can you get fired for accidentally sending confidential information

I do a lot of trade shows and we always remind booth staff of what to say (talk points) and what not to say to trade journalists. I say dont lie during any part of the job application. Also, am I even allowed to bring up the fact that someone ratted me out? Penalizing or firing such employees may lead to the loss of good talent and even create a negative impact on employee morale. (Im not from the US, and not in government) If I were in OPs place, I would also be upset and feel betrayed. And especially, sharing information that youre not supposed to tends to be the type of thing that will get you fired immediately without another chance. I mean in the end there is not a lot of reasons to trust either, but demonstrating ongoing cluelessness is not a good way to sell this will never happen again. You just seem to still want an answer and I picked up on this as a possible avenue to reflect on in your letter. And it seems like you do. We see people destroy themselves with guilt, and so we try to tell people theres no need to feel guilty or ashamed. But heres the thing you still have to have a ton of discretion about how you share and where. 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. And thats still very unrealistic / way off-base, if OP truly gets why this was a slam-dunk decision, in that particular circumstance. 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. I work in the auto industry in media communications. Basically, I was fired for X mistake. Not saying you did this! We all developed what we called the [cityname] twitch of looking over our shoulders before we talked about work stuff in a public place. It may be unfair to assume a journalist is cutthroat and would kill for a lead. When telling me about the call, she said that when the checker said the guys name, she couldnt stop herself from bursting out, Wait, he told you to call me?!. And off the record requests from journalists arent mandated by law. 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. . Dont blame your colleague she may have been obligated to report this. This will suck for a long time writing this post has made me feel anxious thinking about my own lapses and consequences from years ago but it all works out in the end. Alisons words are great to have prepared, and be super clear that you understand it was a problem, it was bad, and you take it very seriously. 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 just wasn't thinking at the moment I sent the information. It may be that the decision is made and it is just a matter of time before you are gone. The company would have thought everything was hunky dory, but they would have employee on staff who did not understand confidentially requirements. 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? how else could you have met that need?) If someone stole money from their workplace, or illegally harassed a coworker, and their colleague reported it would that person be a rat too? I was dismissed for a breach of confidentiality. ! but you just cant. Theres beating themselves up, but then theres also understanding and feeling properly appalled that they did something really unconscionable. Conversely, I cant tell him about certain things from my work, though at least he knows what I do. You may ask them to delete the email before they read it. 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. 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 came here to say this. the coworker had an obvious physical feature that the poster mentioned, so the company was able to figure out who was discussing it in a public place and *fired* them for it. Im not sure what the best way is to address this, but were trying! The rules are severe because people need externals to keep them motivated. The org needed to know in order to assess potential damage and limit future opportunities. Best of luck with your search. Funny story: My mom used to call the bank I worked at where she had an account. Learn that about yourself, and move on. but to start the process of damage control. It pretty much doesnt matter what field you are in the higher up you go the more likely you are to be privy to information that you MUST NOT share no matter how excited you may be. This is so well said. Ideally. If you embezzle from the company and tell a coworker who then reports it, the mistake is embezzlement, not telling a coworker about it. It stinks but in this industry, thats a deal-breaker for many. Is it illegal to read an e-mail that was accidentally sent to you? And then they did it again. Im a publicist. 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. Given how much we have learned about foreign intelligence operations in American social media in the last few years, this is yet another reason why information security of all levels is taken so seriously. OP, its worth examining whether trying to assuage your guilt by sharing this with your mentor, rather than with some outside person who doesnt touch on your industry, was a version of getting post-mortem permission. I dont think your coworker ratted you out. How to handle a hobby that makes income in US. They may very well have not had the option to give you a second chance, whether you wanted to or not. Our grant program is going to be fully funded by Congress! Its so very context and field dependent. I understand that the breach was very bad and that the organization needed to take some disciplinary action, but it seems to me that firing an employee who fessed up to something like this to a senior coworker sends the message: If you mess up bad enough, dont tell anyone. True story: in my last job someone mistyped an email address by a single letter and instead of going to a related government org it went to a journalist. Theres a difference between wishing you had a second chance (acknowledges they arent entitled to one) and being upset you didnt have one (expected that there would be one). We just had something similar happen at my office last week. 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. Employees. There could be Official Reasons, but it could also be something as simple as the coworker, while being made somewhat uncomfortable by this confidence originally, got more and more uncomfortable the more she thought about it. Don't say "I was escorted out by armed guards" where you can say "My manager was disappointed enough to let me go". It was a refreshingly candid answer and so we wound up hiring him. Yes, if you're sending a mass email, BCC makes sure no-one else sees each other's emails and therefore reduces the risk of a breach. Share information about a company merging before its publicly announced? 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. Really? 