Everyone in the workplace has an equal obligation and responsibility to ensure that rules are upheld because thats what keeps the company operating smoothly and in business and able to provide jobs to you all. Whilst Im sure the OP is a perfectly nice person, theres a reason that there are office shootings and other awful things, some people are not. 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. I had to learn the hard way, Im afraid, but I did learn. As in I am so, so sorry! Well meaning (or at least not meaning harm) maybe, but very foolish. I can remember almost exactly what I said: It was wrong of me to put that information out. I dont think your coworker ratted you out. Same here (investing). You may ask them to delete the email before they read it. Obviously telling the friend was the fireable offense here, Im not arguing that. and the agency lost control of the information. President issuing an executive order on (issue the agency deals with) This is a great point LW. 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. Email DLP: A key investment management tool. 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. It might not seem to be that big a deal to you, but depending on what the information you shared was its really easy to use seemingly trivial information for profit. Your second co-worker who sexually harassed a woman was put on a PIP? It may be a requirement of employment regarding compliance. Government tends to operate differently. I see a lot of people saying that its always wrong to share confidential information with the press, and thats not necessarily true. OP can come up with steps to fix the real problem in their future jobs, but they cant really fix an evil coworker. 3. If someone told me something that I know Id have to report, I would report it. I was trying to disagree with the idea that it puts journalists in a terrible position to receive off-the-record info, not that it would ameliorate the employers concern. Removed a long string of comments about the condescension in the honey remark. 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. Aug. 4, 2008, at 11:14 a.m. 7 Ways Your E-mail Can Get You Fired. I dont think we fired anyone but the need for absolute confidentiality was reiterated. Its too difficult to know which internally-discussed information is confidential and which isnt. I would have ratted you out too. Everyone messes up. Why are Suriname, Belize, and Guinea-Bissau classified as "Small Island Developing States"? how do employers know if you're answering "have you ever been fired" honestly? Was alphabet city watching his ass, no idea. 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. The phone rang in the middle of the night and my mother picked it up, before she could hand the phone to my father, the person on the other end of the phone explained everything that was going on and why he was calling. Even though he loves the MCU and would have enjoyed the anecdotes. The message there is dont violate confidentiality policies. I think that speaks to exactly why this was such a breach, though. Im a journalist and Id concur and depending on how sensitive/important the information was, and what a big deal it was when it did break, you might have put your friend in a tough spot at her job by giving her a news tip she couldnt pursue or share with her colleagues. Yes, this is the way to do it: Friend, I just got the best news at work, I am so excited! Good luck to you, OP, with getting over this one. If any of those connections were being intercepted by an unknown third party, however, you've just put your customer's data into their hands. Sharing HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL info. Your coworker was probably legally obligated to report this, and even is she wasnt this is the type of breach that reasonable people WILL report. Even though I was only suspended for two weeks, it hurt so, so much. But it absolutely does not mitigate it AT ALL. how did HR and OPs boss come to the conclusion that this information was spread through Slack (!) LW used Slack at work (and was not supposed to) In my experience, a FOIA request can come from anywhere. As someone who practices public relations, calling this victimless gives me a lot of anxiety. When we make mistakes, they are impactful, but we're human and it happens. Oh, this is all interesting, and I appreciate all the responses. Oh, thats a risky tack for OP to take if they want to stay in their field. its not condescending to point out that what LW did was incredibly foolish. The information was work i was working on at the moment and I emailed it as I needed to do work on my personal laptop ; I couldn't take my work station away whilst on extended leave overseas. This reminds me of how Northwestern Hospital had to fire 50 employees back in March for violating HIPAA by accessing Jussie Smolletts medical records. I personally just try to forget that I know until the information becomes public. Practically everything I do in my job is confidential to some degree. However, at the time, I did feel guilty so I confided in an older coworker who I considered a mentor. I am really jaw-on-the-floor stunned at people taking aim at the coworker. This is NOT a myob type situation at all. 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! Recently, the National Guard was hit with a data breach, where files containing personal information were unintentionally transferred to a "non-DoD-accredited data center by a . I used to work at a government agency and it was super hard to get fired so I can understand your consternation. I think that WAS her second chance, and I think something she said at the meetings (perhaps about how the problem is the coworker for being a rat) blew that second chance. The latter looks more like something that could repeat under similar circumstances. They made much more money off of the JK Rowling name. 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. And in this case, I beleive that is correct. Can you explain to us what you learned? I dont love not being able to tell her things (even though we are each others I promise not to tell anybody (but Friend) person), the way we share this information is by forwarding press releases once the information is public. You might not immediately get the same job you had before and might have to accept something more junior but be clear in your communications and you'll get there. There wasnt any risk, my judgment was good!. I wonder how trustworthy the LW considers themself (sp?)? The coworker could have totally done the right thing and the LW would still have a right to be annoyed and hurt by the action. I imagine optimal framing varies by industry and so Im not sure what to advise there. If its something that would be a big deal for LWs friends news outlet to report first, not being able to say anything to the reporters who could write about it even, hey, I hear this might happen, you should make some calls! That OP knew it was wrong and felt guilty about it is a sign of strength. 