I came here to say this. Im sorry this happened to you OP, yeah, in communications at nearly any company this in indeed A VERY BIG DEAL. Don't worry, you're not alone. LW, first, I want to offer sympathy. If we think about this, not only did she trust her journalist friend, she trusted her coworker not to tell anyone either. While I was working there, I started dating an entertainment journalist who then covered some Marvel projects, and there were definitely things that happened at work which I did not share with him because of my NDA. But what you were effectively asking your employer to do is trust a totally unknown (to them) journalist not to publish something that was apparently such exciting news that you, bound by confidentiality, simply couldnt keep quiet about it. Youre not in a gang or on a schoolyard playground or fighting with your sibling in the backseat of the family station wagon. Also, no matter how good a friend someone is, if they are a journalist you need to zip your lips. You are almost certainly an at-will employee so you can be discharged at anytime and for any reason or even no reason at all. Life is full of these weird potholes we find ourselves in at times. If youre found to be lying, thats an instant rejection in a way that a well-explained firing would not be. Its no worse than our organization doesnt protect classified information no matter how badly an employee disregards policies. Share information about the new roller coaster being put in at a theme park? If it bleeds, it leads, and if its not bleeding, you might as well kick it a few times to see if itll start bleeding Nope. In jobs that require non-disclosure, active disclosure is a very big deal. Its hard to imagine what at a government job could be SOOO Exciting! Oh yeah, my response wasnt to you it was just to continue what Alanna said. I think one can be upset at not getting a second chance without feeling necessarily entitled to one. I used to work at a public Zoo that was owned by the state, and so we were all state government employees. I could have just sent the report and most likely no one would have ever known, but it would have been a violation of company policy. Really? I have news from my job that I cannot share with some coworkers. This makes it seem like they owe LW something, to be loving and release her to her best life. Its especially challenging if youve grown up immersed in social media, where confidential emails with the names and sensitive details blacked out are frequently posted on Facebook or Twitter or someones blog, where they go viral. Equally, when we had a client who does the same job role as someone I know, I had to completely embargo that piece of information in my head, because I know that its a small field and my friend might recognise the detail I thought was vague enough to be anonymous. Despite a good track record and being with this team for a few years now, the rules were made very clear to me and I know I wouldnt be given a second chance in that situation. But I agree that reporting coworkers for actual errors that actually affect the company isnt ratting. And it doesnt sound to me as though the OPs coworker was in any way a rat. 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. Accidental disclosure of PHI includes sending an email to the wrong recipient and an employee accidentally viewing a patient's report, which leads to an . Yes and thats the consequence they now have to live with. I think she was trying to lessen some of the guilt she felt, but really she should have just sat with that feeling and let it fuel her resolve to never share confidential info with an outside party again. As Brett said, there was definitely a record in this case. Additionally, J. K. Rowling won a lawsuit against the lawyer and the firm. 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. Ohhhh come on. YOU know you wouldnt do it again, but nobody else can really know that. Situations like this are one reason I think workplaces with confidential/sensitive information should regularly remind their employees of what confidentiality means for them, rather than leaving it as a blanket statement or only discussed during new employee training. I do have to wonder if the hospital failed to educate its employees on how freaking serious that kind of breach was, And also failed to inform them that the system tracks who looks up a particular patients record. Sending work-related information to personal email account: a fast In most reporting policies i am aware of it would be considered tipping off and get the person reporting in trouble. After all, nobody wants to tell their manager that they might (however accidentally) be responsible for a data breach. 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. Youre heading in the right direction, and youve also gotten some really good advice. This is so true. True, but youre talking more about deciding to become a whistleblower over something potentially dangerous to the public. I just wasn't thinking at the moment I sent the information. We call this a misdirected email and it's really, really easy to do. I cant say any details yet, but needed to share my excitement!!. I went to a church where I attended youth group, sat outside, and repeated my news over and over to Jesus for about three hours before I felt certain I could keep it from anyone else (note that no one else was anywhere nearby). 