Be careful. Nah. Handling confidential information discreetly is a day to day part of working in communications, particularly for government entities (I say as someone in this field). Thats just not something you can let yourself do. Here are the things that OP needs to remember: First, the coworker is not a rat, even if she misunderstood the scope of OPs unauthorized disclosure and mistakenly misrepresented it. I have accidentally terminated people, messed up HRIS changes that prevented people from getting their paycheck, and scanned/sent confidential information to an employee instead of myself. My 2cents, LW if something was so exciting you couldnt keep it in, you were in the wrong field. Don't use . TootsNYC is talking about this latter case. OP thinks she was super discreet in texting her friend. In a truly dangerous/vital public information sphere there are agency heads/regulators/IG offices/congressional members/even the police depending on the issue that you should contact before going to the press. 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. a friend sent en email containing critical information and documents about a particular person to a person who wasn't that person. Either way, if you commit an offense, its best to never go with its not that big of a deal anyways. Owning up to your mistakes at the right time is hard and the natural instinct to defend yourself is strong, but ultimately thats the best thing to do and garners respect. However, at the time, I did feel guilty so I confided in an older coworker who I considered a mentor. Can you explain to us what you learned? In jobs that require non-disclosure, active disclosure is a very big deal. 2. I recall a year or so into this administration at least a couple federal departments making A Big Deal out of leaks because it seemed like every other story (usually negative) was quoting an anonymous source sharing sensitive information they werent authorized to release. 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. Sorry that this happened to you (Ive made stupid mistakes too) but you may want to consider keeping problems like this to yourself. Because she knows other journalists who do cover your area and one of them just might need a serious break right when she knows this information. While I agree that this needs to be explained in the right way. Sometimes when we receive an email meant for someone else, its just spam. Right. Our newspapers report quite frequently on gossip of whats happening behind the scenes. Does that matter? This was more or less what I was thinking. The thing is though, you dont get credit for leaking to a trustworthy person who decides not to hang you out to dry. So, you've accidentally sent an email to the wrong person. Since that didnt happen Im not surprised you werent given a second chance. Even if healthcare providers and business associates are compliant to HIPAA Standards, there is always a possibility of unintentional or accidental disclosure of Protected Health Information (PHI). Thank you for explaining this! But how do I explain this to show I learnt from my mistake and get a new job ? I agree with Alisons response. Mostly, Im saying this to you so that you understand that you should never have trusted that co-worker to keep that kind of information to herself, no matter how much of a mentor shed been to you I do think that she should have told you that this was serious enough that she couldnt not report it. 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. I was under the impression that most big companies had a policy against telling a reference checker anything beyond dates of employment. You dont get a warning for things like that. I deal with it by having friends in the firm who I can say it to (but not in a bar!). 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. In the worst cases though, businesses can lose clients and employees can lose jobs. The coworker did nothing wrong that we can see from the letter. 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. And then there are things you cannot even hint at under any circumstances. Hopefully there still something to be said for that! It can take down evil people who mean to do others harm. Our actions and our thoughts can definitely be wrong, but calling someones feelingswhich they have little to no control overwrong (or, dead wrong with double asterisks), only contributes to shame and self-loathing. As a fellow human being, I absolutely get the impulse to tell someone about something! 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. When an employer says something is confidential, take it seriously If a breach is proved, the employee may be liable for hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages Howard Levitt Published Aug 01, 2019 Last updated Oct 28, 2019 4 minute read Join the conversation Tessian Cloud Email Security intelligently prevents advanced email threats and protects against data loss, to strengthen email security and build smarter security cultures in modern enterprises. Privacy Policy and Affiliate Disclosures. Just keep it to yourself or youll get fired. And thatsnot great? I used to handle accounts, but could not handle my own. However, were only human. So in regards to the tell an imaginary friend idea, I have also: openly disclosed highly confidential information to a) my cats and b) Jesus. Even if you feel that way, definitely dont say that! They care a little more in the last 2 years, but not much. confusedabouteverything Forumite. 