 100%? 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. As a fellow human being, I absolutely get the impulse to tell someone about something! Look the UK Foreign Office is currently knee deep in a police investigation into information thats been leaked to journalists and the consequences are potentially extremely serious. Breaking certain rules in the workplace, whether written or unwritten, may get you fired. Because when your mentor is a coworker at the same employer, you cannot, cannot speak as freely. If I were in the coworkers position, I would need to do the same thing. And that doesnt even take into account that I could be prosecuted for divulging any private information. Im also miffed by the fact that the coworker kinda blind sided OP. I have to deal with famous folks at well; I work for a company that handles federal medical insurance and every once in a while I might run across Justice X, Senator Y, etc. I can remember almost exactly what I said: It was wrong of me to put that information out. Ms_Chocaholic wrote: . Even there, be very sure the person youre talking to has the same access you do. If she really understood or valued confidentiality, she would not be trying to convince us of how victimless this was. The focus moving forward should be about realizing how serious a problem it was, how badly you feel about it, and how youre committed to not making the same mistake again. To say my friend was mortified would be an understatement. Policy change that is a big deal to staff that works on it, but very in the weeds for the general public (regulation is going to be changed in a way that is technically important but at most a medium-sized deal), Fairly real examples that would be much bigger deals: Bye. A very long-term employee who did excellent work, as a joke, made up a fake news release that indicated we got the contract. Say I have a friend working on a presidential campaign, and she tells me theres a bunch of debate about the candidates strategy, I have to decide whether to mention that to my colleague who covers the candidate. See Rule 1.2 (d). this is one of the reasons why its best to have a mentor who is NOT at the same company as you. Unfortunately these days a lot of the regulators are crooked and will never do anything about problems without a lot of public pressure (and sometimes not even then). (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.). Its your actions that are right, wrong, or in that confusing gray area, and what you feel doesnt have to dictate what you do. I would have serious questions about your judgment if I found out you told any reporter about something that was confidential. That OP knew it was wrong and felt guilty about it is a sign of strength. Lose that part of the defense completely, OP. It would have been nice- but Im sure the coworker was also pooping masonry. So, he learns about things at the same time as the public, and he just knows when Im extra busy because theres a big release coming, or someone messed something up, etc. 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. It will get out, eventually. This is a much more fulsome explanation of what I meant! Thank you it was getting boring to read everyones outrage. Or they might have a zero-tolerance policy for leaks as a deterrent. Once you told your coworker, you dragged her out there on the plank with you. 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.. And most of the real socialising happened at house parties and dinner parties, not restaurants or bars. Yeah, I wish the mentor had walked the LW directly to the boss to discuss this openly. (For your job search, this might be obvious, but steer clear of medical, legal, PR, or any other field that deals with privacy.). Theres no way your managers could safely assign other confidential projects to you after leaking the information on this project. Feelings are frequently conflated with facts in our minds and it can take some work to separate them. The same goes for ratting out. I dont find it understandable that the OP expected a second chance for this, as someone who routinely deals with unclassified-but-FOUO, Confidential, and Secret information, except insofar as I can have sympathy for someone who perhaps didnt understand the gravity of their actions until consequences came down. You're fired for violation but convince the Dept of Labor that no one without an IT degree could ever understand your policy. Or does it only matter that I broke a rule? It happens. Not because my coworker ratted me out, but because I came to her for guidance and instead of being straight with me, she made me think it would be OK only to be questioned hours later. A good . I didnt know how to say it without seeming to condone the breach. No checking out salary information permitted! ), You also werent fired for technically breaking a rule. You were fired for actually breaking a rule, and a serious one. OP is in a pickle for sure. And I told Mom, so so so many times that I didnt build it myself! I think that is also part of the lesson that OP needs to learn. Yeah, its like that line from Horton Hears A Who. My mom worked in sunshine law for state government, and what constitutes a record is a lot broader than most people realize. Its was exciting and you couldnt wait?! I wonder if OP ever got the chance to correct the misunderstanding. But unfortunately, the rules of your job are such that you justcant. You said it yourself that you were working on client confidential information, and sent it to your personal mailbox. Count your blessings that you just got fired. 