A very long-term employee who did excellent work, as a joke, made up a fake news release that indicated we got the contract. Sorry this happened, OP! However, it is unlikely that the circumstances of your firing will be able to be overlooked by an employer who needs to trust your judgment with sensitive data, definitely for the foreseeable future, possibly for many years into your career. With all the Data Protection rules, the E-privacy Regs, yes - and sorry, GDPR, my friend was in panic mode as they still didn't really understand their situation. In the real world, it happens often enough that I think its more realistic to talk about the practical ways to do it that keep you on the safe side of the boundaries. journalists dont leak information, unless its something confidential about their own employers. And definitely let go any butthurt about your coworker they did nothing wrong and followed clear policies on reporting this incident. (the confessional? I have a friend whose mother did work for an intelligence agency during WW2. Having worked in communications and journalism for the past 15 years, I think this ishonestly really bad. What probably really hurt the OPs case was that the friend is a journalist. 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. When you don't know the sender, but the email is clearly confidential and sensitive, things are little more complicated and you have a decision to make. 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.. Received someone elses confidential email? Its always easier, at least to me, to close your mouth than open it. 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. I am a govt worker in NY. I understood her to say she texted from her cell phone. No, no, no, no, no. Or well often hear from contacts on the Hill about something going on behind the scenes, like that a bill is about to be introduced. Yeah, I thought it was from her personal cell too. Share information about a Harry Potter book before it being officially released? Its unfortunate that LW lost her job over it but the coworker isnt to blame for LWs decision to disclose information they werent supposed to. We just had something similar happen at my office last week. Dang! Even though I was only suspended for two weeks, it hurt so, so much. Thats pretty ratty behavior. Once youve actually done the thing, its out there. Some certainly will, especially those who are more security-conscious. I say dont lie during any part of the job application. Identify the cause of the information leak. I know that I messed up and I shouldnt have told anyone; in a moment of weakness I texted one of my best friends. Heres what to do. Why are Suriname, Belize, and Guinea-Bissau classified as "Small Island Developing States"? Leaking information can actually be the right thing in some cases. 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. Of course I understand that I broke a rule, and that it was my mistake 100%, and it was no one elses fault. End of story. In my role there I was sometimes privy to confidential information that was not to be shared with the public. this is one of the reasons why its best to have a mentor who is NOT at the same company as you. This is one reason why I could only ever give a vague explanation of what my dad did. I would not immediately snap into how can I report this? It was sheer luck that she didnt get caught by some other means. Nah, I think the odds of whats super exciting to a government agency being equally exciting to me are pretty slim. But your wording indicates that you dont yet have insight into just how much you breached the trust of your company. If theyd covered up for her/not removed her access to confidential info and she did it again, their jobs would be on the line too the next time. Leaking private information in a huge breach, especially if that leak is to a journalist. This was actually a very kind way to get this point across. The mistake may not have been trusting the friend with that information, but it was definitely telling her. That was a stressful week for all concerned. All three have kept their mouths shut, at least to the best of my knowledge, and I can talk it over without worrying that I will cause a problem with my disclosing. 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. LW, I work under some pretty hefty NDAs (currently, Im working on a project where the security protocols themselves are considered to be non-shareable with anyone who doesnt have a business need for them and hasnt also signed an NDA. None of this makes you a bad person, untrustworthy, or unemployable. I was fired over the phone. I mean, yeah, absolutely! Even if this person had not turned her in, there was this bomb just sitting there waiting to go off. Confidential information is meant to be confidential and not shared with anyone. To be clear, you were fired for admittedly breaking confidentiality not because of your coworker. The contact form sends information by non-encrypted email, which is not secure. I used to work at a government agency and it was super hard to get fired so I can understand your consternation. Confidentiality is not just an issue in communications. picture of male guinea fowl . It could also end poorly if the employer actually sees a job opening posted for the position the LW claims was eliminated. No, not if its classified or embargoed. As Alison said, its a lot like DUI; even if no one gets hurt, theres a reason we shouldnt take those risks. Perhaps over official lines it could be interpreted by the journalist as on the record comments. 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. You seriously violated your privileged access to confidential information. Where I work, there are policies that state an employee that finds out about certain kinds of misconduct is mandated to report it or face consequences if it comes out that they knew and didnt report it. Is it FOUO though? Im not feeding a narrative, Im expressing my opinion. The Workplace Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for members of the workforce navigating the professional setting. Regardless of what the coworker did, ideally we want to nudge OP toward exercising greater impulse control and discretion if OP wants to have a successful career in the same sector/field. Sometimes he wasnt working on confidential stuff, and he could come home and geek out over what he was doing if he wanted. 