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. Once its out, you have no control over it. OP notes that she is a government employee. . Thank you for following up with Alison and here in the comments, and Im sorry for what youre going through. One of my coworkers saw another coworker sexually harassing a woman. 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. Best of luck in your next job! Long since past, now.). You can avoid finding yourself in this position by double-checking the recipient email address (especially when autocomplete is involved), the cc field, and the Bcc field. I wonder how trustworthy the LW considers themself (sp?)? Cmon, it was. To say my friend was mortified would be an understatement. This disclosure was not inadvertent, and trying to frame it that way could backfire pretty hard. You take this as a hideously painful lesson, and change your behavior across the board, and most people could see that as a learning moment, from which you learned. I got fired due to sending an email by mistake to the wrong If that is so, there is nothing you can do to avoid the termination and you should be looking for new employment. A recent Harvard Business Review article indicated widespread use in the workplace, with over one third of the US . He had a fairly high security clearance and was stationed at NORAD for a time. I doubt she is the only person that has ever done anything like this. Can you get fired for sending a meme? - triple j - ABC It may help you to know that the dreaded why are you unemployed right now question doesnt come up in every interview. Accept responsibility for what you did. I accidently sent an attachment that contained confidential If that puts it in perspective. Email Mistakes at Work: How to Survive Them - CBS News I think in both cases, part of the concern is this retroactive removal of risk. You committed battery. She broke a very real and important rule. 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. Yeah, thats a good point. Recurring theme here is that tattling isnt a thing at work. She shared it with a friend. So- bad judgement buddies? Im still pretty upset that I had no second chance, but I suppose I just lost their trust.. Confidentiality, especially in government, is no joke and should be taken very seriously. one last post-script: this person wasnt super good at their job, but was a teammate i worked closely with, and doubt they had been put on a PIP prior to this. In a job interview, how do I explain why I was fired? This is a GREAT way to position it. If she tried to downplay the seriousness of the breach in the meeting (like saying it was a victimless crime) then they may have decided that they couldnt afford to give a second chance. In this situation, I reported myself is simply false, given OPs expectation that her mentor wouldnt pass along what she knew to anyone else. Plus, I think part of it was that it was exciting BECAUSE it was secret, and now its apparently common knowledge. Im also a supervisor. And most of the real socialising happened at house parties and dinner parties, not restaurants or bars. My philosophy is that it doesnt matter what city you live in, its a small town. :) :) :) :) Being a wealthy heiress and a socialite IS a full-time job! Privacy Policy and Affiliate Disclosures. As others have noted, it probably isnt anything especially exciting. But at the end of the day, Alison is right. Well meaning (or at least not meaning harm) maybe, but very foolish. I used to work for Marvel Studios. Im glad that youve had time to think about it and can own the mistake, thats the most important part when we mess up. Me too in Government. I got defensive and young from OPs response. Thats also real life. what did you want to get out of sharing with her? Sorry, Im tired and I think that metaphor got away from me. 10 Ways to Rebound From an Embarrassing Email Mistake 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. 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. I hope you find something good soon and can put this behind you. I actually think your big mistake was telling your coworker, not telling a trusted friend.. So, are you clear about the severity of your action and the significance of this rule? I was then let go but will be extremely vigilant in the future to never let this happen again. This was more or less what I was thinking. Because when your mentor is a coworker at the same employer, you cannot, cannot speak as freely. Given how much we have learned about foreign intelligence operations in American social media in the last few years, this is yet another reason why information security of all levels is taken so seriously. Can You Be Fired for Sending Personal E-Mails at Work? Pay secrecy is a workplace policy that prohibits employees from discussing how much money they make. I know that I messed up and I shouldnt have told anyone; in a moment of weakness I texted one of my best friends. Occasionally our clients have been in the media and have shared part of their story. Basically, I was fired for X mistake. OP needs to learn the art of discernment. Man I am swamped with the publicly known project I am barely treading water. It shouldnt happen but Id understand if it did. Hard disagree. This is how old I am. The only thing an employer may not do is make employment decisions based upon you being a member of a protected class.

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