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. That doesnt mean youre a horrible person who should never work again! Don't say "I was escorted out by armed guards" where you can say "My manager was disappointed enough to let me go". Im still learning Slack, so maybe being naive. Nothing dangerous, and while I was there it honestly wasnt even anything that would be a big scoop or exciting dinner party story. I had not thought about this issue via this lens, but I think youre 100% right. Im not trying to teach her a lesson, necessarily, she seems to have gotten the point. How to handle a hobby that makes income in US. Perhaps over official lines it could be interpreted by the journalist as on the record comments. I did not get fired for the offense, but I genuinely learned a great deal from the experience and it changed the entire way I interacted with clients, for the better. High-profile thing the president wanted and agency employees opposed isnt going to happen 100%? Coworker would let the other authorities figure that out. Yeah, I think CA meant, the message was only sent to the friend/journalist, but you dont know where she opened it: if shes in an open newsroom or something, someone could have seen it on her screen over her shoulder. 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. The Census Bureau does NOT play with that sort of thing, and you would indeed be given the boot as soon as the breach was uncovered. In a roundabout way, they somewhat did you a kindness by firing you. The joker on the other hand was running off at the mouth. Ms_Chocaholic wrote: . obviously i cant know that for sure though. UK officials are bound by the provisions of the Official Secrets Act and people have gone to prison for giving information to journalists before now. We've added a "Necessary cookies only" option to the cookie consent popup. 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. Accidents happen inadvertently but this is not the case here. I work in retail, and the company has yearly mandatory training on How to handle confidential info. People leak or share things to journalists they know all the time, with agreements by those journalists on how to share it. Oh, dear. Dont fall for it. +1 on the choice of language and framing. I am a veteran employee in good standing, but if I shared Material NonPublic Information I learned on the job and was found out, I would be terminated immediately and they would be right to do so. Most companies will not say so-and-so was fired for doing x in a reference check. Its also something that happens in a business relationship rather than a personal one, because the assumption is that personal relationships are entirely off the record. It can bring vital information to the public who have a right to know. Egress Software Technologies Ltd. Find out what you should do when a misdirected email lands in your inbox. Im so paranoid about it, that I only talk about what the company has already shared publicly. *(assuming that you did so)* She covers a totally different subject area so it never even crossed my mind that her career would be an additional conflict. Maybe thats the case in your field, but usually confidential doesnt mean that. That, and I never slapped another plucky again. 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. I dont feel like we need that caveat though, there of course will be exceptions, but this is kinda derailing. If there were excetions, that would be explicitly stated. Doesnt matter if it was a friend. The mistake was breaking company policy not that they announced to a coworker they broke company policy. You unpromptedly wrote a message to the friend. 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. the coworker probably was obligated to report it The embargoes I deal with are not earth-shaking (or even quivering), but the people involved are dead serious about not publicizing the information before a specific time. This is a situation that youre going to have great difficulty explaining away and I might prefer a resume gap to being at such a disadvantage. Even when it doesnt rise to the level of legal shenanigans might happen, it can be pretty serious. The client can, of course, prevent such disclosure by refraining from the wrongful conduct. Or the surrounding land if its something that will raise property values. There was no warning, no suspension, nothing. 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. 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. While most organisations take measures to prevent and protect against external cyber-attacks, many don't protect themselves against accidental leaks by their internal staff. Now were just nitpicking the OPs words here. Journalists get embargoed or off-the-record information all the time and are able to play by those rules. We will always be privy to confidential information in our roles, its the nature of what we do. Organisations can set up static rules (for example, you can send emails to business A but not business B), but these traditional methods are rigid and unreliable. +100 to this. The letter makes it look like you only told one person out of turn, but actually you told two people. 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. I DEFinitely sometimes shared those tidbits with friends and family who were big tiger/hippo/etc fans. Other agencies will provide title and dates, and whether you are eligible for rehire. Its going to bite someoneand this time the person it bit was herself, which gives her a good opportunity to work on discipline and discretion. A major penalty for breach of confidentiality is termination of employment. Thats a flat out easy to uncover lie. I work for a government entity and believe me if you need a reminder not to text a journalist non-public information my line of work is not for you. Your coworker then followed proper procedure when learning of this data breach- their actions were not ratting you out, their actions were following proper protocol for what an employee who is working at a company that frequently deals with sensitive data is tasked with doing once they learn of a data breach. Good points, and good advice for anyone whos apologizing for anything. Hopefully there still something to be said for that! Egress Intelligent Email Security is an example of human layer security, as its able to adapt to your individual behaviour through machine learning. Does your company know she could have called the police? (Also the NASA leaker didnt get fired. To be fair Jules, I was making the assumption that it had been, in effect, sexual assault, which may not have been the case. Yeah, this is an excellent point. But your framing of this does sound defensive and doesnt sound like youre taking responsibility for what happened. FOIA and open records requests