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. Many, many of us in similar positions have made similar mistakes. Good luck to you I think Allisons advice for answering questions about this experience is spot on. All the meanwhile you're still trying to run a successful business and handling other things that are coming up. Report and act quickly so that youre ready the next time it happens at your next job. Its a risk when you ignore these compliance issues especially willfully. LW, people in the comments are also ragging on you for being upset with your coworker but frankly, I would be mad too! I dont think we fired anyone but the need for absolute confidentiality was reiterated. Also, its not clear from your response Do you understand how serious what you did was? You might add to Alisons script, I knew immediately that I needed to report my indiscretion, and I did so right away. You would never want someone to find out from the news media that they no longer have a job, for example. It makes the sender aware of their mistake and less likely to bother you again in the future. Rules are there because its so easy to do that thing that feels harmless, and sometimes nobody gets hurt.. My company is not going to jeopardize a $500M/yr contract over my mouth. Yes, but lets face it, theres no way its as exciting as what any of us are imagining it to be. Im so sorry and I will never do anything like that again.. We were interviewing someone who had broken the #1 cardinal ethical rule in our industry (a branch of health care). You got a hard hit, and I am sorry for all the difficulty that causes. I understand that the breach was very bad and that the organization needed to take some disciplinary action, but it seems to me that firing an employee who fessed up to something like this to a senior coworker sends the message: If you mess up bad enough, dont tell anyone. Best wishes to OP in her work on this. Including their reputation being damaged. Like you said, it was a breach and thats serious on a professional level (your friend is a journalist, too! The person whos emailed may have inadvertently caused a data breach, so it could be important you get in touch and let them know. I do have to wonder if the hospital failed to educate its employees on how freaking serious that kind of breach was, although Id still put the failure on the feet of the violators. The point still stands, however, that Contract Killers proposed sanctions likely dont appear to apply here. Not advising you to lie, but you can present the circumstances in as flattering manner as you like. Request a personalized demo to see how Egress Prevent will help you prevent data breaches over email. Depending on the circumstances, you can indeed get fired for sending what you assume to be a private email or text. End of story. Good luck! 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. You still have to go through the same information request as someone who doesnt work there. Also, Ive seen plenty of firings that were absolutely not presented as position elimination. Even if the exact reason wasnt shared employer isnt going to say Oh, Jane took home a spreadsheet full of MNPI they will absolutely share that the ex-employee was fired for cause, not laid off. No one was allowed to approach her and her desk for the week and every night she locked up the removable ribbon from her typewriter because it could be unspooled and read. This is just an opportunity to choose words that allow for the most generous possible interpretation (similar to how you say with a friend rather than with a journalist). The emphasis on how not harmful the infraction was is totally hurting your case, OP. If someone stole money from their workplace, or illegally harassed a coworker, and their colleague reported it would that person be a rat too? The advance knowledge of something pending going public is a very powerful position. (Or maybe the coworker did fabricate it, but I feel like thats a massive assumption itself. You undertook those actions while working for (1) A Large Governmental Organization, who is answerable to Congress and to the general public for the actions undertaken by their employees, in the (2) Communications department, which is a department where employees will specifically, systematically, regularly be exposed to confidential information that should be kept confidential until such time as it is explicitly said to be something that can be shared publically. I sent confidential documents to someone by accident via email - Google Oh, this is all interesting, and I appreciate all the responses. Its extremely tempting to want to be the person in-the-know, but my motivation for keeping things confidential is stronger: I dont want to ruin my reputation, and I dont want deal with the fallout of severely disappointing my colleagues, whom I respect and like. I dont know. Right? If you hadnt told your co-worker, then they could not have ratted you out. No. This disclosure was not inadvertent, and trying to frame it that way could backfire pretty hard. This friend understood the gravity of the information I told her, and I 100% trusted her to not leak it. 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. It would have been better if she had told you first that she was going to tell someone I can remember almost exactly what I said: It was wrong of me to put that information out. And I think you can share your excitement with others, just not the information. That brings us to your questions. Thats the very last reporting step for something illegal/dangerous. Does that matter? Ms_Chocaholic wrote: . My point is that you learn how to share AND maintain confidentiality. Same-sex marriage is going to be legalized tomorrow!. I definitely learned my lesson, and it was a hard one, and one that I will regret for a very, very long time. I work for a state government agency and FOIA is a really big deal. If someone had been privy to the list of cities prior to the announcement, and leaked it, they would 100% have been fired. If I were in the coworkers position, I would need to do the same thing. Any message that starts with Oh honey is going to read as rude and condescending unless its followed by a sincere Im so sorry in response to something terrible happening. However, were only human. 