Nothing got out about this before it was supposed to. You asked how to handle this in future interviews and one key is owning the mistake, taking responsibility for it. How on earth could you know this was a misunderstanding? I dont think you have to be Catholic.). Good Lord, no. But at the end of the day, the reputational risk to my company, versus the relatively low-level risk of having to replace someone entry-level, was just too great to bear. It might not be that the coworker reported you. Thats what I would do. I stopped when my boss had a stern talk with me about it, but also because I noticed that I was getting the bad news later, too (other people at my level were told about layoffs the night before, I was told shortly before the companywide announcement) and I realized I was getting a reputation as someone who could not be trusted to keep my mouth shut. Keep rewriting what happened in the most factual, dispassionate way possible. It helps you to catch context-driven mistakes such as adding the wrong recipient, attaching the wrong file, or forgetting to use Bcc instead of cc. If I were in the coworkers position, I would need to do the same thing. Honestly, I might be more likely to dismiss (or not hire) someone who, like the LW, does not seem to understand what exactly they did, what it could have caused than someone who, for personal ethical reasons, deliberatly leaked information, but understands that this is Not OK. I cant say any details yet, but needed to share my excitement!!. In this case you will get a second chance it will just be with another employer. 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. Because I said I wouldnt, I knew there would be consequences if something like your story happened to me, and also because, hows that going to look to a potential future employer that might value confidentiality equally highly? This comment comes across as quite clueless I work for a government entity where nonpublic information often affects peoples day-to-day lives and pocketbooks and people put a lot of money (lobbying) into knowing whats happening. Yeah, its like that line from Horton Hears A Who. As someone who works in PR/comms, my recommendation is to tell future employers the truth and emphasize what youve learned: I used to work in a one-industry town. It may be a requirement of employment regarding compliance. OPs best bet is to stop blaming their coworker or minimizing what happened. So mention it only if explicitly asked. The OPs comment here didnt seem defensive to me at all, and its definitely understandable that the letter was written in the heat of the moment. The HIPAA Rules require all accidental HIPAA violations, security incidents, and breaches of unsecured PHI to be reported to the covered entity within 60 days of discovery - although the covered entity should be notified as soon as possible and notification should not be unnecessarily delayed. Including their reputation being damaged. Theres an element of common sense to be used. Yeah, I once got fired and I have always framed it as being fired for one thing I said in a meeting, but the truth is, I really got fired for not apologizing for saying the one thing. Thats the very last reporting step for something illegal/dangerous. 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 person whos emailed may have inadvertently caused a data breach, so it could be important you get in touch and let them know. Maybe thats the case in your field, but usually confidential doesnt mean that. Your coworker didnt choose to know this information and does not owe you silence. But that was the right response to what you did. I doubt she is the only person that has ever done anything like this. In addition to Alisons script, I think it also reflects well on you that you reported what you had done. We were interviewing someone who had broken the #1 cardinal ethical rule in our industry (a branch of health care). 1. Having a natural, human reaction doesnt mean shes in the wrong field. (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.). Even if this person had not turned her in, there was this bomb just sitting there waiting to go off. e.g. Sent a confidential email to the wrong address? Weve all made mistakes. [Well-known bad person] is going to be fined/punished/arrested. People do stupid or extreme things all the time; their lives dont end, but they *can* be turning points for a downward spiral. We wont tell anyone. In fact, if I ever got a query from someone I knew, I was required to hand off the query to a colleague. I made a similar dumb mistake in my first professional job by sharing something that wasnt sensitive but was nonetheless governed by a broad company-wide confidentiality policy a complaint email sent to our companys contact us address by a customer whose name and address I had omitted. Instead, the employees found out by reading the news instead, which hurts morale. LW is undisciplined and has a big mouth. Our newspapers report quite frequently on gossip of whats happening behind the scenes. I encourage you to get involved with PRSA. You know thats not how that works. 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. Even though shes made the same mistake 2 times). Or if the coworker only decided afterwards this couldnt be kept in the dark, call her and tell her this. And the young comment. It only takes a minute to sign up. Where did you go from here? An employer of mine got a FOIA request where they asked for every email wed sent to anyone from any regulatory agency. 