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Im not feeding a narrative, Im expressing my opinion. Has 90% of ice around Antarctica disappeared in less than a decade? I dont know if it was to avoid track-covering or to prevent retaliation, but that was a specific part of the procedure. He shared it with one person, telling them it was a joke. But you should try to understand how this happened (why that friend? Yes you can. I do have to wonder if the hospital failed to educate its employees on how freaking serious that kind of breach was, And also failed to inform them that the system tracks who looks up a particular patients record. Are there any reasons why the coworker couldnt be upfront with what had to be done ? The government takes this stuff very very seriously. In government, keep this confidential almost always means never share ever on pain of serious legal sanctions.. Even when it doesnt require them to report it, it still could have consequences they dont want to be a part of! That is exactly what could have happened to her government agency with the info that she leaked in the first place. 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. how trustworthy somebody actually is is never certain. For what its worth, one thing I noticed from your letter is language that sounds very social, discussing your trust in your friend, being ratted out by your mentor, not being given a second chance, and so on. The fact is, its just not their secret to share. I work in a field (not government) where some nonpublic is newsworthy but only in the arts and style sections. We go through training every 6 months, that we should NOT to tell the coworker or customer that we will need to report them. 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. But it absolutely does not mitigate it AT ALL. I always wondered if they remained friends after that fiasco. Were considering opening ours up to partner agencies, and I spent a good two hours cleaning up the old messages in the general chat. 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. Pay secrecy is a workplace policy that prohibits employees from discussing how much money they make. That, and I never slapped another plucky again. Agreed. I used to work at a government agency and it was super hard to get fired so I can understand your consternation. I dont love not being able to tell her things (even though we are each others I promise not to tell anybody (but Friend) person), the way we share this information is by forwarding press releases once the information is public. President issuing an executive order on (issue the agency deals with) You take this as a hideously painful lesson, and change your behavior across the board, and most people could see that as a learning moment, from which you learned. But at that very moment, I was in a personal email back-and-forth with another female coworker. Really? Sure, thered be a record in Slack of prior messages. But when the guilt is deserved, its got a purpose. As a sidenote: *Even if* you think it *wasnt* a big deal, when you get hauled into the boss office and told it. Conversely, I cant tell him about certain things from my work, though at least he knows what I do. The company would have thought everything was hunky dory, but they would have employee on staff who did not understand confidentially requirements. You are fortunate to get the opportunity to learn it early when it hasnt resulted in severe long term consequences. As in I am so, so sorry! 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. I came here to say this. It shouldnt happen but Id understand if it did. 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. You can bet Id be gone with no second chance despite my almost-20-years and ton of good work. Perhaps something like the announcement of the new Amazon HQ? You know that saying Its not the crime that gets you, but the cover-up? Its very dangerous to OPs professional reputation to assume OP can trust anyone who is unauthorized, including a good friend, with embargoed information. You can -and often should convey emotion in your official public statements. Everyone makes mistakes at all points in our careers. I mean, yeah, absolutely! And I did use Slack on my work computer, and I did interact professionally with some journalists who covered my area over Slack. You learned, BOY HOWDY did you learn, and now you dont mess around not even gossiping with co-workers or any of those other little ways that could instill doubt in your discretion. e.g. Or did you double down on not my fault, not a big deal, and co-worker shouldnt have said anything? For most cases in the US, I'd expect it to be legal. He was valuable. Its what you do with what you learn that is important. In a roundabout way, they somewhat did you a kindness by firing you. 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. And honestly, you broke an embargo for your own company. Check out this article on that HERE. You violated your contract so your previous employer had little choice but to let you go - your new employer will understand this but if you show them you've accepted responsibility for it and will make sure never to do that again then I think you've got a good chance of getting another position. When I asked about the job move he said he had failed to make a required disclosure on a sale and so was fired, but how he took it to heart and had behaved since. Agree with this. And Im happy to report that I have never shared that news (still remember it bcs this was so hard that first time!). Not generational, just a young person thing. We got [Celebrity Y] to promote a big public health initiative! I now work somewhere where I have access to sensitive information, including my own. Im not understanding how OPs update comment reads as defensiveit shows significant progression from deflection to ownership, to me. (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. 100%? How do I tell potential future employers why I got fired and have them still want to hire me? 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. But also to say that when you work with confidential info, the impulse to share is a common one, and managing it is something you need to be on top of from every angle. Forgetting to attach a mentioned attachment is common, but still embarrassing. Thats pretty ratty behavior. 