can you get fired for accidentally sending confidential information

Like its going to be easier to find a job because she has the integrity to say she got fired. Its a common occurrence, especially within a large business where autocorrect can incorrectly select people with similar names. 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. If you had to process the cool news, it may have been better to process with the mentor instead. Which is so far beyond the truth Im honestly wondering if this coworker had it out for me the whole time. Im a publicist. Also, the OP wont be able to ever claim the good work experience she gained from the role. Yes, the ratted me out thing is probably not a fair assessment of what actually happened here. Later when I moved on, it became my absolute best interview topic when asked about a mistake and how I handled it. 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. I would have serious questions about your judgment if I found out you told any reporter about something that was confidential. This is what I wanted to say but you said it better. Libel or slander or posting comments about individuals that are not related to your work environment are not protected. Thanks for sharing all of this. However, placing the blame on the coworker for the entire situation, even just in her own head, is likely to come though when she talks about why she was fired. 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. Or maybe one of those people isnt quite as trustworthy as the person who told them thought they were, and they tell the wrong person, or tell multiple people, or write an article about it because theyre also a journalist. Its no worse than our organization doesnt protect classified information no matter how badly an employee disregards policies. Where did you go from here? But given the kind of convo LW describes.while the LW really should not have been surprised they got reported and then fired, and does seem to be downplaying the severity, I wonder if something about the convo led them to believe it was somehow less serious than the mentor clearly understood it to be, and mentor didnt seem to do anything to help the LW understand how big a deal this is, which is kind of a bummer. I doubt she is the only person that has ever done anything like this. As others have noted, it probably isnt anything especially exciting. Thats why they told you no. I tell the character and imagine their response, and the urge to share subsides. 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. If you werent human, you wouldnt make mistakes. And I think you can share your excitement with others, just not the information. Stack Exchange network consists of 181 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers. But leadership has to know that if they share confidential material with us that it will stay confidential. I think this really depends. This is so well said. Fired. End of story. It may be unfair to assume a journalist is cutthroat and would kill for a lead. Yeah, this is a big part of it. We all developed what we called the [cityname] twitch of looking over our shoulders before we talked about work stuff in a public place. Of course, it wasnt your mistake and youre under no legal obligation to do anything at all. 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. If I ever texted a journalist about nonpublic information Id be fired. That mindset is just so messed up. Another public sector worker here. But I had a boss who always used to try to cover his ass 110%. 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). Point isnt that OP doesnt have a right to feel what OP feelsif OP has a sick, gut-punch feeling, thats the truth of how OP is feeling. Some things a company wouldnt want you to tell a competitor, but wouldnt mind if you told your spouse. She had no idea whether the friend would blab or not. And Im pointing out that it wasnt a record at all. In that case its not so relevant that there was a misunderstanding. Fascinating (and fun!) Contact the unintended recipient It's a good idea to contact the unintended recipient as soon as you realize the error. It doesnt matter if theyd trust this person with their firstborn child. 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. 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. Between that and having family members who have been laid off and lost access to their work account that they used for personal use as well, I have learned to keep work and personal email accounts separate. If you cant keep a secret, this is not a field you should be in. 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. You might have to take a step back in your career to come back from it but you can you bounce back. If nothing exculpatory came out in that meeting then maybe firing was the appropriate response. Well, you certainly can do that, but its one hell of a risk, and a continuation of poor ethics. Hows work? Age is hardly an indicator of a persons ability to consistently make the best choices at all times. a coworker at my company was discussing a future potential release at a bar loud enough that someone heard it, and then posted it on a public forum. Maybe you havent worked with, or known anyone whos worked with, sunshine law and right-to-know, but this is incredibly serious for anyone who has. If it keeps happening, you can report the sender as junk or spam to block future messages. OP doesnt sound naive or too young, either. ), Im guessing it was something more like: Embarrassing or inappropriate communications sent via company email can damage professional credibility, reputations, and careers. you get to a point where you just really really need to share. Eh, if a waitress at a homey diner calls everyone honey, I wouldnt call it condescending. Telling the trusted friend was the fireable offense. A misdirected email describes an instance where an email is sent to the wrong person or the wrong attachment has been added to an email that has the correct recipients in it. This friend understood the gravity of the information I told her, and I 100% trusted her to not leak it. Yes, this is the way to do it: Friend, I just got the best news at work, I am so excited! Cringe. The fact is, its just not their secret to share. 