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. I think that speaks to exactly why this was such a breach, though. It can feel like the end of the world but I promise you it isnt. Likewise, they would have fired you anyways regardless because they now feel that they cannot trust you with information. LW doesnt seem defensive at all here, and its okay to feel upset while still taking ownership of their actions. Does that matter? Or does it only matter that I broke a rule?, For #1, Youre certainly allowed to bring up anything you want in an interview, the question you should really be asking is, Will it help or hurt my candidacy to bring this up?. If OP doesnt recognize and own up to that, thats going to be a bigger red flag for potential employers than if OP said, I made a mistake, learned from it, and it wont happen again.. But how do I explain this to show I learnt from my mistake and get a new job ? Aug. 4, 2008, at 11:14 a.m. 7 Ways Your E-mail Can Get You Fired. Absolutely this. This may have been part of why the manager took the steps she did. This issue recently came up for me as an interviewer. Especially odd because LW emphasized how trustworthy the friend is for why the friend wouldnt blab. Under the "General" tab, you'll see a section called "Undo send.". One of the things your field requires is to be able to think and act dispassionately about the information you have custody over. And, to be fair, based on your language about technical leaks, victimless, and ratting out I dont think your organization could entirely trust that you understand the gravity of the situation and wouldnt repeat the mistake. Since this incident, Ive taken steps like [saving journalist friends as contacts in a different phone, deleting my Slack channel, etc. We see people destroy themselves with guilt, and so we try to tell people theres no need to feel guilty or ashamed. I think thats a ridiculous overreach but whatever). I think its fair for you to be upset that you didnt have another chance, but also understandable that your employer felt it couldnt give you one. Just a bad situation. I didnt know how to say it without seeming to condone the breach. I am now going to assume that its exactly that. As soon as someone has decided you're not a team player, or are a problem employee, then even tiny things get seen as evidence that you should be fired. The terminology is often not eligible for rehire., And every time Ive ever given a formal reference, that has been one of the questions: Would you hire her again? or Is she eligible for rehire?. In other words, dont assume the information only went to the person you sent it to. Thanks for answering! OP I dont want to pile on, many people have made the point that this would be a very big deal in many industries, and that your coworker was not responsible for your being fired, and indeed may have been obligated to report the violation. If she had been doing something perfectly acceptable, seen by someone who misunderstands the situation, and fired because of that, then she would be an innocent victim of a very unfair employer. LW, you are too focused on using some incorrect details to mitigate the main point: you were a trusted professional who broke one of the most basic policies in the world of communications. There was no warning, no suspension, nothing. But at the end of the day, Alison is right. 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. I was coming to the comments section to say the same thing. And there was no social media then, so 100+++ times that now. If I wanted a cookie and I didnt get one, I can feel sad, and thats fine. But unfortunately, the rules of your job are such that you justcant. Everything from whats going to be on sale for Black Friday, to customer financial data. Thats another instant firing, even if the information isnt ever misused. 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. Honestly, I got the impression that the writer was on the younger end, just in their self-reported actions and reactions. This cant be said often enough, so Im going to repeat it. 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? The co-worker absolutely had a responsibility to bring this information forward. Or if youd like to start a trial, get in touch and well be more than happy to arrange a free demo with your IT team. Im not curious at all, but Im different. But it could be that GSA's dad had a code/password to verify it was actually him and the caller forgot to verify that first. The thing is though, you dont get credit for leaking to a trustworthy person who decides not to hang you out to dry. This is NOT a myob type situation at all. And all you learned was to avoid freshly mopped floors? I agree that its ok to be upset with people, even if its irrational or illogical, as long as we ultimately let it go and refrain from mistreating someone because of our illogical emotional response. We cannot do our job with our leaders if they cannot trust us. They thought it was funny and shared it with a couple more. Learn that about yourself, and move on. I imagine optimal framing varies by industry and so Im not sure what to advise there. Negative emotions are a learning toolfeeling guilty is very uncomfortable, so we dont repeat the behavior that led to the feeling guilty. That was not an enjoyable situation at all. Youll also want to double-check any attachments. Based on the post its probably public now, so I would guess its likely not too exciting. I am assuming you had a clearance of at least Secret. Eight Warning Signs of Potential Employment Termination and Eight Ways Doesnt matter that its your friend or that you trust her, its still a huge liability. If anything went down, you could say But Older Coworker knew! Being honest going forward really will help OP to repair the damage to her reputation and show she has integrity.
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