I empathize, having both been in government service where the people can let the boundaries get too loose and, separately, had a career-breaking moment in a toxic workplace. Im sure the OP will find a new job. With all the Data Protection rules, the E-privacy Regs, yes - and sorry, GDPR, my friend was in panic mode as they still didn't really understand their situation. LW told a human known to be a journalist about The Thing. You might add to Alisons script, I knew immediately that I needed to report my indiscretion, and I did so right away. Only behaviors are right or wrong. Im not sure whether this is something they can move on from or not, but they absolutely need to get themselves out of the mindset that their coworker ratted on them, because thinking that reporting things like that is tattling and childish is how corruption grows. Just wanted to point out that OP said they worked in the government, so while yours might be the public understanding of confidential, it wouldnt apply to anything their job considered confidential. Its very possible that LW could think what happened to me wasnt totally fair and still accept full responsibility for it during interviews (which is obviously the smart thing to do). 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. Coworker would let the other authorities figure that out. And youre being very generous toward the coworker in saying she misunderstood and mistakenly misrepresented it. She should have told her this is serious and Im going to have to report you. Then at least OP could have avoided the slack room full of journalists escalation. Im in Chicago so I read about those firings with interest. Obviously telling the friend was the fireable offense here, Im not arguing that. You are right. Judgement errors tend to repeat themselves. Journalists discuss things all the time that dont make it into published stories, or make it into stories that get killed, or get used for shaping further investigation, or even just as gossip. If you break certain unspoken rules, you can lose your job or ruin your career. The OP was not entitled to be making calls on who outside the org could be trusted with this information. 3) The recipient was a journalist thats super relevant, even if its not in their area Egress Software Technologies Ltd. Find out what you should do when a misdirected email lands in your inbox. how do I get out of an active-shooter drill at my office? And theyll be first with the story. Confidentiality, especially in government, is no joke and should be taken very seriously. Screw-ups happen. I think she was trying to lessen some of the guilt she felt, but really she should have just sat with that feeling and let it fuel her resolve to never share confidential info with an outside party again. I dont feel like we need that caveat though, there of course will be exceptions, but this is kinda derailing. That said, if this was going to be public anyways, your boss may have been inclined to write you up rather than fire you if you were sufficiently remorseful/petrified/mortified. It sucks this happened, and Im sorry that this was the way it all went down. No, not if its classified or embargoed. Perhaps the way you feel (felt?) You can never rely on people to be 100% trustworthy, no matter how long youve known them. rev2023.3.3.43278. In this case you will get a second chance it will just be with another employer. I am very, very lucky. The client can, of course, prevent such disclosure by refraining from the wrongful conduct. I supervise a manager who falsified an employee write-up but I dont think she should be fired. Point is that the higher-level feelings or lowest level conceptualization (that is, the integration of the gut punch and the sense that it cant have been that bad, if it wasnt meant badly, and sense that it cant have been wrong to trust friend, because friend was trustworthy) are still encouraging OP to draw incorrect conclusions about the seriousness of their action, and the appropriateness of their employers actions. It would have been better if she had told you first that she was going to tell someone On Monday, I was called into a fact-finding meeting with HR. This is so true. 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. Oof this is so condescending! 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. Unfortunately there are certain positions where you dont get a second chance when the error knowingly breaking a rule. Heres what to do. 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). There was no warning, no suspension, nothing. This is 100% on you. Its hard though, and its a skill thats learnt over time. She broke a very real and important rule. LW already feels wronged. The same goes for ratting out. 4. Im not sure what the best way is to address this, but were trying! a. problem then you APOLOGIZE and APOLOGIZE rather than defend yourself. Depending on their responses it ranged from retraining, to suspension, to immediate dismissal.. Id had excellent feedback up until then (if this is true), but I mistakenly shared some non-public information with a friend outside the agency, and they let me go as a result. I love telling people things! Some offenses are so serious that you immediately get fired. 