You were wrapped up in a project and yes you messed up but no you didn't mean to. 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. In some cases, there can even be criminal charges for knowingly releasing certain information. We are not in kindergarten. But your processing of it has to be at one step removed. 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))). Many employers monitor emails, and some employees . Second coworker only was put on an improvement plan. I was sent home, and then fired over the phone a few hours later. As far as I know, he held the highest security clearance a civilian could have. I have worked and volunteered at government-related organizations before. Even when it doesnt rise to the level of legal shenanigans might happen, it can be pretty serious. Messages like this can simply be ignored and deleted. Posting confidential company information, good or bad, is not protected. journalists dont leak information, unless its something confidential about their own employers. (I mean, I think its a great program, but Im realistic about things lol.) LW already feels wronged. If asked specifially try to describe in detail what happened and what you learned from it, for example: ask if the new employer has clear guidelines on data handling. It was spur of the moment and, as soon as I realized what Id done I circled back to her to clarify that that information was confidential. If you lie during the interview and the truth later comes out, thats enough to get you fired. But I now realize that I had no business sharing my bad behavior with colleagues it put them into a completely untenable position. Im glad youve learned from your mistake, and I really hope you take this experience to heart as you continue your communications career. When we accidentally receive a confidential email from people outside our own organisations, things are a little trickier. The contact form sends information by non-encrypted email, which is not secure. The Smurfs have a secret colony in the woods of Maine!. I encourage you to get involved with PRSA. And if I tell anyone, including a coworker ,that I processed said claim, my butt could very well get in a lot of trouble. Even innocuous-sounding information, like the name of a database, can be a huge security risk. Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, and our products. Thats how a lot of people get found out in the end, it doesnt just stop with telling that one friend. would be frustrating if she had a good relationship with them, or if she cared a lot about the reputation of her publication as a whole. When we make mistakes, they are impactful, but we're human and it happens. I arrived in 69. Whose to say OP isnt right that the coworker had it out for her? And this will definitely have an effect on how you come across to people interviewing you in future. Whether or not you knew about the policy upfront, you need to be ready to discuss steps you take to stay informed about policies and ensure you're following them. Absolutely! Spek raised a good point- find out what your HR policy is so you know what to be prepared for in an interview. 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. I hope youre able to learn and move on from this, OP. Ive had to fire someone in a one-strike situation for what I genuinely believe was an honest mistake because it was too big a risk to keep that person on staff going forward. was. If when when LW talked to their boss, they conveyed the sense that theyre thinking Whats the big deal, its all fine, the coworker who ratted me out sucks, I did it once and Id do it again but next time I wouldnt self-report to my coworker the boss would probably be unwilling to give a second chance, whereas a oh shit I screwed up, heres what Im going to do to make sure this never happens again could have gotten one. |. They might try to use silence to get you to say more. Yes! No, no, no, no, no. Contact the GDPR manager at once. But at that very moment, I was in a personal email back-and-forth with another female coworker. A 40 year old making the same mistake would be much harder to trust later. Based on the post its probably public now, so I would guess its likely not too exciting. Coworker Dorcus, who used to write down what time the rest of us got in each morning so she could report to our supervisor when the rest of us were late, even though he hadnt asked her to, even though Dorcus had no idea when wed left the night before, how late we were working that day, or what arrangement we had with our supervisor? 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 understand the issue had to be reported, but why this way ? If you stay in comms, good to always remember the optics. We dont know if the coworker intentionally or mistakenly misrepresented the scope of OPs disclosure. If you embezzle from the company and tell a coworker who then reports it, the mistake is embezzlement, not telling a coworker about it. Youre heading in the right direction, and youve also gotten some really good advice. Misdirecting an email can be awkward. Yeah, this is a big part of it. I agree that the companys response was wrong the sexual harasser should have been fired but in the US, authority doesnt care. I think that is also part of the lesson that OP needs to learn. 