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. I wonder LW, would your interactions with the higher ups have been different if your co-worker/mentor had given you the heads up that she was going to have to report this? This isnt breaking a rule; its potentially putting your organization in jeopardy. Dont fall for it. But if I found out a coworker was sharing this information with just anyone it would be a probably HIPAA violation and, yes, I would need to tell my boss. Ive been under NDA for things I cant even disclose to my boss, much less a friend outside the organization. Yes, this is the valuable lesson about how precarious trust is and how breaking it can have swift painful consequences! Im not sure you can conclude that it was publically disclosable. Can you get fired for a PERSONSAL email accidentally sent to a coworker Itd be much safer for the LW to ask HR what theyre going to say to other employers asking for references. Spek raised a good point- find out what your HR policy is so you know what to be prepared for in an interview. BUT, that shouldnt excuse leaking things, and theres a big difference between a spouse or a journalist, though I can understand why it can still be difficult. I have news from my job that I cannot share with some coworkers. Lose that part of the defense completely, OP. So have a lot of other people who have managed to find other jobs. It's difficult to prevent a leak from happening again if you don't know how it occurred in the first place. Fired for gross misconduct because I sent confidential information to Yes! Sometimes he wasnt working on confidential stuff, and he could come home and geek out over what he was doing if he wanted. Thats not how embargoes work, and the reasons why we have embargoes are important and valid, even if they may seem like not a big deal in the context of a specific disclosure. Here's how you fix that horrible email blunder on the job - New York Post I sent confidential documents to someone by accident via email I need the file completely removed - Gmail Community Gmail Help Sign in Help Center Community New to integrated Gmail Gmail Stay on. Its also possible that she got caught in a broader crackdown on leaks and thus wasnt given a second chance when she otherwise might have been. Had OP not made the initial mistake and then compounded it by telling the coworker, shed still be employed. Im glad that youve had time to think about it and can own the mistake, thats the most important part when we mess up. Dont disagree feelings arent wrong but the way we think about them often is. On Monday, I was called into a fact-finding meeting with HR. I accidently sent an attachment that contained confidential 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. I think in both cases, part of the concern is this retroactive removal of risk. From the other persons perspective, its always easier to say Oh, dont worry, its not that bad than to get a half-hearted minimizing apology for something youre really stinging from. Can you get fired for accidentally sending confidential information? That all strikes me as stuff someone quite young and without strong professional and personal boundaries acts. Companies (and governments) want to carefully manage the messaging and strategy around information that is released in order to bring the biggest buzz and the best information to the public. Its like pain (heck, it IS pain); its telling you something important. And then that coworker did tell someone, and she was fired. Yeah, its like that line from Horton Hears A Who. In an ideal world, it doesnt happen at all. If OP had never confided in any coworker about what she had done, it would still not be blind-siding to be fired for it. They thought it was funny and shared it with a couple more. We literally filled a room with records for them, and 99% of it was people asking what flavor of donuts to bring to a meeting or requesting copies of informational flyers. What you did was misconduct. OP notes that she is a government employee. 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. (Many of these claims have to be handled by specialists who have security clearance, but not all of them.). So, either way my point remains. She could have been a secretary or a spy; no one knows because she went to her grave never telling anyone, not even her husband. Hopefully there still something to be said for that! As this was almost the entirety of your job they really couldnt keep you around. If anyone required training to answer FALSE! 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. Honestly, I got the impression that the writer was on the younger end, just in their self-reported actions and reactions. Quite recently, a client of my firm contacted us to say they had heard staff in a bar gossiping about another client. Is it a HIPAA Violation to Email Patient Names? - HIPAA Journal Or that might not make a difference on how its interpreted. broke a rule can be trivial, even if its technically a firing offense. 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. If you want to work in comms, you need to be crystal clear that the TIMING of disclosure is a crucial issue. That may not be the right wordbut Im having trouble finding the right one. Sharing HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL info with a JOURNALIST? January 31, 2022 . They might try to use silence to get you to say more. I work for a charity that offers a telephone service nationwide, and I take a lot of calls from people in quite distressing situations. 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! I was reading the email at home and after reading the first paragraph I exclaimed out loud (so my spouse could hear) Ooooh. Im curious about how to turn the page, and I think your advice is really good about this own it, let go of the defensiveness, be ready to talk about changes youve made so it wont happen again. Dang! I come across soooo much incidental information about people I know in the course of this job. Thats a horrendously burdensome thing to ask! When it came up during her interview, the candidate said it was complex and that shed learned from it. A major penalty for breach of confidentiality is termination of employment. The damage from most leaks isnt visible until much later, but it can be massive. No! We are not in kindergarten. 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. Check out this article on that HERE. Long since past, now.). You can never rely on people to be 100% trustworthy, no matter how long youve known them. about your coworker reporting you, betrayed and hard done by, is the way your employer feels about you. While the 911 caller believes criminal charges are appropriate, that is a matter for the district attorney to decide. 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. Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. What probably really hurt the OPs case was that the friend is a journalist. My mother got a reference-check call recently regarding someone shed managed and then fired. If it keeps happening, you can report the sender as junk or spam to block future messages. 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. I wanted to add to the part about putting your friend in a bad position: shes a journalist its a competitive industry and being first with the story matters a lot. But when the guilt is deserved, its got a purpose.

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