This is important both in terms of owning your mistake and not blaming the person who reported it. It might not seem to be that big a deal to you, but depending on what the information you shared was its really easy to use seemingly trivial information for profit. You cant even take a look at *your own* records if you are also a patient at the medical facility. Im also a supervisor. e.g. OP, take a deep breath. Yeah, I thought it was from her personal cell too. Everyone messes up. Well meaning (or at least not meaning harm) maybe, but very foolish. In my experience, it was highly effective. Also, no matter how good a friend someone is, if they are a journalist you need to zip your lips. 2.) Ive heard complaints from folks who arent allowed to give positive references to former coworkers who earned them. Best wishes to OP in her work on this. Someone would then check into it to see if there was a valid reason for someone to be poking at it. the coworker had an obvious physical feature that the poster mentioned, so the company was able to figure out who was discussing it in a public place and *fired* them for it. I wouldnt lead with it, but I wouldnt hide it either if it ever comes up, and folks will likely ask about why youve left past jobs. 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. The fact that the LW just couldnt resist sharing this tidbit should have been a red flag that maybe her friend couldnt, either. 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. Remember when Beyonc lip synched at Obamas inauguration? It makes me so happy that I had to tell someone is a reason to text them, OMG, huge news that I cant tell you, but you will be SOOOOO happy when its in the papers in a few days! Not to actually, yknow, tell them the private information. The obligation to report a security breach doesnt include warning the violator. Submitting a contact form, sending a text message, making a phone call, or leaving a voicemail does not create an attorney-client relationship. I dont think it was over company lines. Heck, at my agency were cautioned to not use work email on our personal devices (unless were management or its an emergency) because records requests could potentially get our personal devices as well. (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. Is it FOUO though? LW, youve learned half of your lesson, but really need to keep working to get there. This is just an opportunity to choose words that allow for the most generous possible interpretation (similar to how you say with a friend rather than with a journalist). Hows work? Period. Im sure they thought she was a fruit cake. All three have kept their mouths shut, at least to the best of my knowledge, and I can talk it over without worrying that I will cause a problem with my disclosing. Fascinating (and fun!) I think interviewers will pick up on the equivocation in your language here. 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 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! I agree with you that its ok for OP to feel resentful (at least in the short-run)! Its going to be a hurdle. The Solicitors Regulation Authority has also issued a written rebuke to Christopher Gossage, of Russells solicitors, who confided to his wifes best friend that Robert Galbraith, author of The Cuckoos Calling, was really one of the most famous and wealthy authors in the world. Also, legally email addresses themselves dont typically count as 'personal information' as they are contact addresses and are treated in similar ways to phone numbers legally, as opposed to, say, identifying information like full name, DOB and home address all in one document. And Im happy to report that I have never shared that news (still remember it bcs this was so hard that first time!). Im so sorry and I will never do anything like that again.. quite a lot of people are going to feel as though youre making them an accomplice in your bad behavior. We also got early warning that legislators were encouraged to resign, a day or two before the press releases. If its a marketing message, spam, or something that looks entirely unimportant simply delete and move on. The main problem is that 'copying data in a very insecure way to be able to bring those data. Or does it only matter that I broke a rule? They have absolutely no obligation to keep secrets for government agencies or private companies. Many employers monitor emails, and some employees . 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. What if another journalist saw the email over your friends shoulder? 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. Sometimes they do, and other times they tell the person telling them that they or their actions negatively impacted another person that *they* are the ones in the wrong for telling them something that made them feel bad. Medical too. I would go through the channels to fire someone immediately over this, because it would make me lose all trust in them and if I can no longer be confident in their abilities to do their job effectively without spillage, theyre of no use to my team. 