are really big deals. "Yes, humor in the workplace is a fabulously invaluable thing that any workplace can benefit greatly from, but when your colleagues already feel buried under a pile of never-ending emails, adding. Ferry carrying 183 people catches fire in the English - Daily Mail End of story. It was absolutely drilled into all of our heads during grad school and training that you can never, ever do this. Sure, thered be a record in Slack of prior messages. I encourage you to spend some time really thinking about this and absorbing the very good feedback you have generally received here. They know it happens. Yes, or that appalling line by E M Forster, written just before the Second World War: if I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend I hope I should have the guts to betray my country. I know it isnt the actual incident since the details dont match (no twitter or cake pictures mentioned in OPs case), but I was assuming it was something like the NASA gravitational waves thing. Yeah, one of my former coworkers, who was allegedly fired from our company for bringing a gun to work, found another job a couple months later in our same industry. And not even trusting her not to publish it, but what if SHE got so excited by the news, just as LW did, that she just had to tell someone, and she picked someone that she trusted implicitly, and told them in strict confidence. Specifics dont matter, but to me, being able to explain you told your friend your employer was about to buy this farm to build a park so they bought the farm so they could raise the price and make a profit would make a huge difference in terms of making the OP aware of the consequences of their actions. (I dont know if the OP explicitly said off the record, but its not like journalists dont handle that all the time when people do.). In this situation, it is acceptable to make 'fear of attachment' jokes. I know there are cases where someone might fear retaliation etc, but with a higher up getting a subordinate into (deserved sorry OP!) Click "Enable" if it isn't selected already. Yes, but lets face it, theres no way its as exciting as what any of us are imagining it to be. Your failure to understand the gravity of your actions is alarming. You made a mistake. And honestly, you broke an embargo for your own company. Send the attachment in a follow-up email and, in the future, attach the document before you even begin writing your email. 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?. She would have learned a valuable lesson and still kept her job. Is it illegal to read an e-mail that was accidentally sent to you? The amount that LW trusted that friend is a small fraction of how much the government trusted LW. I would push back slightly on the leak to press part. In some cases, there can even be criminal charges for knowingly releasing certain information. 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. Its a risk when you ignore these compliance issues especially willfully. 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. The LW blabbed, why would her friend have more self-control? He had a fairly high security clearance and was stationed at NORAD for a time. 4a) Coworker did not owe (and usually would be discouraged from giving) notification to the OP. as a manager, should I not wear a childless shirt in my off-hours? I agree. Sometimes the news is a dreadful burden to bear (staff reductions of people you know, elimination of services you think are important) and sometimes the news is exciting, you have the inside scoop and cant wait to share it. The emotion is neutral; its what you do with it that counts. These policies are sometimes written down in employee handbooks. Me too. Finally I decided to own it at the next interview and I got the job. Itd be much safer for the LW to ask HR what theyre going to say to other employers asking for references. I sent confidential documents to someone by accident via email - Google And that is a hard pill to swallow, for sure. Oh honey UGH you are just the worst. As a damage control, should I (as the manager responsible) send a message to all employees explaining what occurred and asking them to respect the confidentiality of the information and not open nor forward the information to anyone else or should I just not bring additional attention to this message? I hope you mean it when you say you understand the magnitude of this mistake and why you were fired for it. Its helped me when a friend has told me something in confidence but I really need to talk about it for whatever reason. You would never want someone to find out from the news media that they no longer have a job, for example. Conversely, I cant tell him about certain things from my work, though at least he knows what I do. The damage from most leaks isnt visible until much later, but it can be massive. And then that coworker did tell someone, and she was fired. I agree. I think it most likely would be very boring, but some stuff like the jobs report a few days early would be very interesting to unscrupulous investors. I am trying not to be too harsh but yes you screwed up. Gossage said he believed he was speaking in confidence to someone he trusted implicitly, but the story subsequently appeared in the Sunday Times, to the dismay and rage of the author of the Harry Potter books.. I felt as defensive and upset as you. From OPs comment, it seems like shes already taken responsibility for her actions and knows what she does wrong yet 95% of the comments are lecturing her about how dumb she is (not in those words, but thats undeniably the gist), which is completely unhelpful and honestly, incredibly sanctimonious and obnoxious. Hows work? This was actually a very kind way to get this point across. 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. whatever you think is appropriate] to make sure it doesnt happen again.. People have gotten jobs in their field after vastly more serious forkups, don't despair. This x 1000 to the comment by ENFP in Texas. This cant be said often enough, so Im going to repeat it. But it could be that GSAs dad had a code/password to verify it was actually him and the caller forgot to verify that first. Wait, what the friend is a *journalist*?. OP, think about your choice to share with this person. I used to work at a public Zoo that was owned by the state, and so we were all state government employees. It involved something the OP had learned about in confidence, but hadnt even been publicly announced and the OP blabbed about it to someone completely unrelated to her job. And Im not saying it was fair or unfair or whether your previous employer made the right call. And off the record requests from journalists arent mandated by law. It was a refreshingly candid answer and so we wound up hiring him. OPs best bet is to stop blaming their coworker or minimizing what happened. 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).