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. That makes the violation much worse. But Im a journalist whos covered federal agencies, so I know super exciting to agency employees does not necessarily equal huge news for everyone else. If it was something that was a big deal to LW but not huge news externally, yeah, its not a thing. End of story. I think its very strange that so many commenters are trying to police the LWs feelings about the coworker. As I read it, LWs friend couldnt pass the information along at all. Hard disagree. someone in another department saw the post, reached out to the person who made it and asked for information about the person they had heard it from. I want to encourage you to drill deeper on something you said in your letter: I did feel guilty. They also rely on constant prompting that can give even the most diligent employees click fatigue after a while. One of my favorite shows had a plotline about a sibling not liking someone not breaking doctor confidentiality. Draft your UI forms and pre-write your objection to his unemployment on the grounds of "good cause" firing for willful misconduct- Then after all that you can fire him. This mixed with the coworkers inflated story, I would be more than annoyed by this coworker too. Or when she builds a pattern of sharing harmless information until suddenly it isnt harmless? Browse other questions tagged, Start here for a quick overview of the site, Detailed answers to any questions you might have, Discuss the workings and policies of this site. Head of the department who everyone hates for non-scandal reasons is stepping down amid a scandal Confidentiality can stink at an interpersonal level, everyone tends to talk about their work and it can be hard to hide things from people we care about. Its not a big career risk for her friend the way it is for her, but depending on what the information was, it could have put the friend in an awkward position. Since its a government agency, I have to wonder if there are regulations in place about this kind of leak as well, most places that deal with confidentiality clauses arent messing around with them. Man I am swamped with the publicly known project I am barely treading water. I get why maintaining confidentiality is important, and I understand why the OP was wrong in this particular situation, but balance is also needed. How you analyze the situation and internalize the lesson is more important than wording for future employers right now. Yet, the subordinates were not pleased! 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? We can't tell you the best way to answer, since the best way to answer is honestly and you're the only one who can give your honest answer. The OP would be better off to own up to her mistake and her mistaken thinking in saying/writing/texting the information, say what she learned from it, say how she would plan to deal with a similar situation about exciting confidential information if this ever happens again, and conclude by saying that it was 100% her own fault, that she doesnt blame the organization, the manager, or her coworker, that she understands that she put her coworker in a horrible position, and that she will NEVER do anything like that EVER again. 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. Noooo. When you are genuinely accept the error, analyze why you made it and address how to alter yourself to not be vulnerable to this kind of mistake again, it will naturally come across when you talk about it in interviews because youll be genuine and not trying to find a strategic angle and that genuine quality will land well with other mature professionals who have made their own mistakes. Fired. Because, if you did the first apology option then I think it would be (more) possible youd get a 2nd chance. 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. Some offenses are so serious that you immediately get fired. Its no fun to be fired. 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. This is a good way to think about it. She shared it via text not voice, but text, which could be seen by someone else. 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. We also got early warning that legislators were encouraged to resign, a day or two before the press releases. In McMorris v. Humans, in general, are not geared towards confidentiality and secrecy long-term. I thought it was over. (And yes, the records request would come through the custodian of records, but the point of my second paragraph is that non-public information does not have special protections like confidential information and that the general public has a right to access that information as soon as it is available, and not just when the agency finds it convenient to send out a press release.). Maintaining confidentiality is a foundational occupational requirement in a lot of fields. Thats crazy (and crazy lucky for the embezzler). If youre excited about a new, increased source of funding, that shows your agency has money to spend. Unless things have changed since I was in j-school (which is a possibility), off-the-record arrangements are basically the journalistic equivalent of a pinky swear. Then b) she felt so guilty she admitted it to a coworker. There is no other guarantee, and yet people count on it. Even though I was only suspended for two weeks, it hurt so, so much. THIS ^^^ Whether it is age or just immaturity, there is clearly a major blind spot about the big picture and the potential impact resulting from this behavior. At the risk exposing my identity to a reader who knows me offline, two big things Ive leaked without running afoul of any organizational trust are: Such and such church is giving away their building and my nonprofit is under consideration to be the recipient and Were going to be filing a lawsuit against X because of Y., To clarify, Im not trying to minimize the gravity of OPs mistake or the seriousness of strict confidentiality in other contexts. If you told, you breached confidentiality, no matter what the other people did. 2. If its obvious who the email was intended for, just forward it on and cc the original sender, letting them know what youve done. And it could be part of the reason why the story was a bit incoherent, too she went from sort of uncomfortable to really, really uncomfortable. This. They may very well have not had the option to give you a second chance, whether you wanted to or not. And especially in the field youre in, leaks are a big deal, and ESPECIALLY leaks to a member of the press. I dont want to beat up on the LW, but I do think they fundamentally need to understand that the loss of trust made it impossible for the agency to give you a second chance in this position. 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. Its to prevent covering of tracks or retaliation or extinction bursts (Im about to be caught for X may as well make the punishment worthwhile and do Y and Z too, or if they are acting with deliberate malign intent Im caught, better leak as much as possible asap). 