That really set the tone for the reference she gave. I dont believe this falls under inadvertent, though OP deliberately gave that information to her friend. OOPS! Sent a confidential email to the wrong address? You could say that, but itd be a lie, which would be an automatic dealbreaker for many potential employers, and theres no guarantee that the previous employer would keep the cause for firing secret. Really? I work for a state government agency and FOIA is a really big deal. (IE: if they think you f*cked up, then respond like you did, however you actually feel). OP, its great that you trusted your friend enough to be confident that she wouldnt share what you told her. OP needs to learn the art of discernment. Sharing HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL info. And there was no social media then, so 100+++ times that now. Also ratty. She shared *exciting* embargoed information. Im not feeding a narrative, Im expressing my opinion. I definitely learned my lesson, and it was a hard one, and one that I will regret for a very, very long time. Perhaps something like the announcement of the new Amazon HQ? Its good to hear from you! But, its important for an employer to know that you understand the need for reporting and would report things yourself if needed. 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? Unless his bedroom was a SCIF and the phone secured, thats really bad. There are different levels of confidentiality for different circumstances. This was not the coworker telling the boss that OP left 5 minutes early, took a personal call during work hours but OP violating a strict rule even if they trusted the friend. 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. The main problem is that 'copying data in a very insecure way to be able to bring those data. You can bounce back! Also, if your mentor went through the trouble of having a conversation with you about your duties and seemed concerned, I doubt she was out to get you she probably felt it was her duty and to her best interest to report now that you have made her an accomplice-after-the-fact in any potential breach (say, your friend was the one out to get you and it leaked before your department had any plans for dealing with a leak, this mentor would also be in trouble for not reporting it as soon as she knew if they found out she did), OP I want to comment on one aspect that I didnt see anyone mentioning directly. Perhaps the email was intended for a client in which case the clients data is at risk and the sender has inadvertently committed a data leak. Best wishes to OP in her work on this. Its helped me when a friend has told me something in confidence but I really need to talk about it for whatever reason. A breech of confidentiality like that can land you and others in jail. I love telling people things! You need to be ready to show that you understand that you have responsibility to understand and comply with policy, and that you're willing to do that. Really? You want to minimize this, and thats natural. I think it helps that you told your coworker. The emotion is neutral; its what you do with it that counts. Hows work? You made a mistake. how did HR and OPs boss come to the conclusion that this information was spread through Slack (!) A lot of times, the actual employee might not be important, but they might know something like when a key senior person works, or gossip about so-and-so, that is then used to either help with hacking, help with fraud, do additional social engineering where they know just enough about a topic to lead the conversation, or in some cases to put pressure on a higher-level person to try to get them to give further information or make certain decisions. Maybe OPs workplace does the same? If we receive confidential information, there are very specific and non-flexible procedures we have to follow to handle those documents/information. "Compose the email, and only then go back and enter the address (es)," he says. They might try to use silence to get you to say more. Rules are there because its so easy to do that thing that feels harmless, and sometimes nobody gets hurt.. The fact is, its just not their secret to share. But if I did, itd basically just be gossip (I hear Senator Ys staff is really frustrated) that they could choose to report out in detail or not, and definitely wouldnt be traced back to me. And all you learned was to avoid freshly mopped floors? There is a greater issue here regarding judgement. Quite recently, a client of my firm contacted us to say they had heard staff in a bar gossiping about another client. Youre heading in the right direction, and youve also gotten some really good advice. Getting fired sucks. Understand the true risk of accidentally hitting send to the wrong person. The misrepresentation of what happened is my concern. If you are still defensive or dismissive about this, it will come through in an interview. [Well-known bad person] is going to be fined/punished/arrested. If it keeps happening, you can report the sender as junk or spam to block future messages. Feelings can be irrational though, or overblown, or immature, or any number of shades of wrong that means you shouldnt give them 100% credence. I dont know the OPs financial status but if she needed the $$$ its not that easy to look at it as a kindness in the moment. Dont blame the co-worker for ratting you out. On other occasions, you might accidentally receive a confidential email with information meant for one person (or a few people) you know. When they call for a reference, many employers will absolutely say if you were fired or laid off, and they will give detailed references. Yes, this. Like its going to be easier to find a job because she has the integrity to say she got fired. The mistake may not have been trusting the friend with that information, but it was definitely telling her. 