Its to prevent covering of tracks or retaliation or extinction bursts (Im about to be caught for X may as well make the punishment worthwhile and do Y and Z too, or if they are acting with deliberate malign intent Im caught, better leak as much as possible asap). They know it happens. The same goes for ratting out. The emotion is neutral; its what you do with it that counts. Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. Wait, what the friend is a *journalist*?. Im more curious about what KIND of exciting information it was. How is an ETF fee calculated in a trade that ends in less than a year? It may be a requirement of employment regarding compliance. I was fired from a job and when I started interviewing for following ones, I kept trying to spin it and it did not work at it. She already acknowledged that its 100% her fault. Heres the story: I worked for a large government agency, in communications. She just needs to learn discretion. And you might know that you trust that friend 100% to keep it confidential but your employer would prefer to make that call themselves, and thought theyd done so when they told you the information couldnt be shared. Screw-ups happen. Letter writer, it sounds like youre new to our field and may not understand the importance of keeping confidence. Better to have a 30% chance than a 0% chance. I have worked and volunteered at government-related organizations before. It can feel like the end of the world but I promise you it isnt. Ive worked in the banking industry for a couple decades and this would be a fireable offense on the first instance, no ifs, ands, or buts. How do you approach company policy in general? Having a mentor at a different organization in a similar role might be a good idea for the future. Theres no mitigating circumstance here. Im not cleared for it. Not advising you to lie, but you can present the circumstances in as flattering manner as you like. Any tax or benefit records, any survey or census records if I access them without good reason its a firing offence. Everyone in the workplace has an equal obligation and responsibility to ensure that rules are upheld because thats what keeps the company operating smoothly and in business and able to provide jobs to you all. It was a big enough thing that they gave you a 1st chance. I think one can be upset at not getting a second chance without feeling necessarily entitled to one. Yeah, wouldnt it be possible to prove (or rather disprove) that you leaked to a slack channel full of journalists? The hospital I was working for last year had the best of this kind of presentation that Ive ever seen. Fwiw the journalist agreed to destroy the info. Unfortunately, there are instances where employees have accidentally leaked confidential information. First coworker punched second coworker. Phrase it as a serious learning point, because you sure as hell aren't going to do it again after getting fired. Leaking information can actually be the right thing in some cases. As far as I know, he held the highest security clearance a civilian could have. Everyone absolutely everyone employed at a hospital has to undergo annual HIPAA compliance training. Im not curious at all, but Im different. If theyd covered up for her/not removed her access to confidential info and she did it again, their jobs would be on the line too the next time. Man I am swamped with the publicly known project I am barely treading water. Like, firing on the spot if I access my own chart. (Even if its not an area she covers, she likely knows the person who does, and journalists share tips/info all the time.). It may help in your next position to transpose your thinking around these things a bit. Communications professionals are privy to so many deals and information that cant be divulged to even spouses until they become public. I think if the OP had framed the situation as, how can I get another job after being fired for being a whistleblower after I shared important but unfortunately confidential information with a journalist because the public has a right to know, these comments would be very different. They must always assume the worst case anyway. The LW actually had a responsibility to keep the info confidential, and the friend doesnt. The coworker did the right thing. . My late dad worked for a government defence research agency for most of his career. Any of our PR folks would be immediately fired. Once you realize that you are likely on the road to employment termination, you need to know that there are options: Responding To The Red Flags. You still have to go through the same information request as someone who doesnt work there. 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. UK government has fired people for looking up records of contestants on reality TV series, multiple times. but to start the process of damage control. 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. People working on campaigns get to be privy to all sorts of information that is not intended to be public. 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. They might try to use silence to get you to say more. Third, with bright line rules, we cannot adopt situational ethics where its ok to disclose to close-trusted-journalist-friend because we trust them. There are offenses, especially regarding releasing items, that would be serious enough to warrant immediate dismissal. I have a whole bunch of very personal medical information swimming around my memory and I while some of it Ive wished I could share with my spouse, I never have. She has to protect her job and reputation as well in the end, she shouldnt have to risk her own job stability due to your choices! I had not thought about this issue via this lens, but I think youre 100% right. You didn't accidentally email the material to yourself, you did it on purpose. Trying to understand how to get this basic Fourier Series, Linear regulator thermal information missing in datasheet. Spek raised a good point- find out what your HR policy is so you know what to be prepared for in an interview. Im going to go see how they reviewed it.). But there was no way we were actually going to get the contract now if they didnt. Talking about your work on a more general level is usually allowed unless your employer or their client is unusually paranoid. And if the coworker didnt tell and it somehow got out that she knew another job lost. How does this make it any better or worse..? He had a fairly high security clearance and was stationed at NORAD for a time. How do I make amends and go about apologizing to former manager(s) after being dismissed for gross misconduct? The emphasis on how not harmful the infraction was is totally hurting your case, OP. whatever you think is appropriate] to make sure it doesnt happen again.. Also, no matter how good a friend someone is, if they are a journalist you need to zip your lips. If you told, you breached confidentiality, no matter what the other people did. Fired for gross misconduct because I sent confidential information to personal mailbox - how do I get another job? It was a refreshingly candid answer and so we wound up hiring him. The latter looks more like something that could repeat under similar circumstances. This was supposed to be a stand-alone comment. 