Let me be clear she did not leak it. These policies are sometimes written down in employee handbooks. The point of the story is the funny way people behave. (For the record, I always told people I was interviewing as a source that there was no such thing as off the record with me its not a requirement of our field, theres no law saying we have to follow that request if asked, so if the subject didnt want me to print something, they shouldnt tell me. Learn that about yourself, and move on. We can think things without saying them out loud. If it hasnt worked out yet, it isnt the end. i think we often send the message (societally) that making someone feel bad is a mean thing to do; its not. how do I get out of an active-shooter drill at my office? Its also possible that the way you talked to your boss about it cost you a second chance too- if you were anything other than mortified and taking 100% responsibility, they likely thought it wasnt worth trusting you again. Maybe you let them know more then they should even without meaning too? If OP had confessed to their manager, it would make sense for the manager to say, I have to report this to such-and-such, but the coworker was right not to warn OP. Not necessarily for the leaking but for the way youre talking about it. If not, an investigation would be started on which employees were poking around in Famous Persons account and why. However, it is unlikely that the circumstances of your firing will be able to be overlooked by an employer who needs to trust your judgment with sensitive data, definitely for the foreseeable future, possibly for many years into your career. If it keeps happening, you can report the sender as junk or spam to block future messages. Maybe the information was a big deal to the agency but not externally (say getting a big grant funded), but if it was something that was legitimately important news, her friend would have been at least a little torn between loyalty to her friend and loyalty to her job. I see a lot of people saying that its always wrong to share confidential information with the press, and thats not necessarily true. Right. Thank you for saying that feelings are never wrong. Its hard to imagine what at a government job could be SOOO Exciting! 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. Its always easier, at least to me, to close your mouth than open it. This is a situation that youre going to have great difficulty explaining away and I might prefer a resume gap to being at such a disadvantage. 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?!. Unauthorized Emails: The Risks of Sending Data to Your Personal Email Accounts. Fwiw the journalist agreed to destroy the info. Once info is out in the community, you have no control over where it goes and any and all ramifications. What!!! Medical too. This issue recently came up for me as an interviewer. Some certainly will, especially those who are more security-conscious. This may have been part of why the manager took the steps she did. Firing you was probably not what they wanted to do, and Im sorry. I think its very strange that so many commenters are trying to police the LWs feelings about the coworker. This is so well said. Both of those would merit a reprimand, separately or together, but somehow in the telling it got turned into that the latter happened with the former as the method. It would have been nice for her to warn you that she was going to report it, or even given you a chance to do it yourself so it would have gone over a bit better. But what you were effectively asking your employer to do is trust a totally unknown (to them) journalist not to publish something that was apparently such exciting news that you, bound by confidentiality, simply couldnt keep quiet about it. As easily as one of them knowing OP uses Slack to contact reporters and assuming I told a journalist friend or I told Rain (who they know is a journalist, possibly on that channel), anything but I texted a (journalist) friend meant OP went the usual Slack route. Oh, its possible to be a rat in the workplace. In the worst cases though, businesses can lose clients and employees can lose jobs. The communications person from the Marine Band was immediately fired when it was discovered she had leaked this information. It may help you to know that the dreaded why are you unemployed right now question doesnt come up in every interview. Alisons given you great words to say now its to you to live out your learning with sincerity and build trust with a new employer. +1 on the choice of language and framing. I actually think your big mistake was telling your coworker, not telling a trusted friend.. I admit to being incredibly curious as well. I think its fair for you to be upset that you didnt have another chance, but also understandable that your employer felt it couldnt give you one. It simply means that your employees are not to disclose proprietary information or data about your company to another person without your consent. For a market where most of this stuff lives in a big way for one season, and then only has some ongoing staying power? I think its also something to do with the fact that if you tell a journalist something newsworthy, youre not just talking, youre offering a thing of (potential) value, which is an entirely different action from sharing news with a friend. I would have serious questions about your judgment if I found out you told any reporter about something that was confidential. Was this alone enough to be fired, or is there a history? If I were your coworker I would have done the exact same thing. Sometimes, like you said, you dont get a second chance. It might just be that the scanners caught it and notified security. > On Monday, I was called into a fact-finding meeting with HR. There were maybe 50 of us on the team for the app. 