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. The letter makes it look like you only told one person out of turn, but actually you told two people. She already got that advice from Alison. Some offenses are serious enough that a single incident is enough to fire someone. And while you felt mad at coworker, really youre mad at yourself. I was coming to the comments section to say the same thing. Don't be me, is what I'm saying I guess! You say that the information eventually became public, and you seem to think that this mitigates the problem. Unfortunately, there are instances where employees have accidentally leaked confidential information. The fact that her co-worker actually followed the rules of her employer does NOT make her a rat. You've learned from this mistake and had no malicious intent. I arrived in 69. Its hard to imagine what at a government job could be SOOO Exciting! I will be in so much trouble if anyone finds out! your blindsided coworker is not required to enter into a cover-up conspiracy with you. Once youve actually done the thing, its out there. Share information about a Harry Potter book before it being officially released? You cant even take a look at *your own* records if you are also a patient at the medical facility. However, were only human. Its no fun to be fired. There are many ways to say thing like this without lying. What video game is Charlie playing in Poker Face S01E07? Your tone is very this wasnt a big deal and I shouldnt have been fired for it, when it really should be I made a foolish mistake which I deeply regret and Ive definitely learned my lesson. And especially in the field youre in, leaks are a big deal, and ESPECIALLY leaks to a member of the press. Its not the end of the world as long as you adjust your thinking going forward and really try to understand why confidentiality policies exist. The coworker is not a rat or at fault here. When dad got on the phone he explained to the person that he understood the situation and that he was going to have to report him because he gave my mother classified information. It makes the sender aware of their mistake and less likely to bother you again in the future. They may very well have not had the option to give you a second chance, whether you wanted to or not. Youre heading in the right direction, and youve also gotten some really good advice. 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. My code is GPL licensed, can I issue a license to have my code be distributed in a specific MIT licensed project? If the coworker said that when that wasnt communicated to her, that was wrong as hell. Whether she is under FOIA or a state public records law, there are a lot of rules about non-disclosure of certain information. If when when LW talked to their boss, they conveyed the sense that theyre thinking Whats the big deal, its all fine, the coworker who ratted me out sucks, I did it once and Id do it again but next time I wouldnt self-report to my coworker the boss would probably be unwilling to give a second chance, whereas a oh shit I screwed up, heres what Im going to do to make sure this never happens again could have gotten one. Which is actually good most of us get making a mistake when were young, and really learning from it. They are not neutral. My employer lost a lawsuit where they had been sued for violating open records and meetings laws. I dont know if shell do it again, but Im certainly not going to take the risk on someone who doesnt even seem to be sorry. Cmon, it was. I would argue if you acknowledge your error in judgment, it would work more to your benefit, then classifying it as a one-off mistake and overreaction by your company. I work in communications for a large organization and I see this as a trust issue with leadership. Got my first job. If you cant maintain confidentiality, you can work elsewhere. I just want to remind people that it happened. 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? But she also would not tell me if she spent a day at work planning for a war!). 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. Disclosing Government information to a journalist (even a friend in confidence) without permission is a major breach of confidence and Im not surprised it resulted in a significant sanction. It doesnt matter that its a good friend of yours who happens to be a journalist shes a journalist, and her JOB is to tell people about things she finds out about. I tell my team that if it leaks from us, they cannot work here. I was talking about this upthread before I saw this discussion. Ive definitely been guilty of sharing exciting but not-yet-announced news with colleagues. This reminds me of the story of the Apple employee who left a prototype iPhone in a bar by mistake, before the official release. I have personally learned that if you never want coworkers to find out something embarrassing or private about you, never ever tell them. If anyone required training to answer FALSE! Dang! Ideally. ^^. I think she got paid in sandwiches and the knowledge she was the only woman to neck with Nero Wolfe, though. It was bananas. But I now realize that I had no business sharing my bad behavior with colleagues