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?. This was supposed to be a stand-alone comment. If you hadnt told your co-worker, then they could not have ratted you out. It also wasnt illegal to share it, because it was about a program or something that has now publicly been announced, so this doesnt even fall under the criminal aspect brought up in the original comment. I think people beat themselves up enough internally without us having to do it for them most of the time. All we know is that OP made a disclosure, and the coworker is aware the disclosure happened via Slack. Dont fall for it. Unfortunately, there are instances where employees have accidentally leaked confidential information. Compare someone in law enforcement happening to find out the (secret) address and phone number of their friend-groups favorite celebrity, or finding the contact information for the cutie in the convertible, after their roommate catches the license plate numberand sharing. You got a hard hit, and I am sorry for all the difficulty that causes. I feel LWs pain. It was super not personal, it was just a situation were second chances were not given, period. You may not even realise your mistake until the person you meant to send the message to says they didn't receive it (or you have a flurry of missed phone calls, as in Serena Williams . Sometimes when we receive an email meant for someone else, its just spam. Noooo. You are right. All people, of all ages, are capable of errors in judgment. My employer lost a lawsuit where they had been sued for violating open records and meetings laws. Some projects you could talk about with a trusted friend as long as you didnt get specific, but shouldnt announce on twitter. My father worked on defense contracts for a large portion of his professional career. But even the first is really really, really bad. Regulation people have heard of is going to be changed/repealed and its a big deal 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. I see it a lot and I wonder sometimes if its not sending the wrong message that its okay to break confidentiality because Friendship/Family Conquers All or something. First coworker punched second coworker. Forgetting the attachment. Im pretty sure the information wasnt actually confidential in the legal sense. You can get past this, if you learn from the experience. You did a dumb, impulsive thing and when you took time to consider it, you did the right thing. Both the affected parties were amazing clients who prided themselves on solid security practices. This is a solvable problem. Is this the appropriate place to bring up Anthony Scaramucci not even uttering the phrase off-the-record during his bizarre call to Ryan Lizza and then being upset when his words were published? that should be a firing offense. I also wanted to address a couple things that jumped out at me in this part: Also, am I even allowed to bring up the fact that someone ratted me out? Log the incident in an 'cyber accident book'. how trustworthy somebody actually is is never certain. She did her job. Thats the one that needs to learn to keep things to herself? You cant let yourself act out of emotion. Im literally barred by policy from opening up my own files unless theres a work related reason I could lay out to do so. 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. So if shes genuinely surprised at this outcome, it stands to reason that its new for her, which strongly implies she just hasnt been working very long, which implies youth. She shared *exciting* embargoed information. Its also important to note that OP called it non-public and Alison was the person who called it confidential. Completely unrelated to the topic at hand, love the username! 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. Lack of impulse control. It doesnt matter if your friend is a journalist or not; thats a total red herring. I work for a state government agency and FOIA is a really big deal. Like, firing on the spot if I access my own chart. 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. I dont feel like we need that caveat though, there of course will be exceptions, but this is kinda derailing. Only hope going forward is own up flatly and without defensiveness . But when the guilt is deserved, its got a purpose. My boss and I had a very serious conversation about it, and I think the only reason I was not fired was that I immediately and unequivocally took responsibility. It is ok to be upset at the coworker but it is important to recognize that she did nothing wrong and is not a rat. Granted, it was to your older co-worker rather than your boss, but that still shows you felt uncomfortable with your actions. It may help you to know that the dreaded why are you unemployed right now question doesnt come up in every interview. In my first job out of college in the insurance industry I reinstated someones coverage without verifying that they had had no claims in the lapsed period they immediately called claims and filed a $40,000 claim. Im sorry, what? You cant even take a look at *your own* records if you are also a patient at the medical facility. At the same time, though, its a program the average American would likely never have heard of and would give less than a crap about. Really? 