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. a. problem then you APOLOGIZE and APOLOGIZE rather than defend yourself. In "Labs," scroll down to "Undo Send" and enable it. Yet they were fired outright for gross misconduct. Things can be the way they are for understandable reasons and you can still feel like crap about it. In McMorris v. When it came up during her interview, the candidate said it was complex and that shed learned from it. Or that might not make a difference on how its interpreted. Same here (investing). Yes, this. Fwiw the journalist agreed to destroy the info. This is one reason why I could only ever give a vague explanation of what my dad did. Messages like this can simply be ignored and deleted. Especially since the letter seems to have been written almost immediately after the incident, before their feelings had time to settle properly. I have news from my job that I cannot share with some coworkers. Later when I moved on, it became my absolute best interview topic when asked about a mistake and how I handled it. picture of male guinea fowl . This is a very important life lesson, both for your professional and personal life. The only thing an employer may not do is make employment decisions based upon you being a member of a protected class. When they took the only course of action they could have taken and still kept their job and notified your employer of your actions, you became defensive of your actions. 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? Aug. 4, 2008, at 11:14 a.m. 7 Ways Your E-mail Can Get You Fired. about your coworker reporting you, betrayed and hard done by, is the way your employer feels about you. On Monday, I was called into a fact-finding meeting with HR. Well 1.) Ive definitely been guilty of sharing exciting but not-yet-announced news with colleagues. I am trying not to be too harsh but yes you screwed up. Or if youd like to start a trial, get in touch and well be more than happy to arrange a free demo with your IT team. It all comes down to the nature of the data you are handling. The coworker did nothing wrong that we can see from the letter. She had no idea whether the friend would blab or not. If you had stayed, they would never have trusted you again. Was the friend a journalist, or is there something else that would explain why she said that? The reply: Yes, the friend I texted happened to be a journalist but doesnt cover the area that I was working in. Sharing HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL info. This reminds me of how Northwestern Hospital had to fire 50 employees back in March for violating HIPAA by accessing Jussie Smolletts medical records. I imagine there are a lot like that in government but he learned from working with a non apologetic, scandal plagued politician that consequences of what seems little to you may not be to the tabloids. If theres anything else you can say about your work there to put this in context like that you had received a glowing performance review, were taking on increasing levels of responsibility, etc. After all, nobody wants to tell their manager that they might (however accidentally) be responsible for a data breach. So, I can talk about it, I can say Omg, there was one scene that I was just like SuperCheese! and rolling my eyes. But you should try to understand how this happened (why that friend? It will also help you to not repeat the mistake in the future. Browse other questions tagged, Start here for a quick overview of the site, Detailed answers to any questions you might have, Discuss the workings and policies of this site. You may not even realise your mistake until the person you meant to send the message to says they didn't receive it (or you have a flurry of missed phone calls, as in Serena Williams . Thats just not something you can let yourself do. They made much more money off of the JK Rowling name. If you live in a place where its illegal to shoot guns into the air, and you shoot a gun into the air and the bullet does not actually kill anyone in its fall, you have still broken the law and placed others in danger. I totally get how it can be really exciting to hear about cool things, and the impulse to tell the people close to you. All rights reserved. These comments seem harsh for the most part. But I dont think this applies in any case since it was on her personal cell. Sometimes they go so far as tell the bearer of the news that they now have to soothe them bc its their fault they feel bad. I imagine optimal framing varies by industry and so Im not sure what to advise there. But when I wrote letters to the llama farmers whose llamas had bitten a client whose story about her life-threatening goat allergy was featured in the papers (obviously this is not what actually happened), I had to be sure I didnt say anything about the llama farmer letters that could link to the goat story. Until the boys parents threw the uncle out. Thank you for following up with Alison and here in the comments, and Im sorry for what youre going through. You hear something genuinely classified and blab it too because its so cool? Ive only had a very general idea of what my husband does since 2002, because he cant tell me. How to you ensure you're aware of it, and following it? Also, am I even allowed to bring up the fact that someone ratted me out? She knew about a leak and didnt say anything, who knows what else she is helping to hide, My boss, in a well meaning way and to correct some weird barriers previously put in place by the person before him, told me openly that if Big Boss [aka the owner] asks you anything, just answer him, its all good, you dont need to filter things through me or anything., And I just tilted my head and laughed at him saying Even if you told me differently, I would tell him whatever he wants to know. Which given our relationship he just giggled and responded with of course and thats the way it should be.. I came here to say this. I hope there are things at your job that are exciting to you! If you go in there going "my. Accept responsibility for what you did. You are fortunate to get the opportunity to learn it early when it hasnt resulted in severe long term consequences. 