it put them into a completely untenable position. In my experience, it was highly effective. You are right. Im in public relations/global communications. There are no legal ramifications or civil lawsuits at this stage as it wasn't trade secrets or secret IP. I replaced someone who had embezzled from the (small) company. I am very sure they didnt want to fire him. Fortunately, I was not fired for the mistake, but my employer did call me on the carpet for a very serious discussion on why we cant share any information that we only have access to because we work there, regardless of how sensitive or not sensitive we think it is on a case-by-case basis. A member of the public wants some data, they contact anybody in the agency they can think of, the internal employees bounce it around because somehow they dont know who to send data requests to, and finally it gets to us and we respond. Im thankful I did this in grad school rather than on the job. 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. I think this really depends. The Expert above is not your attorney, and . But how do I explain this to show I learnt from my mistake and get a new job. Yes. An in-person meeting might be more appropriate if you accidentally sent information about your plans to find another job to your manager. Perhaps the way you feel (felt?) He was very good about keeping track of his boundaries, and we got very used to finding ways of being politely interested in how his work was going for him without putting pressure on him about the details. So have a lot of other people who have managed to find other jobs. And Im pointing out that it wasnt a record at all. This is 100% on you. You learned, BOY HOWDY did you learn, and now you dont mess around not even gossiping with co-workers or any of those other little ways that could instill doubt in your discretion. How do I explain to those potential future employers that the only reason I got fired was because I was ratted out by a coworker for a victimless mistake and was fired unfairly, without sounding defensive? Appropriately so, but still, wow. This isnt breaking a rule; its potentially putting your organization in jeopardy. Good luck! Understand the true risk of accidentally hitting send to the wrong person. I was new, too eager to please, naive and I let the client rush me instead of following established protocol. Having a natural, human reaction doesnt mean shes in the wrong field. You did a dumb, impulsive thing and when you took time to consider it, you did the right thing. You need to be ready to show that you understand that you have responsibility to understand and comply with policy, and that you're willing to do that. 27 April 2021. Other agencies will provide title and dates, and whether you are eligible for rehire. 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. I consider it my greatest ethical obligation in my job, because I have been entrusted with sensitive information and I treat it like Id want mine to be treated. I can imagine all kinds of things that wouldnt be that exciting to the world but that I would still want to tell a friend. Accept responsibility for what you did. That guilt is because you KNEW you did something that was explicitly not allowed, and you went to your coworker in the hopes theyd absolve you of your guilty conscious. Unauthorized Emails: The Risks of Sending Data to Your Personal Email Accounts. and starting the work of rebuilding reputation. Head of the department who everyone hates for non-scandal reasons is stepping down amid a scandal You might add to Alisons script, I knew immediately that I needed to report my indiscretion, and I did so right away. Trying to understand how to get this basic Fourier Series, Linear regulator thermal information missing in datasheet. This is NOT a myob type situation at all. It might just be that the scanners caught it and notified security. Im assuming the LW plead their case and filled in relevant information. Or at least, I can. OP, Im sure in your excitement you truly didnt think there was anything wrong with telling your friend, someone you trust implicitly to remain discreet. 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? (They could be facing prison time.). I hope you mean it when you say you understand the magnitude of this mistake and why you were fired for it. They sound far more serious than what happened. When you accidentally receive a confidential from someone within your own organisation, things are pretty simple. I meant inadvertently as they were confiding in a friend not willfully giving information to the press. 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). But I dont think this applies in any case since it was on her personal cell. Better to have a 30% chance than a 0% chance. 