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. I disagree. All the meanwhile you're still trying to run a successful business and handling other things that are coming up. Well 1.) I dont know if shell do it again, but Im certainly not going to take the risk on someone who doesnt even seem to be sorry. 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. You kind of glaze over this, OP, but if you spoke in this meeting as you did here then I wonder if thats the real reason for the firing. It could also end poorly if the employer actually sees a job opening posted for the position the LW claims was eliminated. 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. As a communicator, youre likely to be privy to confidential information on a regular basis during the course of your career, and if that information leaks for any reason, it could have serious repercussions for the organization especially if its a government body. I wanted to say, it sucks you lost your job after this one time indiscretion, but Im glad you understand the seriousness of it and with Alisons script, I hope youll find a new job soon. (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.). 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 Almost every situation I know of where someone was fired for cause was presented publically as a position elimination.. I am very sure they didnt want to fire him. You are right. Since that didnt happen Im not surprised you werent given a second chance. Forgetting to attach a mentioned attachment is common, but still embarrassing. 100%? Yeah, I thought it was from her personal cell too. Depending on their responses it ranged from retraining, to suspension, to immediate dismissal.. And that wasnt even technically confidential. I dont even share work release information (good or bad) early with my spouse. Wrong is wrong- regardless of scale of the offense, and LW has no one to blame but themselves. It would probably breach a few laws in other European countries too. Another engineer girl here, at a place where people have been fired for leaks and it hits the news when it happens: theres a warning during New Hire Orientation, and between that and our reputation, youre expected to know it. Being honest going forward really will help OP to repair the damage to her reputation and show she has integrity. Im not cleared for it. All journalists are human and many of us have spouses/friends who do things that are news, and this is a situation where good boundaries can protect everyone. Those questioners would hammer her on this. I know that I messed up and I shouldnt have told anyone; in a moment of weakness I texted one of my best friends. Some are minor, some are devastating. Theres truly no compelling reason to break confidentiality here. Although paragraph (b) (2) does not require the lawyer to reveal the client's misconduct, the lawyer may not counsel or assist the client in conduct the lawyer knows is criminal or fraudulent. Im also not going to tell anyone else! When youre put in a position of trust like that and then abuse that trust, you really leave the organization with no other option but to let you go, even if it is your first offense. 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. Employees can't just post anything they want on Facebook or anywhere else. I think she got paid in sandwiches and the knowledge she was the only woman to neck with Nero Wolfe, though. Im thankful I did this in grad school rather than on the job. Its going to bite someoneand this time the person it bit was herself, which gives her a good opportunity to work on discipline and discretion. I would feel terrible about it, definitely, and probably think about it for a while after, but ultimately, Id need to prioritize my family and act in a way that would protect my job/salary/health insurance so I could continue to provide for my them. The mistake was breaking company policy not that they announced to a coworker they broke company policy.. If youre excited about a new, increased source of funding, that shows your agency has money to spend. Sometimes that PHI belongs to people I know. However, were only human. You would never want someone to find out from the news media that they no longer have a job, for example. 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. Weve all made mistakes. You added nuance that I hadnt thought about. If you stay in comms, good to always remember the optics. Second, OP should never have told their friend, trusted or notthe problem is that OP should not ave disclosed it to anyone. 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. As Brett said, there was definitely a record in this case. Heres what to do. LW used Slack at work (and was not supposed to) But if youre singling people out, or only using it in the context of chastising someone, then yeah, for sure condescending and rude. Oh my. reading. Note: You dont want to frame this as It would have been made public eventually so I did nothing wrong. Your tone is still very much acknowledging that you messed up. Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. how trustworthy somebody actually is is never certain. Wouldn't employers just throw my application to the bin once I declare I have been dismissed for gross misconduct? 