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. 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. (i hope this story still makes sense with all identifying details purged, but hopefully its clear from context uh why i am purging all those details smdh) Shes never even heard any of the names of our clients, except for a couple she met once at an adjunct social function. I think its very strange that so many commenters are trying to police the LWs feelings about the coworker. Best of luck with your search. In the US, sexual harassment wont merit a police response. I know that I messed up and I shouldnt have told anyone; in a moment of weakness I texted one of my best friends. You made yourself very vulnerable, your mentor knew that, and unfortunately, youre now bearing the consequences. (I thought Al Frankens apology to the fellow entertainer was pretty good, actually. It seems like LW has had time to process and isnt being combative. You said it yourself that you were working on client confidential information, and sent it to your personal mailbox. Yes, you can get fired for opening a phishing email. Any of our PR folks would be immediately fired. Things worked out this time, so I was right! 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. Taking a quick peek at someones medical records just out of curiosity? Sorry that this happened to you (Ive made stupid mistakes too) but you may want to consider keeping problems like this to yourself. I dont know, I think thats overstating. We need to be careful about using terms like victimless mistake. The only thing even slightly puzzling is why during the conversation with the mentor, mentor didnt say you do understand I am obligated to report this? Maybe mentor thought that might prompt LW to do something track-covering so it was better left going directly to the bosses without warning. 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. The enforcement has to be based on the idea that the leak was damaging. Thats a big deal. Its also totally understandable that youre disappointed about losing your job, but they might have just considered that kind of confidentiality breach too much of a risk going forward. My adviser listened to what was going on and was like we have to tell. 2 July 2018 at 9:11PM. If that is so, there is nothing you can do to avoid the termination and you should be looking for new employment. And calling this victimless isnt a helpful framing; if you do something thats clearly forbidden and could result in real harm, thats a problem even if no harm resulted this time. Or that might not make a difference on how its interpreted. Not just confidential, but confidential from *journalists*!! See Rule 1.2 (d). 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. Are there any reasons why the coworker couldnt be upfront with what had to be done ? Its the Im still pretty upset that I had no second chance, but I suppose I just lost their trust. that did it for me (especially after all the ways the OP dodged responsibility in the original letter). Lack of integrity. In other words, this whole line of discussion is moot. 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. If you own your mistake, meditate on it, learn from it, and learn to tell the story of how you learned from it, then you might be able to get another job in the communications industry working for a company that does not handle sensitive client data, or in another industry where there are no potential confidentiality issues with your job. I doubt she had it out for you and rather was worried you confided a big breech to her which could adversely affect the company. Embarrassing or inappropriate communications sent via company email can damage professional credibility, reputations, and careers. Its also true that people do break confidentiality for a variety of reasons, but people who are really really REALLY aware that they are breaking confidentiality and how big the consequences of it are, are also on top of not leaving a footprint that can be traced back to them. Its also important to note that OP called it non-public and Alison was the person who called it confidential. Good luck! Yep, I think its worth LW remembering that while she knew shed never leak anything again, her boss and co-workers dont. For me, it was like OK, she shared embargoed information something she shouldnt have. Other agencies will provide title and dates, and whether you are eligible for rehire. If its a marketing message, spam, or something that looks entirely unimportant simply delete and move on. but to start the process of damage control. I remind people about once a year that not only can I not look up their medical info on my own, I cant look it up even if they ask me to, and I get in even more trouble if I look up my own medical info. Look the UK Foreign Office is currently knee deep in a police investigation into information thats been leaked to journalists and the consequences are potentially extremely serious. But doing so would likely out the department LW worked for, and probably LW herself. Dan is such a pain! Shell lose credibility in the hiring process, and even if she did slip through and get hired, its automatically grounds for a dismissal if the truth ever came to light (even in Canada, where it is harder to let people go from roles than in most of the US states). Changing how you feel (as opposed to what you say or do or think) is not something you need to do to solve the problem. As a government employee she would have been trained on that rule and should have fully understood the ramifications of breaking it. No one is trying to tell the OP that she needs to be friends with this former coworker. However, if the message appears urgent to somebodys life or career, its likely youll want to consider stepping in. this is one of the reasons why its best to have a mentor who is NOT at the same company as you. 