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 guarantee you that somewhere in the company handbook for the Government Agency where you worked there is a paragraph about the obligations of an employee who learns of a data breach. the coworker probably was obligated to report it Thats what I would do. I imagine theres a section in the manual and training (possibly annually) about the great responsibility they bear around confidentiality and how people will try to scam them into breaching security, yet OP does not appreciate the weight of this. That makes a certain subset of people *extremely* excited. Penalizing or firing such employees may lead to the loss of good talent and even create a negative impact on employee morale. I was often privy to non-public information because I was designing media campaigns around them. You cant let yourself act out of emotion. In "Labs," scroll down to "Undo Send" and enable it. Its ridiculous how much a speculator can get from very little information, and this is why keeping anything secret until it is announced is important. How do you approach company policy in general? Understandably, the agency had to let me go. Something to show that you didnt get caught you confessed. I have absolutely no clue in your situation, but there are times when it really can be appropriate to let someone go without any second chances. Being honest going forward really will help OP to repair the damage to her reputation and show she has integrity. Best wishes to OP in her work on this. +1 The person is trying to make someone else feel bad about their own transgressions. That has an impact on real estate values and could make a government employee excited. ), Im guessing it was something more like: This type of thing could have easily happened to your journalism friend in the office. She got paid to pose as Roeders* mistress, once. And the coworker, well, this was information that was a major conduct infraction, not just embarrassing or private if a coworker told me theyd done this, Id have promptly reported it, not to humiliate them, but to start the process of damage control. But even the first is really really, really bad. ), Because honestly, the more I thought about this letter as I read it, the more uncomfortable I got, too. They are pretty free with stating exactly why someone was fired. That was a stressful week for all concerned. Don't worry, you're not alone. Yup! 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. Inadvertently, in my view, would be something along the lines of had confidential documents in a briefcase that you accidentally left behind at a coffee shop. In some cases, there can even be criminal charges for knowingly releasing certain information. Its completely understandable that you were upset about it when you wrote in (and upset about it now). I think in both cases, part of the concern is this retroactive removal of risk. If someone preempts that, theyre not happy about it generally. It's hard to answer this question without specifics, but it strikes me as very important to differentiate between an accident or mistake in the sense of "oops, I did that by unintentionally" versus misconduct, as in "this was against policy and I deliberately did it anyways" regardless of whether you knew about the policy or had a good reason to do it or not. 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. OP has a right to be annoyed with Coworker, but Coworker was doing her job as well. However, if the message appears urgent to somebodys life or career, its likely youll want to consider stepping in. Best of luck with your search. 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). You might add to Alisons script, I knew immediately that I needed to report my indiscretion, and I did so right away. Heres what to do. Has 90% of ice around Antarctica disappeared in less than a decade? That all strikes me as stuff someone quite young and without strong professional and personal boundaries acts. She already acknowledged that its 100% her fault. We asked them why they did it. that should be a firing offense. The ex-coworker reached out to me asking if I could send them a copy of the report so they didnt have to start from scratch and repeat the same work they had already done. Ive worked in the banking industry for a couple decades and this would be a fireable offense on the first instance, no ifs, ands, or buts. I get that people can learn from their mistakes, but this could be an indicator of a lack of proper framework, and perhaps a boss wouldnt want to risk it. Or if the coworker only decided afterwards this couldnt be kept in the dark, call her and tell her this. Is it FOUO though? For the purposes of VIWI, a confidential client shall be able to establish a mutually authenticated TLS channel with the auth server and resource service, providing a trusted identity, usually in the form of a certificate signed by . OP, you truly buried the lede: you leaked to a journalist. I work in communications for a large organization and I see this as a trust issue with leadership. Heres what to do. 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). The first job will be the hardest but gradually you are less and less likely to be asked about an older job. Why are Suriname, Belize, and Guinea-Bissau classified as "Small Island Developing States"? And in fact, NOT getting that second chance with them might mean that you take it more seriously and handle the next relationship in a trustworthy manner. Maybe a different (and appropriately mortified) approach from the OP in those meetings would of had a different result or maybe not! but the approach in the letter definitely would have convinced me to let her go if I was on the fence. Those kinds of disclosures often rise to the level of immediate termination, which is what happened, here. You will bounce back! I work as a contractor on a program that just announced 10 new cities will be joining. Of course I understand that I broke a rule, and that it was my mistake 100%, and it was no one elses fault. Some certainly will, especially those who are more security-conscious. Fired for gross misconduct because I sent confidential information to personal mailbox - how do I get another job? He had a fairly high security clearance and was stationed at NORAD for a time. Now, hopefully that would never happen, but if you consider reporting serious breaches to be ratting out, narcing or even tattling, your (potential) employers are going to know that you cant be relied on to report when its necessary. that one would be unable to resist texting a friend. 