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. It's difficult to prevent a leak from happening again if you don't know how it occurred in the first place. I fully expect that whenever they find the source of the leak the people involved will face some pretty serious consequences up to and including dismissal and possible criminal proceedings. Journalists seek out and report information thats their job. I understand your irritation with your former coworker. 1. 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. I cant say any details yet, but needed to share my excitement!!. If her friend never told anyone it never would have gotten out. the coworker? Humans, in general, are not geared towards confidentiality and secrecy long-term. In fact, if you are being sent overseas, you have to take a special counterintelligence training before you go that includes tips like dont wear items with your agencys name written on them while you travel and never park next to a panel van.. Telling the trusted friend was the fireable offense. Any of our PR folks would be immediately fired. OP, think about your choice to share with this person. I tell the character and imagine their response, and the urge to share subsides. 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. Theres a lot of admittedly not very exciting info the federal government is sitting on at any time. You shouldnt be upset at your coworker, if anything she should be upset with you for putting her in that situation. My employer lost a lawsuit where they had been sued for violating open records and meetings laws. 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. Then what? Even if you trust her 100%, she is still too high risk. If she hadnt told the superiors, she could have been on the hook as well if it came out that you told a journalist confidential information and then told her about it. Yes, but lets face it, theres no way its as exciting as what any of us are imagining it to be. If there were excetions, that would be explicitly stated. ^^. I wonder how trustworthy the LW considers themself (sp?)? Reacting to being fired for that as if being personally persecuted over some piddly technical rule violation and not being given a second chance? A number of US governmental agencies specifically require that the co-worker NOT tell LW that she will be reporting this to management. My mother got a reference-check call recently regarding someone shed managed and then fired. OP: should I be so emotionally drained by managing? It would have been better if she had told you first that she was going to tell someone I was new to the field and had no idea how dysfunctional that workplace was. A while back I had a coworker/friend who created a memo, for our company A, all based on publicly available information, along with suggestions and comments by the coworker. So seriously, just dont tell anyone at all, fight the temptation, its an icy slope. 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! If you lie during the interview and the truth later comes out, thats enough to get you fired. If the friend had blabbed, shed have been fired, anyway, even without confiding in the senior employee. Wouldnt you ask why the govt didnt fire them the first time? Agreed. confusedabouteverything Forumite. +100 to this. In a couple of hours, the news agencies were calling the federal government, to verify the news. 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. Before I hired you, Id want to know you were familiar with and in agreement with our ethical code, which talks a lot about protecting our clients. Take ownership and accountability of it, because for better or worse, all of us could have made OPs mistake at some point in our careers. Where I work, there are policies that state an employee that finds out about certain kinds of misconduct is mandated to report it or face consequences if it comes out that they knew and didnt report it. Im sorry this happened to you, OP, Im sure it feels devastating, and it sounds like some of the details were inflated but there is a good reminder here for all of us as some things cant be undone. The person you wronged is not obligated to give you that second chance with them. That has an impact on real estate values and could make a government employee excited. An in-person meeting might be more appropriate if you accidentally sent information about your plans to find another job to your manager. 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. All rights reserved. The embargoes I deal with are not earth-shaking (or even quivering), but the people involved are dead serious about not publicizing the information before a specific time. People tend to share with trusted confidants/partners/etc. If yes, that is relevant to the question. I made a similar dumb mistake in my first professional job by sharing something that wasnt sensitive but was nonetheless governed by a broad company-wide confidentiality policy a complaint email sent to our companys contact us address by a customer whose name and address I had omitted. Its a risk when you ignore these compliance issues especially willfully. What the saying about eyes, ears, mouths??? Unfortunately, someone did leak the info so all the employees read about the information in a major business news website AND the local newspaper the night before the event despite the intention for the employees to hear the news firsthand at the event before it was released to the public. 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. Im sorry, what? This seems like a no-brainer to just not do, and if you did, certainly not to tell someone at work that you did this.
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