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. The joker on the other hand was running off at the mouth. They care a little more in the last 2 years, but not much. Oh, this is all interesting, and I appreciate all the responses. Of course I understand that I broke a rule, and that it was my mistake 100%, and it was no one elses fault. But even if there is no danger, an obligation to report is just that. 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. And depending on the circumstances, if the co-worker knew you broke the rules and didnt report it, then THEY could be in trouble also. This disclosure was not inadvertent, and trying to frame it that way could backfire pretty hard. Embargoes and off-the-record information are for journalists who are actually covering a story and in most cases that information can be shared in the newsroom (by saying a source told me off record if confidentiality is really important) and acted upon (you can start to write out a story to be ready when the embargo lifts, or call work to corroborate the off-the-record with on background or on record sources). If you hadnt told your co-worker, then they could not have ratted you out. Don't use . Like its going to be easier to find a job because she has the integrity to say she got fired. Rather than leading you on and allowing you to continue to work for them under a cloud of mistrust (and all the downsides that come with that), they made a clean break and released you to get a fresh start elsewhere. A 40 year old making the same mistake would be much harder to trust later. I definitely learned my lesson, and it was a hard one, and one that I will regret for a very, very long time. Yes, this was a fireable offence, but Im less interested in the nuances of violating confidentiality than in the bigger picture question I have done something where I really screwed up how do I move on? (Someone above mentioned someone bringing a gun to work (Dwight? I imagine there are a lot like that in government but he learned from working with a non apologetic, scandal plagued politician that consequences of what seems little to you may not be to the tabloids. Agreed. Or at least, I can. If the friend had blabbed, shed have been fired, anyway, even without confiding in the senior employee. Im excited about the project I started today or Something cool is happening at work would be fine to say in most situations. Personal info is never OK to share with anyone, or things that could lead to recognizing a person if someone happens to know that person (and you never know who knows who). 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. Its a bigger deal because that friend is a journalist. The answer hinges in part on what constitutes truly private communication, says Christine Walters, an independent consultant with FiveL Company and author of Helping Leaders Limit their Liability by Learning the Law. The amount that LW trusted that friend is a small fraction of how much the government trusted LW. I agree. I screwed up in grad school and had to go in front of an IRB board for being sent information that I hadnt gotten full clearance for. You might have to take a step back in your career to come back from it but you can you bounce back. (Obviously dont tell any potential employer that but its my personal opinion). My only other advice is to consider if there were any conversations on slack that were inappropriate. An employee who doesn't know about a policy important enough to fire someone over is just a ticking time bomb to an employer. You've learned from this mistake and had no malicious intent. 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. Heres the story: I worked for a large government agency, in communications. I felt as defensive and upset as you. This. how to explain you were fired, when interviewing. And that wasnt even technically confidential. I am assuming you had a clearance of at least Secret. Im sure they thought she was a fruit cake. Email DLP: A key investment management tool. 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. You can get past this, if you learn from the experience. Is it possible to rotate a window 90 degrees if it has the same length and width? Appropriately so, but still, wow. A large part of this is creating the interest that will drive The Thing, and the market/desirability of The Thing. I have worked and volunteered at government-related organizations before. I wont lie, Im tremendously curious, but I also know this is just one of those things I will never get to know. 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. Thats a flat out easy to uncover lie. A very long-term employee who did excellent work, as a joke, made up a fake news release that indicated we got the contract. Ill add one point: You dont know that she didnt leak it. Of course, if this happens regularly there is more chance of human error being made so it's always best to use a mailing program. Like, how did HR and OPs boss come to the conclusion that this information was spread through Slack (!) Obviously telling the friend was the fireable offense here, Im not arguing that. This mixed with the coworkers inflated story, I would be more than annoyed by this coworker too. If I were your coworker I would have done the exact same thing. still cant believe that happened. 