2. How do I tell potential future employers why I got fired and have them still want to hire me? Confidentiality can stink at an interpersonal level, everyone tends to talk about their work and it can be hard to hide things from people we care about. From a government point of view, the only thing that matters is this: LW was trusted to handle confidential information and keep it inside the agencys control; instead she passed that information to someone outside that permission (whose job is to disseminate information to the public!) But you see that now I hope. In the US, sexual harassment wont merit a police response. What happens when someone sees that message over her shoulder? And then they did it again. The sharing of information is a violation of your professional duties and ethics and would get me 60% of the way to firing someone if I were your boss. 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. @bent in my experience most companies view the data leaving their possession as the real concern, anything else is secondary. Talking about your work on a more general level is usually allowed unless your employer or their client is unusually paranoid. Does your company know she could have called the police? Accidental disclosure is the unintentional release or sharing of sensitive information. Ah! I used to work at a public Zoo that was owned by the state, and so we were all state government employees. And even more so in ballistic missile submarines! But I had a boss who always used to try to cover his ass 110%. Dont disagree feelings arent wrong but the way we think about them often is. 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. Im sorry, but I think you were fired with pretty good cause and it would be important to own that or you wont be able to spin the story for future employers. I agree that you can learn how to share without breaching confidentiality. There isnt really such thing as a rat in the workplace. Recurring theme here is that tattling isnt a thing at work. a friend sent en email containing critical information and documents about a particular person to a person who wasn't that person. Trying to understand how to get this basic Fourier Series, Linear regulator thermal information missing in datasheet. a coworker at my company was discussing a future potential release at a bar loud enough that someone heard it, and then posted it on a public forum. This is a very astute comment, especially your last paragraph. Are there any reasons why the coworker couldnt be upfront with what had to be done ? That was a stressful week for all concerned. And honestly, you broke an embargo for your own company. Or if the coworker only decided afterwards this couldnt be kept in the dark, call her and tell her this. The coworker did the right thing. He was employed elsewhere within a few weeks. I dont even share work release information (good or bad) early with my spouse. Its a big difference if you sit together at a bar, your friend mentions chocolate teapots and you say oh, this morning I was asked to design a llama-themed one before you realize that you really shouldnt have said that. I wont lie, Im tremendously curious, but I also know this is just one of those things I will never get to know. If it keeps happening, you can report the sender as junk or spam to block future messages. It involved something the OP had learned about in confidence, but hadnt even been publicly announced and the OP blabbed about it to someone completely unrelated to her job. This is a much more fulsome explanation of what I meant! And depending on the circumstances, if the co-worker knew you broke the rules and didnt report it, then THEY could be in trouble also. Situations like this are one reason I think workplaces with confidential/sensitive information should regularly remind their employees of what confidentiality means for them, rather than leaving it as a blanket statement or only discussed during new employee training. Its so very context and field dependent. If I had an employee that did this, Id expect them to be mortified and I would expect to hear how seriously they were going to take embargoes from here on out, and the LWs letter and response are almost the exact opposite. 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. Its the only way they can maintain control of the information. I wont get into too many details, but where I work had a plan that was controversial and there was both opposition to it, internal and external. Ohhhh come on. If you break certain unspoken rules, you can lose your job or ruin your career. Im pretty sure the information wasnt actually confidential in the legal sense. But the other person she spoke to, her coworker, told others, and somehow that message (of who and how she leaked it) got twisted into something much worse.