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. 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. Contact the recipient Get in touch with the recipient as soon as you notice the mistake and ask them to delete the email without reading or sharing it. Ive been thinking a lot about apologies in general lately, and one of the most thought-provoking pieces of advice Ive seen is to always err on the side of assuming that whatever you did was a bigger deal than you think. This is a GREAT way to position it. 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. Ive been in the position of having the relevant information, and even if its hard, you just cant tell your journalist friends unless youre okay with them using it: its what they do, and its not fair to ask them not to. Yeah, seconding this. And even worse when it can have legal implications like for insider trading or government secrecy. It doesnt matter that the information is going public next week. The problem here is that the OP misjudged the level of confidentially expected in the situation, and maybe by their office/profession in general. She IS a rat! A senior UK diplomat has resigned over the matter. The LW actually had a responsibility to keep the info confidential, and the friend doesnt. Sometimes I see stuff that is cool to nerds of that particular field, but 95% of my Secret Information from clients is not even interesting to them. I agree. I feel your pain. Dont reveal confidential information and fully own up to your shit are good lessons. Having a mentor at a different organization in a similar role might be a good idea for the future. Sometimes people screw up and they still really need their jobs. What exactly do you want her to do so you feel satisfied that shes recognizing and acknowledging the seriousness of what happened? Thank you it was getting boring to read everyones outrage. But your friends profession means you often cant share these types of things with her because of other peoples perceptions about it they dont know your friend, and while she may take off the record seriously, some journalists dont and your coworkers have no way of knowing which type of journalist she is. One colleague really didnt like the plan, and he was communicating with people who were organizing opposition to it using his work email. It might not be that the coworker reported you. The OP actually committed a fairly serious breach. 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. Employer found out and had grounds to fire you. I was often privy to non-public information because I was designing media campaigns around them. And this will definitely have an effect on how you come across to people interviewing you in future. I think that speaks to exactly why this was such a breach, though. 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. Because I can almost guarantee that your reputation in that organization would never recover, even if you had remained employed. We've added a "Necessary cookies only" option to the cookie consent popup. Ive seen many workplaces that dont spend an amount of time discussing confidentiality that is commensurate with its importance, or that dont go into specifics about when it is and isnt ok to tell somebody something you heard at work, and a general statement tends not to hold up to the in-the-moment excitement of oooooh I know THING about CELEBRITY! or whatever. Being honest going forward really will help OP to repair the damage to her reputation and show she has integrity. This includes understanding what you did wrong and explaining how you might have approached this in future (hint: ask boss, transfer via encrypted USB if necessary and allowed. If she really understood or valued confidentiality, she would not be trying to convince us of how victimless this was. The focus moving forward should be about realizing how serious a problem it was, how badly you feel about it, and how youre committed to not making the same mistake again. Wouldnt you ask why the govt didnt fire them the first time? ! mode if she told me a general were harassing her, unless making this public is something shed want. But when youve broken someones trust, they dont owe it to you to offer that opportunity and shouldnt offer it unless they sincerely believe that you could meaningfully repair the breach quickly and comprehensively. If you werent human, you wouldnt make mistakes. The protected classes are race, age (40+), sex, national origin, religion, or disability. 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. No. But your wording indicates that you dont yet have insight into just how much you breached the trust of your company. I would have ratted you out too. The thing is, its a big deal that you were given confidential information and then texted it to a friend. 2. Yes! It may be a requirement of employment regarding compliance. Your understanding of confidential is not mine. Click "Enable" if it isn't selected already. The secretary is going to be featured at [cool upcoming event]! Better to have a 30% chance than a 0% chance. When we make mistakes, they are impactful, but we're human and it happens. Feelings are frequently conflated with facts in our minds and it can take some work to separate them. You can get past this, if you learn from the experience. People leak or share things to journalists they know all the time, with agreements by those journalists on how to share it. If you want to work in comms, you need to be crystal clear that the TIMING of disclosure is a crucial issue. And then that coworker did tell someone, and she was fired. 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.
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