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. But she also would not tell me if she spent a day at work planning for a war!). You wrote, The only reason I got fired was because I was ratted out by a coworker for a victimless mistake and was fired unfairly. But you werent fired because your coworker reported you; you were fired because you broke a serious rule. Another public sector worker here. How could you have felt defensive about getting disciplined for that? Likewise, they would have fired you anyways regardless because they now feel that they cannot trust you with information. If the coworker said that when that wasnt communicated to her, that was wrong as hell. It sounds like OP is young enough that they havent learned that there are some jobs where gossiping about your workplace with your friends is okay, and some jobs where that absolutely cannot fly. Journalists get embargoed or off-the-record information all the time and are able to play by those rules. 1) Broke a rule read something out loud THEN realize that it wasnt public information. You may ask them to delete the email before they read it. I would feel terrible about it, definitely, and probably think about it for a while after, but ultimately, Id need to prioritize my family and act in a way that would protect my job/salary/health insurance so I could continue to provide for my them. I got defensive and young from OPs response. Me too in Government. This is a very astute comment, especially your last paragraph. Theres beating themselves up, but then theres also understanding and feeling properly appalled that they did something really unconscionable. On the non-security side of things its fascinating to learn what the folks in the booth behind me are working on as Im quietly eating lunch, but its a serious security violation to discuss that kind of thing in public and it makes me cringe so hard when it happens. Its hard to imagine what at a government job could be SOOO Exciting! Fired for gross misconduct because I sent confidential information to personal mailbox - how do I get another job? Our grant program is going to be fully funded by Congress! Dont blame the co-worker for ratting you out. Just keep it to yourself or youll get fired. And thatsnot great? I dont know if it was to avoid track-covering or to prevent retaliation, but that was a specific part of the procedure. If youve no idea who the message was supposed to go to, simply let the sender know you received it by accident and move on. The communications team is often brought on board to develop strategy for organizational decisions that may not be public for weeks or even months. ugh, no if you cant tell them the actual news, dont tease it. Id say forgive that coworker NOWyou put her in a terrible position by being a big blabbering blabbermouth. And all you learned was to avoid freshly mopped floors? But what you do when youre on the other side of the inbox? Good luck! Absolutely this. This may have been part of why the manager took the steps she did. Yeah, this is a big part of it. I think that speaks to exactly why this was such a breach, though. If *you* got that carried away, you cant guarantee that she wont, either. Yeah, seconding this. This kind of reaction from the company screams 'serious laws broken' and there aren't many other possibilities on what these laws maybe. If the email involves sensitive information, this could be a serious problem for the people involved. When we make mistakes, they are impactful, but we're human and it happens. But your wording indicates that you dont yet have insight into just how much you breached the trust of your company. Gov employee here and I would be in trouble as well for not reporting what LW told coworker. can you get fired for accidentally sending confidential information. I didnt read it that way, its not a question of the coworker being Untrustworthy, its a matter of the OP not being able to judge who she can trust to keep things quiet. From there they have 72 hours to resolve the situation. 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. I think interviewers will pick up on the equivocation in your language here. You made a mistake. Feelings can be irrational though, or overblown, or immature, or any number of shades of wrong that means you shouldnt give them 100% credence. And if we do, well tell them not to tell anyone.. The z department is not allocating the staff they promised. Best of luck in your next job! I want to encourage you to drill deeper on something you said in your letter: I did feel guilty. I agree. Even innocuous-sounding information, like the name of a database, can be a huge security risk. Yes, but lets face it, theres no way its as exciting as what any of us are imagining it to be. . Pay secrecy is a workplace policy that prohibits employees from discussing how much money they make. OP, take a deep breath. Thats an important impulse to explore to avoid other similar situations with gossip. When theres something I really want to share with my wife, I mask it, pretty much what we do here talking about how the client invested in llama shearings, or called up asking about rumours of purple llamas, or asked us to sell all their teapots that kind of thing. So, either way my point remains. And honestly, you broke an embargo for your own company. You are allowed to feel your feels about things, so long as you understand the reality. 