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. Only hope going forward is own up flatly and without defensiveness . Contact the GDPR manager at once. That means that you definitely shouldnt get into anything about anyone ratting you out; that would make it sound like you dont think it really should have mattered. I did not get fired for the offense, but I genuinely learned a great deal from the experience and it changed the entire way I interacted with clients, for the better. That makes a certain subset of people *extremely* excited. Of course, its your fault but it is only human to be annoyed with someone, especially someone who seemed to completely misrepresent what happened. 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. We were interviewing someone who had broken the #1 cardinal ethical rule in our industry (a branch of health care). I just think it serves OP to choose a more benign explanation because it will help OP deal with the fall out of the situation going forward. Right. I missed the phrase ratted me out in the original message, but given those feelings, it doesnt really count as self-reporting. We wont tell anyone. And maybe you should go next week, because the slots love you and you always win. Im very aware of that reality, so I confine my work email to work stuff only. read something out loud THEN realize that it wasnt public information. But thats where having friends in the same workplace comes inyou can expend the impulse by gushing to them and then zip your lips once you leave the building. She showed no contrition or reflection. All rights reserved. Within hours, there were writeups on tech blogs about the new iPhone before its official release. Minimizing it will make it harder for future employers to trust OP, whereas frank ownership and an action plan will read as much more responsible and accountable. I agree that its ok to be upset with people, even if its irrational or illogical, as long as we ultimately let it go and refrain from mistreating someone because of our illogical emotional response. First coworker was fired in spite of the fact that he was a brilliant and (normally) even tempered guy with years of work at the corporation. Heres what to do. Basically, one of the key ways that spies get information is by social engineering picking up seemingly minor information through friendly chat that they can then combine together to make more. Don't worry, you're still qualified to be Secretary of State. This seems unnecessarily condescending, and I dont think the LW sounds defensive here at all. 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. You simply let the sender know you've received it by accident, then they can rectify their mistake and you can delete the email. (I dont know if the OP explicitly said off the record, but its not like journalists dont handle that all the time when people do.). Not saying you did this! Not to mention if you tell a lie (even by omission), its a lie you have to keep up, indefinitely. You are disappointed you didnt get a second chance. It might not be that the coworker reported you. Nothing I said contradicts this. I do have to wonder if the hospital failed to educate its employees on how freaking serious that kind of breach was, although Id still put the failure on the feet of the violators. 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. Thats a flat out easy to uncover lie. A few weeks ago I worked on a medical chart for A Big Rockstar, but not only do I get fired if I tell anyone which one, I get fired if I open up a single page of his chart that I cant explain, if asked, what the exact and specific work-related reason for opening that page was. Before I was born, there was a project where mother had to get clearance as well. 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. This is probably not a feasible strategy, unless the OP was at the job for only a few months. What if there was another leak and someone found out that OP had told Coworker that she had leaked info previously, but didnt report it as she was supposed. You may want to target less security-sensitive industries or environments until you've worked up enough of a resume after this event to show that you're reliable. You would never want someone to find out from the news media that they no longer have a job, for example. Fired. But that was the right response to what you did. Also, its not clear from your response Do you understand how serious what you did was? 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. 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. OP came to her, she felt guilty, they apparently talked about this a bit, so why not tell her that this cant be kept secret and she has to come forward to her boss ? Assuming this is in the US, and were talking about FOIA laws, typically a records request will come through a particular channel (not likely to be some random employee in communications.). Dont blame your colleague she may have been obligated to report this. If someone had been privy to the list of cities prior to the announcement, and leaked it, they would 100% have been fired. And not even trusting her not to publish it, but what if SHE got so excited by the news, just as LW did, that she just had to tell someone, and she picked someone that she trusted implicitly, and told them in strict confidence. Yes, or that appalling line by E M Forster, written just before the Second World War: if I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend I hope I should have the guts to betray my country. (Drunk driving is an extreme example of this. Medical too. can you get fired for accidentally sending confidential information. If I know that Senator Y is releasing a health care plan on Monday that would require mandatory surgery for every American, and he has bipartisan support for it, thats a much more specific news tip, and Id rather my friend just not tell me and save me the heartburn. 