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. Yes, when I worked at a financial firm I believe that exact question was on a privacy training test: If I run across the name of a celebrity in the client management system while performing my duties, its okay to tell friends and family about it, True or False?. I love my younger co-workers and value their fresh take on things and energy, but there is a clear pattern of not understanding reputation risk and liability. The LW blabbed, why would her friend have more self-control? I work for a state government agency and FOIA is a really big deal. I doubt she is the only person that has ever done anything like this. Youll get another job. That being said, I think you can overcome this. Im not trying to teach her a lesson, necessarily, she seems to have gotten the point. Every hospital Ive worked at requires yearly HIPAA compliance training. I have been fired for a dumb mistake. As the other commenter noted, this could have been a very serious offence considering you were working for the government. The thing is, its a big deal that you were given confidential information and then texted it to a friend. I know it isnt the actual incident since the details dont match (no twitter or cake pictures mentioned in OPs case), but I was assuming it was something like the NASA gravitational waves thing. Resist the temptation to gossip about fellow employees and don't express your disdain for your. As a government employee they are obligated to report a breach of information regardless of whether they like the employee they are reporting or hate their guts. Back in the dinosaur era (early 80s) the directors secretary was the only one tasked with typing up yearly evaluations on high-level staff. If you cant maintain confidentiality, you can work elsewhere. Log the incident in an 'cyber accident book'. Possible scripting adjustment: I mistakenly shared some non-public information with a friend outside the agency before it was officially released to the public. No. She could have been a secretary or a spy; no one knows because she went to her grave never telling anyone, not even her husband. Yep, I have a friend whose grandmother was a codebreaker and took loose lips sink ships seriously till her dying day. Life is full of these weird potholes we find ourselves in at times. Employees also. you get to a point where you just really really need to share. Im not feeding a narrative, Im expressing my opinion. It was the wrong thing to do, and Im sorry. The info I released did not in fact cause any problems, but I tremble now because it so easily could have, in even slightly different circumstances. The LW actually had a responsibility to keep the info confidential, and the friend doesnt. All rights reserved. Ratted me out annoys me too, because it just means that someone told the truth and wouldnt cover for your lie. The coworker did the right thing. That was a stressful week for all concerned. 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. 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 interested in the fact that the journalist friend is described as 100% trustworthy. In McMorris v. I dont want to beat up on the LW, but I do think they fundamentally need to understand that the loss of trust made it impossible for the agency to give you a second chance in this position. Which is so far beyond the truth Im honestly wondering if this coworker had it out for me the whole time. Rather than leading you on and allowing you to continue to work for them under a cloud of mistrust (and all the downsides that come with that), they made a clean break and released you to get a fresh start elsewhere. 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. Hopefully there still something to be said for that! 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. I meant inadvertently as they were confiding in a friend not willfully giving information to the press. Candidate must then come up with a good reason why former employer wont re-hire given they merely eliminated the position. There are no legal ramifications or civil lawsuits at this stage as it wasn't trade secrets or secret IP. Im also a supervisor. 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. Or at least, I can. Its like winning the jackpot in a slot machine then declaring that you KNEW you were going to win, so it wasnt really gambling at all. Reduce human activated risk to protect against email data breaches, Allow your teams to communicate securely and share sensitive data, Guiding principles that govern how we operate as a team, Diverse and inspiring individuals passionate about making a difference in the world, Join our team across a range of roles and help shape the cyber security market, Tailored compensation and career paths designed to attract and retain world-class talent, Unique and personalized benefits to help maximize your potential with us. Sometimes he wasnt working on confidential stuff, and he could come home and geek out over what he was doing if he wanted. But your wording indicates that you dont yet have insight into just how much you breached the trust of your company. The obligation to report a security breach doesnt include warning the violator. The latter looks more like something that could repeat under similar circumstances. The misrepresentation of what happened is my concern. 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. LW doesnt seem defensive at all here, and its okay to feel upset while still taking ownership of their actions. 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.
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