9 Posts. Whats not fine is trying to take somebody elses, or dramatically moping about it until someone gives me theirs. Did you apologize profusely and then explain that there was some miscommunication here? Fascinating (and fun!) It can depend on what mechanisms are in place to protect the content of the email, who is sending the email, who it is being sent to, the content of the email, and whether the subject of the HIPAA information has provided their written authorization for unsecured PHI to be . If you dont need to / want to share with the boss share with your closest family/friend, assuming they dont work at the same place or have friends/contacts there. 4) The coworker was absolutely right to report the breach in confidentiality. If it does, you can explain calmly that in a moment of weakness, you broke a serious rule regarding sending information to someone outside the company, but youve learned a hard lesson you never intend to repeat. And if the coworker didnt tell and it somehow got out that she knew another job lost. Maybe consider a career in advertising, where its your job to tell people about exciting things. (Especially since termination hearings and the related records are often public records once the employee is terminated, so any concerned employer could just do a records request and get the whole story.). She just needs to learn discretion. It simply means that your employees are not to disclose proprietary information or data about your company to another person without your consent. It would have been a ticking timebomb for them, and the next time it could have leaked beyond the friend. 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.. I wouldnt be obligated by anything other than displaced loyalty if I wanted to try to be squirrelly of course but I respect myself way too much and have my own standards to just keep quiet about things. 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. I was talking about this upthread before I saw this discussion. Oh honey, how young are you? I doubt it was the plan to storm Area 51. I went to my boss explained the situation and let me boss make the decision if we wanted to share the report. OP, you truly buried the lede: you leaked to a journalist. It will also help you to not repeat the mistake in the future. I got that impression as well and have had younger coworkers who sent random, very personal info to me in texts. Some agencies will only provide title and dates of employment, which is a lucky break for you. Thats the real clincher here for me) and on a personal level with management your position is one of trust and you violated the basis of your work. Some offenses are so serious that you immediately get fired. 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. The heads on spikes of the modern workplace. I guess you just say I inadvertently let an important piece of information get out and I will take extraordinary safeguards to never let that happen again. how else could you have met that need?) Non-public just because it hadnt been announced yet isnt the same as the location of the emergency bunker. This will sound very, VERY strange, but if you have the urge to share things youre not supposed to, theres a trick you can try: telling a fictional character in an imaginary conversation. Nah, I think the odds of whats super exciting to a government agency being equally exciting to me are pretty slim. Forgetting the attachment. And it makes sense that it is. It made it seem like some part of OP still feels hard done by, rather than really getting it. Nowadays with mobile devices, email and the cloud, it is extremely easy to share files, easy enough that we may accidentally send and share them to the wrong person. It makes the sender aware of their mistake and less likely to bother you again in the future. The sharing of information is a violation of your professional duties and ethics and would get me 60% of the way to firing someone if I were your boss. Within hours, there were writeups on tech blogs about the new iPhone before its official release. Yes, the ratted me out thing is probably not a fair assessment of what actually happened here. 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. Once info is out in the community, you have no control over where it goes and any and all ramifications. If she hadnt told the superiors, she could have been on the hook as well if it came out that you told a journalist confidential information and then told her about it. I hope you get past this, it may bar you from future government work, but not other placed hopefully if you follow Alisons advice and really own up to the mistake. (I thought Al Frankens apology to the fellow entertainer was pretty good, actually. 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). This technique requires extra steps, but it . Agreed. I work in a field (not government) where some nonpublic is newsworthy but only in the arts and style sections. Got my first job. Confidentiality is not just an issue in communications. Once its out, you have no control over it. Im glad youve learned from your mistake, and I really hope you take this experience to heart as you continue your communications career.
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