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. I think she got paid in sandwiches and the knowledge she was the only woman to neck with Nero Wolfe, though. As a damage control, should I (as the manager responsible) send a message to all employees explaining what occurred and asking them to respect the confidentiality of the information and not open nor forward the information to anyone else or should I just not bring additional attention to this message? (I think, I never worked in government communications so Im not positive of this.). Im not saying the employer didnt do these things or even if they didnt that its anybodys fault other than LW that this happened, but its a good way to stop situations like this before they happen. Also in any governmental job or any job governed by many laws and regulations (such as medicine, law, dentistry, etc) they are laws and compliance regulations in place that must be abided by and every employee had to sign such an agreement usually yearly but at least upon hiring. Hopefully there still something to be said for that! I went to a church where I attended youth group, sat outside, and repeated my news over and over to Jesus for about three hours before I felt certain I could keep it from anyone else (note that no one else was anywhere nearby). The company would have thought everything was hunky dory, but they would have employee on staff who did not understand confidentially requirements. 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. We also got early warning that legislators were encouraged to resign, a day or two before the press releases. You can bounce back! It doesnt matter that its a good friend of yours who happens to be a journalist shes a journalist, and her JOB is to tell people about things she finds out about. 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. Acidity of alcohols and basicity of amines, Using indicator constraint with two variables. So this. I was new, too eager to please, naive and I let the client rush me instead of following established protocol. I am not falling on the sword or putting my job on the line for a coworker. Im not trying to teach her a lesson, necessarily, she seems to have gotten the point. You are fortunate to get the opportunity to learn it early when it hasnt resulted in severe long term consequences. Me too in Government. Id spend some time processing how you felt and trying to learn to take accountability and personal responsibility for this (and seriously its something thats really uncomfortable and hard for everyone but it helps so much). Separately, when you share, you have to still be oblique enough to not get yourself in trouble. The employer has a policy against this and everyone working there has signed that they read the policy. (Obviously dont tell any potential employer that but its my personal opinion). Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. I cant say any details yet, but needed to share my excitement!!. Mandatory reporting is a thing that exists. There wasnt any risk, my judgment was good!. You can bet Id be gone with no second chance despite my almost-20-years and ton of good work. If we receive confidential information, there are very specific and non-flexible procedures we have to follow to handle those documents/information. I used to handle accounts, but could not handle my own. What Are the Ways to Respond to an Unintentional HIPAA Violation? Can I get fired for . Confidential email sent to wrong address? | Email DLP | Egress When an employer says something is confidential, take it seriously Why is it so hard for people to just keep their (figurative) mouth shut? I had friends who would jokingly-semi-serious ask me if I was poking around their accounts and such while I was working there and I would deadpan look at them and say your finances and personal information isnt interesting enough to lose my job over and then change the subject. Thats why they told you the information was confidential. So I guess my coworker could have misunderstood when I said I texted one friend, but I wish she would have talked to me about that first? . Nothing dangerous, and while I was there it honestly wasnt even anything that would be a big scoop or exciting dinner party story. 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. How on earth could you know this was a misunderstanding? Fascinating (and fun!) People just seemed to forget that with Epic, even one second of accessing a chart is recorded. So, thats to say that I *completely* get the idea that at some point, you get to a point where you just really really need to share. 5 unspoken rules that can get you fired - CBS News but if you mess up and by the skin of your teeth get away with it, just DO NOT talk about it with anyone at the company. Work It Out: If I Share Private Information Accidentally About My And there are reasons the rule is dont leak, rather than dont leak (except to people youre *really sure* wont tell any one else (except people who they are really sure they wont tell anyone else (except people theyre absolutely positive wont tell anyone else))). Email Basics: Email Violations Can Jeopardize Your Job - GCFGlobal.org because your performance / screw-up affects them, or because they feel they are being compared to you and want to put the record straight to defend themselves), or out of a sense that they have an obligation to report (whether or not they actually do). I get so exasperated with TV shows where a SO throws a tantrum about a cop/government worker not being able to tell them stuff, and turns it into a trust issue.
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