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. Plus you might be doing them a massive favour when it comes to catching a data breach early. You made yourself very vulnerable, your mentor knew that, and unfortunately, youre now bearing the consequences. But I agree that reporting coworkers for actual errors that actually affect the company isnt ratting. And it doesnt sound to me as though the OPs coworker was in any way a rat. It will get out, eventually. You are allowed to feel your feels about things, so long as you understand the reality. When you accidentally receive a confidential from someone within your own organisation, things are pretty simple. If its something that would be a big deal for LWs friends news outlet to report first, not being able to say anything to the reporters who could write about it even, hey, I hear this might happen, you should make some calls! Im a fed and we have annual mandatory training out the wazoo on these kinds of rules, as well as frequent reminder emails from the ethics folks and/or the IGs office. Also, Ive seen plenty of firings that were absolutely not presented as position elimination. Even if the exact reason wasnt shared employer isnt going to say Oh, Jane took home a spreadsheet full of MNPI they will absolutely share that the ex-employee was fired for cause, not laid off. But they took confidentiality very seriously, and I signed an extremely ironclad NDA, so I never told anyone any of the interesting tidbits I found out about from working there. Instead, the employees found out by reading the news instead, which hurts morale. True, but youre talking more about deciding to become a whistleblower over something potentially dangerous to the public. If OP doesnt recognize and own up to that, thats going to be a bigger red flag for potential employers than if OP said, I made a mistake, learned from it, and it wont happen again.. Yeah, its like that line from Horton Hears A Who. And I dont think it helps the OP to say that she doesnt have the right to have feelings of resentment toward the coworker. And if I tell anyone, including a coworker ,that I processed said claim, my butt could very well get in a lot of trouble. If you lean over a cubicle and whisper I broke the rule! 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. Life may not look better in 6 months but I bet it does in 3 years. But unfortunately, the rules of your job are such that you justcant. And it could be part of the reason why the story was a bit incoherent, too she went from sort of uncomfortable to really, really uncomfortable. Breach of confidentiality can be described as an act of gross misconduct, so deal with issues that arise in a timely manner, in line with your procedures and look at any previous cases to ensure fairness and consistency. never actually say the words Gross Misconduct. 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. Thats the very last reporting step for something illegal/dangerous. Ive heard complaints from folks who arent allowed to give positive references to former coworkers who earned them. 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. should I tell my coworker about our colleagues criminal record, I deeply regret joining my companys leadership program, and more, my company is cutting my overworked teams pay as punishment for mistakes. She already got that advice from Alison. But according to the LW, the trusted friend would not have blabbed, so if the LW didnt tell the coworker, the company would have never known and everything would be hunky dory. Heres another the state Supreme Court will probably make a decision on voting district gerrymandering soon., (This one happened to me, and was probably the most exciting confidential information I got access to my desk was close enough to the GIS employees that I could see the increased traffic out of their area and infer that Something was Happening. This is so well said. Yeah, I once got fired and I have always framed it as being fired for one thing I said in a meeting, but the truth is, I really got fired for not apologizing for saying the one thing. I resent our new hires for setting better work-life boundaries than our company normally has, hairy legs at work, my office sent me a random TV, and more, heres an example of a great cover letter with before and after versions, my employee cant handle even mildly negative feedback, my new coworker is putting fake mistakes in my work so she can tell our boss Im bad at my job, insensitive Diversity Day, how to fire someone who refuses to talk to us, and more, weekend open thread February 25-26, 2023, assistant became abusive when she wasnt invited to a meeting, my coworkers dont check on people who are out sick, and more. It can be exciting to know whats going to happen before it happens, even when the news itself isnt *that* thrilling. But doing so would likely out the department LW worked for, and probably LW herself. All people, of all ages, are capable of errors in judgment. Its a great professional resource with a lot of professional development around ethics. Some agencies will only provide title and dates of employment, which is a lucky break for you. She shared it with a friend. If yes, that is relevant to the question. On other occasions, you might accidentally receive a confidential email with information meant for one person (or a few people) you know. And theres a difference between feeling (sensation) and feeling (conclusion drawn from integrating sensations and information). Basically, I was fired for X mistake. You arent entitled to a second chance to screw this up. Report and act quickly Thats another instant firing, even if the information isnt ever misused. (And thats before you tack on that LW thought it wasnt SO bad because he told Journalist Jason, who can keep a secret, as opposed to Reporter Robert, whos a real sieve.). 1964 is what I remember. Your second co-worker who sexually harassed a woman was put on a PIP? That way, the Address box of every reply starts out empty. Frequently there would be confidential news like, The tiger had her baby and its a girl! or Were getting hippos! that we couldnt share with the public for a few days (to be sure the baby was healthy and would survive past a critical period, or so the news could be shared in the way the marketing department deemed appropriate, or whatever.) Agreed. I would also lay odds that when LW says Coworker was understandably very uncomfortable with what I did, and we had a very nice conversation about our duties as communication officers, and trust, etc., that means that despite what LW thought about it being a nice confidential chat, her mentor figure was trying to imply to her that she was going to HAVE TO report the incident, because trust and responsibility.