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 I happened to expose that to my BIL who runs the comic book store and has a bunch of media and arts and entertainment contacts? read something out loud THEN realize that it wasnt public information. As a sidenote: *Even if* you think it *wasnt* a big deal, when you get hauled into the boss office and told it. If not, an investigation would be started on which employees were poking around in Famous Persons account and why. I now work somewhere where I have access to sensitive information, including my own. 100%? Forgetting to attach a mentioned attachment is common, but still embarrassing. Maybe she had to report it for her job (as some people are speculating) but even still, its okay to be annoyed at someone even if its not 100% logical. 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. If you are facing much trouble, look for job in domains where confidentiality is not too critical and the employer is not paranoid about it. [duplicate]. It would probably breach a few laws in other European countries too. Not to mention if you tell a lie (even by omission), its a lie you have to keep up, indefinitely. Submitting a contact form, sending a text message, making a phone call, or leaving a voicemail does not create an attorney-client relationship. Thats a big deal. I can imagine all kinds of things that wouldnt be that exciting to the world but that I would still want to tell a friend. 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. I was reading the email at home and after reading the first paragraph I exclaimed out loud (so my spouse could hear) Ooooh. And even more so in ballistic missile submarines! I know Id be pissed at you. Maintaining confidentiality is a foundational occupational requirement in a lot of fields. The thing is though, you dont get credit for leaking to a trustworthy person who decides not to hang you out to dry. Hi LW, I agree with Alison the best way to approach with is by taking full ownership of what happened. Assuming the coworker had evil intentions pulls OPs focus away from the real problem (disclosing an embargoed piece of information to someone not authorized to know that information at that time) and fixates it on the coworker. If I were in the coworkers position, I would need to do the same thing. You can bet Id be gone with no second chance despite my almost-20-years and ton of good work. i think we often send the message (societally) that making someone feel bad is a mean thing to do; its not. It doesnt, but we still shouldnt state assumptions like facts if theyre not supported by whats said in the letter and theres nothing wrong with Michaela pointing it out. 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. And they also need to have an acute understanding that the timing of disclosure makes a HUGE, TREMENDOUS difference. 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. If I had an employee that did this, Id expect them to be mortified and I would expect to hear how seriously they were going to take embargoes from here on out, and the LWs letter and response are almost the exact opposite. Im also a public affairs officer for a government agency- one that almost exclusively deals with highly classified information. There are many ways to say thing like this without lying. I feel like this misses the overall lesson Allison is trying to impart here. I hope youre able to learn and move on from this, OP. you can include that in there too, not as a way to cast doubt on their decision but as a way to indicate this was a fluke, not a pattern of bad judgment. Re-evaluating my original comment, Id still consider lying if attempts to explain the firing in interviews end up in disaster. can you get fired for accidentally sending confidential information ninkondi prime stance 3d parallax background mod apk latest version take me to st ives cambridgeshire can you get fired for accidentally sending confidential information. We also got early warning that legislators were encouraged to resign, a day or two before the press releases. The person you wronged is not obligated to give you that second chance with them. While it is possible the line could be actively tapped/monitored by someone else, even if it was an unsecured line it would be reasonable to assume the home phone number on file for GSA's dad would lead to the dad. Same here (investing). 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. 