1) Slack vs text: doesnt matter. They might try to use silence to get you to say more. how did HR and OPs boss come to the conclusion that this information was spread through Slack (!) Where I work, I cannot legally share information about very exciting things that are happening/about to happen. You can -and often should convey emotion in your official public statements. My only other advice is to consider if there were any conversations on slack that were inappropriate. You really think a lawyer would publicly (extremely publicly) admit to doing something he hadnt done, for which he was sanctioned and fined by regulators, and permanently ruin his own reputation in the process? Its not about breaking a rule, its about potentially causing some serious issues by leaking information. Shes assuming the friend has more self-control than she does, which is precarious at best. Theres no context where calling a stranger honey doesnt feel condescending (whether someone intends it to or not!). You texted proprietary information to a journalist. The OP actually committed a fairly serious breach. This is especially true if the employee in question signed a confidentiality agreement prior to starting the job. I hope there are things at your job that are exciting to you! 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. Accept the responsibility for your actions and it will make life a lot easier going forward. That brings us to your questions. Just keep it to yourself or youll get fired. And thatsnot great? As others mentioned, the breach is possibly a fire on first offense potential, but since they fired you after investigating slack that makes me wonder if you had too casual and friendly of chats with the journalists whose job it was for you to talk with. You would never want someone to find out from the news media that they no longer have a job, for example. This is one of those very serious offenses for which there are no second chances in many organizations, even when the breach is accidental or through slop practices and not intentional. OP doesnt sound naive or too young, either. I say dont lie during any part of the job application. 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. In those cases I have to be even more careful, because minor details might get linked to the news story and suddenly its not anonymous any more. Request a personalized demo to see how Egress Prevent will help you prevent data breaches over email. The coworker did nothing wrong that we can see from the letter. If you stay in comms, good to always remember the optics. So far that has not happened. I see a lot of people saying that its always wrong to share confidential information with the press, and thats not necessarily true. LW, please, please look hard at what happened and how you can promise yourself first of all that this was the last time. Im of course devastated, and moving on and figuring out my next steps. We got [Celebrity Y] to promote a big public health initiative! Can you explain to us what you learned? But what might walk that back to a performance plan would be a sincere, unqualified apology showing understanding of the gravity of the error. As others have noted, it probably isnt anything especially exciting. They take information security and confidentiality so seriously that they make delivery people who come to the offices sign an NDA just in case they were in the elevator with Sam Jackson. If you go in there going "my. [important person 1] and [important person 2] are coming to my office for a press conference. In a professional context, close friendships and personal trust arent always as ironclad as they can be in personal relationships, particularly when it comes to security and confidentiality. Am I missing something? 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. Keep rewriting what happened in the most factual, dispassionate way possible. Keep your chin up are you not getting any extra help? was. Privacy Policy and Affiliate Disclosures. In the worst cases though, businesses can lose clients and employees can lose jobs. Is it possible to rotate a window 90 degrees if it has the same length and width? Well meaning (or at least not meaning harm) maybe, but very foolish. While irritating, email from mass marketing lists dont require a response and you probably wouldnt get an answer anyway. 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. Sorry this happened, OP! If you lie during the interview and the truth later comes out, thats enough to get you fired. Removed a long string of comments about the condescension in the honey remark. Received someone elses confidential email? This is a long way to go for a publicity stunt. 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. Thats a big deal. This violates workplace compliance and trust. Maybe consider a career in advertising, where its your job to tell people about exciting things. . "It is likely not private if the employee used the employer . The actual problem is that OP shared confidential information. Yet, the subordinates were not pleased! Sure, thered be a record in Slack of prior messages. Hes in an unrelated field, it doesnt affect him at all, and he wouldnt really care outside of knowing whats going on in Eddies life but hes a chatterbox and theres a decent chance hed forget and say something to someone. To be fair Jules, I was making the assumption that it had been, in effect, sexual assault, which may not have been the case. But your wording indicates that you dont yet have insight into just how much you breached the trust of your company. 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. It has to be violent sexual assault before theyll even consider responding. She should have just sat with that feeling and let it fuel her resolve to never share confidential info with an outside party again. Also, Im so done with people using the phrase ratted me out. Im not trying to beat up on the OP; goodness, Ive done similar things and felt the same way she does!