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. Yeah the world just being what it is, if youre this bad at keeping secrets, youre gonna get burned by it pretty quick. Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been. I had to learn the hard way, Im afraid, but I did learn. I always assumed the phrase meant no feelings are incorrect, and it made a lot less sense than the way youve laid it out! Basically, I was fired for X mistake. The thing is, its a big deal that you were given confidential information and then texted it to a friend. I have been fired for a dumb mistake. Im not going to spell out what it was, but it was completely unethical and immoral, and shes lucky her license wasnt permanently revoked for it. I think that is also part of the lesson that OP needs to learn. Be careful. You unpromptedly wrote a message to the friend. Its like pain (heck, it IS pain); its telling you something important. 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. The consequences are serious and could have legal implications if youre representing a government or publicly traded company. 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. Its always easier, at least to me, to close your mouth than open it. Sometimes that PHI belongs to people I know. Between that and having family members who have been laid off and lost access to their work account that they used for personal use as well, I have learned to keep work and personal email accounts separate. If you had to process the cool news, it may have been better to process with the mentor instead. While the 911 caller believes criminal charges are appropriate, that is a matter for the district attorney to decide. Same-sex marriage is going to be legalized tomorrow!. There wasnt any risk, my judgment was good!. I was reading the email at home and after reading the first paragraph I exclaimed out loud (so my spouse could hear) Ooooh. 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. In my first job out of college in the insurance industry I reinstated someones coverage without verifying that they had had no claims in the lapsed period they immediately called claims and filed a $40,000 claim. It was a couple of telling E-mails that helped bring down Bear Stearns with the subprime loan mess crashing . Everything the OP described sounds like a non-public record. The HIPAA Rules require all accidental HIPAA violations, security incidents, and breaches of unsecured PHI to be reported to the covered entity within 60 days of discovery - although the covered entity should be notified as soon as possible and notification should not be unnecessarily delayed. You hear something genuinely classified and blab it too because its so cool? Then what? OP will also want to consider not focusing her career path on jobs that require a security clearance for classified information. But this was a self-inflicted wound, and you shouldnt frame it otherwise. They take information security and confidentiality so seriously that they make delivery people who come to the offices sign an NDA just in case they were in the elevator with Sam Jackson. But how do I explain this to show I learnt from my mistake and get a new job. This is not about a public records requestits about how information is released to the public before that information becomes public. Most companies will not say so-and-so was fired for doing x in a reference check. The damage from most leaks isnt visible until much later, but it can be massive. Im a publicist. 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. All we can do is learn, rest, and go on another day. Yep, I have a friend whose grandmother was a codebreaker and took loose lips sink ships seriously till her dying day. 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. Thanks for answering! How risky is sending a sensitive work email to the wrong person? Im not feeding a narrative, Im expressing my opinion. You cant even take a look at *your own* records if you are also a patient at the medical facility. Additionally, J. K. Rowling won a lawsuit against the lawyer and the firm. Before I was born, there was a project where mother had to get clearance as well. They might push the company to reverse your termination. Acidity of alcohols and basicity of amines, Using indicator constraint with two variables. As a government employee she would have been trained on that rule and should have fully understood the ramifications of breaking it. Especially in banking! Its a huge risk that if discovered by the employer would likely result in being blacklisted from the company and if the LW is employed there immediate termination. they dont owe it to you to offer that opportunity, That reminds me of the guys who say, I know I cheated on you, but I want a second chance.. 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. We also got early warning that legislators were encouraged to resign, a day or two before the press releases. We can think things without saying them out loud. One of the things that is emphasized very heavily at my agency is that your own perception of how important a piece of information is does not give you enough information to decide if its really a big deal. I always appreciate your combination of kindness and firm clarity. Life is full of these weird potholes we find ourselves in at times. Had OP not made the initial mistake and then compounded it by telling the coworker, shed still be employed. People leak or share things to journalists they know all the time, with agreements by those journalists on how to share it. Many employers monitor emails, and some employees . One of my coworkers saw another coworker sexually harassing a woman. Shes assuming the friend has more self-control than she does, which is precarious at best. Lose that part of the defense completely, OP.
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