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. You simply let the sender know you've received it by accident, then they can rectify their mistake and you can delete the email. The Solicitors Regulation Authority has also issued a written rebuke to Christopher Gossage, of Russells solicitors, who confided to his wifes best friend that Robert Galbraith, author of The Cuckoos Calling, was really one of the most famous and wealthy authors in the world. I was working on some client confidential information on my client issued laptop and I emailed this info to my personal mailbox as I wanted to continue doing work on my personal laptop; I couldn't take my work laptop away whilst on extended leave overseas. No, no, no, no, no. In 2014 or so, I once slapped a superior in the face because they were yelling in my face because I was stepping on freshly mopped floors. Funny story: My mom used to call the bank I worked at where she had an account. Not me. Hes in an unrelated field, it doesnt affect him at all, and he wouldnt really care outside of knowing whats going on in Eddies life but hes a chatterbox and theres a decent chance hed forget and say something to someone. Fired for gross misconduct because I sent confidential information to personal mailbox - how do I get another job? So seriously, just dont tell anyone at all, fight the temptation, its an icy slope. The US is a large jurisdiction, and generally have what I consider very little protection for private data. The co-workers obligation is to the employer, not to the OP. Ideally. The Smurfs have a secret colony in the woods of Maine!. I wont lie, Im tremendously curious, but I also know this is just one of those things I will never get to know. This technique requires extra steps, but it . > On Monday, I was called into a fact-finding meeting with HR. And by becoming the must fanatically trustworthy discreet person. . In my job I often get embargoed advance copies of speeches that politicians are going to give they send them out to press to help us start working on getting most of a story written and cleared so we can just drop in a few quotes and crowd reactions and publish the story within 5-10 minutes of the speech ending. I know this is pedantic, but as someone raised by a mother with BPD, I feel like its important to say that no ones feelings are wrong. I was in tech there and had worked on a new interface for agents, lets call it TEAPOT. I missed the phrase ratted me out in the original message, but given those feelings, it doesnt really count as self-reporting. Posting confidential company information, good or bad, is not protected. I agree that the companys response was wrong the sexual harasser should have been fired but in the US, authority doesnt care. Businesses have a term for that kind of behaviour, and that is 'data leakage'. I know there are cases where someone might fear retaliation etc, but with a higher up getting a subordinate into (deserved sorry OP!) And honestly, you broke an embargo for your own company. How do I tell potential future employers why I got fired and have them still want to hire me? 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. I would go through the channels to fire someone immediately over this, because it would make me lose all trust in them and if I can no longer be confident in their abilities to do their job effectively without spillage, theyre of no use to my team. This is an issue in most fields. People leak or share things to journalists they know all the time, with agreements by those journalists on how to share it. 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. That functions differently from confidential information in government sectors and sounds closer to your examples in your original comments, but it would still be a really bad idea to share that information. She should have just sat with that feeling and let it fuel her resolve to never share confidential info with an outside party again. Yep, I think its worth LW remembering that while she knew shed never leak anything again, her boss and co-workers dont. ! mode if she told me a general were harassing her, unless making this public is something shed want. I disagree. Identify the cause of the information leak. Journalists seek out and report information thats their job. They sound far more serious than what happened. 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. If you told, you breached confidentiality, no matter what the other people did. Like, its so obviously wrong that people dont even talk about it. Cut to a couple hours later, and Im called into my bosss office because she has heard that I leaked this information to a SLACK CHANNEL FULL OF JOURNALISTS. You say that the information eventually became public, and you seem to think that this mitigates the problem. Yes, this is the valuable lesson about how precarious trust is and how breaking it can have swift painful consequences! 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. Some offenses are serious enough that a single incident is enough to fire someone. Period. exciting! However, at the time, I did feel guilty so I confided in an older coworker who I considered a mentor. However, if the message appears urgent to somebodys life or career, its likely youll want to consider stepping in. 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. I understood her to say she texted from her cell phone. If I were you, I would examine WHY I decided to tell my journalist friend the info. And you might know that you trust that friend 100% to keep it confidential but your employer would prefer to make that call themselves, and thought theyd done so when they told you the information couldnt be shared. It makes the sender aware of their mistake and less likely to bother you again in the future. This. True, but youre talking more about deciding to become a whistleblower over something potentially dangerous to the public. 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. Perhaps something like the announcement of the new Amazon HQ? 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). I think interviewers will pick up on the equivocation in your language here. He was valuable. If youre found to be lying, thats an instant rejection in a way that a well-explained firing would not be. Being honest going forward really will help OP to repair the damage to her reputation and show she has integrity.