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. My adviser listened to what was going on and was like we have to tell. Having said that, as a hiring manager, if you were able to talk to me about how this one-time error in judgment caused a deep shift in thinking and was a critical pivot point in your professional development I would hear you out. 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. A majority of those who work from home would use their own personal digital devices such as laptop, tablet or mobile to perform their daily work tasks and it is also convenient for employees to. It doesnt matter if it was text or Slack, a single journalist or a whole group. You made yourself very vulnerable, your mentor knew that, and unfortunately, youre now bearing the consequences. how do I get out of an active-shooter drill at my office? how to explain you were fired, when interviewing. Maybe you let them know more then they should even without meaning too? Your second co-worker who sexually harassed a woman was put on a PIP? In fact, the coworker probably was obligated to report it anyway since she wasnt sure about the extent of the breach. Im going to go see how they reviewed it.). It's really just a 30 . But fairly often it was classified to some degree, and he could only talk about how his project was going but not about what it was. 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. The best workplace I ever saw in this regard was a law firm that specializes in foreclosure (I am not a lawyer, but I worked there in another capacity). 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. 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. 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? It might possibly be seen as less bad that the information shared was intended to be made public anyway, as opposed to it being information that wasnt ever supposed to get out. How to you ensure you're aware of it, and following it? Was the friend a journalist, or is there something else that would explain why she said that? The reply: Yes, the friend I texted happened to be a journalist but doesnt cover the area that I was working in. Or at least, feeling like one should have been possible. The obligation to report a security breach doesnt include warning the violator. Im sorry it happened to you, though, and it definitely stinks. They looked at themselves as an organization and realized that the damage was irrevocable. |. Excitedly texting confidential, FOUO information to a friend who happens to be a journalist, unconscious of the optics and real potential harm? Let me tell you what happened to the people who were not on the care team and accessed a newsworthy medical case. Oh no! Of course, it wasnt your mistake and youre under no legal obligation to do anything at all. 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. This is awkward to frame as apparently it would have passed unnoticed if you hadnt taken aim at your own foot and then pulled the triggerit would be better if you were fired after fessing up to your superiors, rather than involving anyone else. LW already feels wronged. So please think about that aspect when youre thinking about how she ratted you out. If her friend never told anyone it never would have gotten out. Thats a big deal. Some seem to imply there is no reason ever to leak information, which isnt true. I dont think we fired anyone but the need for absolute confidentiality was reiterated. Because when your mentor is a coworker at the same employer, you cannot, cannot speak as freely. Things can be the way they are for understandable reasons and you can still feel like crap about it. 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I think also this illustrates how hard confidentiality is; these are trained and likely reasonably experienced people who still couldnt resist this temptation. Everything the OP described sounds like a non-public record. Period. If you got the launch codes for the missiles, thats a big no no to share. You committed battery. There are lots of situations in which leaking information to a journalist would absolutely be the right thing to do, and we should absolutely encourage it in those cases. Im sure the OP will find a new job. No checking out salary information permitted! 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. 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. We let him go for incredibly poor judgmentlike putting me as a reference, for example.. Im not going to spell out what it was, but it was completely unethical and immoral, and shes lucky her license wasnt permanently revoked for it. The co-worker absolutely had a responsibility to bring this information forward. In addition to Alisons script, I think it also reflects well on you that you reported what you had done. Im still pretty upset that I had no second chance, but I suppose I just lost their trust. Something LW has not seemed to understand: the fact that you worked for a governmental agency is not the issue, the fact that you leaked info early is. Thank you for pointing this out! If you cant keep your mouth shut then you need a new line of work. And theyll be first with the story. Thats totally true, and when I worked for state government release of confidential information would have been grounds for immediate termination, but Alison is the only one who calls it confidential, OP calls it non-public. This reminds me of the story of the Apple employee who left a prototype iPhone in a bar by mistake, before the official release. Nah, I think the odds of whats super exciting to a government agency being equally exciting to me are pretty slim. If that puts it in perspective. Even innocuous-sounding information, like the name of a database, can be a huge security risk. What happened is reputation-ruining for such jobs so re-assessing what is realistic in terms of job expectations after this is important to moving on successfully 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.
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