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Understandably, the agency had to let me go. Something to show that you didnt get caught you confessed. 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. 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. 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. This is a GREAT way to position it. You believe your friend is trustworthy but, wow, the optics of sharing with a friend who is a journalist are really bad, and . I am really jaw-on-the-floor stunned at people taking aim at the coworker. It was absolutely drilled into all of our heads during grad school and training that you can never, ever do this. Id like to know what LW said at the two meetings they gave her before firing her. Compare someone in law enforcement happening to find out the (secret) address and phone number of their friend-groups favorite celebrity, or finding the contact information for the cutie in the convertible, after their roommate catches the license plate numberand sharing. How is an ETF fee calculated in a trade that ends in less than a year? Im a publicist. Aug. 4, 2008, at 11:14 a.m. 7 Ways Your E-mail Can Get You Fired. Accidents do happen, we are all human but what rights you have if you share private company information by mistake really depends on a few things: the type of information that was accidentally distributed, how this impacted your company, and what the consequences were for you. Having worked in communications and journalism for the past 15 years, I think this ishonestly really bad. Its also possible that she got caught in a broader crackdown on leaks and thus wasnt given a second chance when she otherwise might have been. This is an issue in most fields. 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. You colleagues are often the closest people to you, so it makes sense to want to tell them about your problems (which include work screw-ups), but you cant. 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.. Instead, you gossiped about it and risked an announcement before things were ready. Log the incident in an 'cyber accident book'. OP has a right to be annoyed with Coworker, but Coworker was doing her job as well. I wonder LW, would your interactions with the higher ups have been different if your co-worker/mentor had given you the heads up that she was going to have to report this? If the email involves sensitive information, this could be a serious problem for the people involved. I work in the auto industry in media communications. Im glad that youve had time to think about it and can own the mistake, thats the most important part when we mess up. If the friend had blabbed, shed have been fired, anyway, even without confiding in the senior employee. My first thought was of the whole JK Rowling / Robert Galbraith fiasco. 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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. I wouldnt be surprised if there was a state or federal regulation that she violated by sharing that information. Or they might have a zero-tolerance policy for leaks as a deterrent. That was not an enjoyable situation at all. 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. Honestly this feels well intentioned but not right. OP should be counting their blessings they only got fired and be upset with themselves for making such an obvious and preventable error, not expecting a large bureaucracy to break its own rules to accommodate them. You know that saying Its not the crime that gets you, but the cover-up? Is there a solution to add special characters from software and how to do it. The Families First Coronavirus Response Act now requires employers to give up to two weeks of paid sick time if you get the coronavirus or were told to quarantine by a doctor. Fwiw the journalist agreed to destroy the info. And it seems like you do. You might have to take a step back in your career to come back from it but you can you bounce back. 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. If it was the 2nd option then, yeah, they were going to let you go. never actually say the words Gross Misconduct. Still wondering why there was no second chance, though. I was trying to disagree with the idea that it puts journalists in a terrible position to receive off-the-record info, not that it would ameliorate the employers concern. 2.) 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. Likewise, LW needed to understand that you dont get a next time not to tell anyone confidential information just because you get it now that they meant it when they said the information was confidential. 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. OP, Im sure in your excitement you truly didnt think there was anything wrong with telling your friend, someone you trust implicitly to remain discreet. The actual problem is that OP shared confidential information. They made much more money off of the JK Rowling name. 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. 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. Im still pretty upset that I had no second chance, but I suppose I just lost their trust.. I got fired due to sending an email by mistake to the wrong person that had someone else's credit card information in - Answered by a verified Employment Lawyer . We got walked through several juicy gossip or personal information scenarios during our orientation in an interactive way, so we could experience the kind of decision-making they wanted, and it was much more memorable. as a manager, should I not wear a childless shirt in my off-hours? Dec. 17, 2009 -- You probably don't think twice about sending personal messages through your work e-mail. 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. No work friendship is worth putting my familys financial security on the line. Even though I was only suspended for two weeks, it hurt so, so much. I was coming to the comments section to say the same thing. Coworker would let the other authorities figure that out. Its also important to note that OP called it non-public and Alison was the person who called it confidential. Confidential email sent to wrong address? | Email DLP | Egress I think also this illustrates how hard confidentiality is; these are trained and likely reasonably experienced people who still couldnt resist this temptation. Except that when the reference checker asks if the candidate is eligible for re-hire (for the position they left or any other position) should the opportunity present itself, the response will be no. Specifics dont matter, but to me, being able to explain you told your friend your employer was about to buy this farm to build a park so they bought the farm so they could raise the price and make a profit would make a huge difference in terms of making the OP aware of the consequences of their actions. Am I likely to be rehired after being fired for misconduct? So I guess my coworker could have misunderstood when I said I texted one friend, but I wish she would have talked to me about that first? They know it happens. I feel like this misses the overall lesson Allison is trying to impart here. Ethically, you dont have to do anything. Dont fall for it. Until the boys parents threw the uncle out. Can you get fired for a PERSONSAL email accidentally sent to a coworker NEVER by email unless explicitly given the go-ahead). The main problem is that 'copying data in a very insecure way to be able to bring those data. If there were excetions, that would be explicitly stated. Acidity of alcohols and basicity of amines, Using indicator constraint with two variables. That all strikes me as stuff someone quite young and without strong professional and personal boundaries acts. Ive represented or advised friends, friends of friends and the occasional famous person, and nobody else knows anything about it nor will they ever. The Workplace Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for members of the workforce navigating the professional setting. If you stay in comms, good to always remember the optics. I work in patents, and regularly see information that can definitely not be made public and has to be sent back and forth with extra security measures, but would also be tremendously boring to everyone but the IP team for a few specific rival companies in a very tiny field. When an employer says something is confidential, take it seriously But I cant talk about the specifics of that scene. I hope you mean it when you say you understand the magnitude of this mistake and why you were fired for it. I understand that you get that what you did was a very big deal as a single event, but I think you might need to spend some more time examining for yourself why you would describe this as a victimless crime. The fact that your friend didnt as far as you know tell anyone else about your bombshell doesnt meant that nothing happened. You really think a lawyer would publicly (extremely publicly) admit to doing something he hadnt done, for which he was sanctioned and fined by regulators, and permanently ruin his own reputation in the process? How to get feedback on application rejections sent from a noreply mailbox, Is it bad to answer "Why/how did you get into that job" with "Because I just wanted a job". Someone would then check into it to see if there was a valid reason for someone to be poking at it. But when the guilt is deserved, its got a purpose. The coworker did nothing wrong that we can see from the letter. Completely unrelated to the topic at hand, love the username! He was valuable. Same here! Employer found out and had grounds to fire you. I thoughtlessly mentioned an embargoed announcement to a longtime friend in journalism before it was public. 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. I used to work at a public Zoo that was owned by the state, and so we were all state government employees. This is especially true if the employee in question signed a confidentiality agreement prior to starting the job. Non-public just because it hadnt been announced yet isnt the same as the location of the emergency bunker. Share information about a Harry Potter book before it being officially released? Show prospective employers that you can reflect on your actions and learn from mistakes, because thats not at all what Im seeing here. Government tends to operate differently. I am replying under Engineer Girl for a reason. I do a lot of trade shows and we always remind booth staff of what to say (talk points) and what not to say to trade journalists. 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. Telling the trusted friend was the fireable offense. That being said, I think you can overcome this. She already acknowledged that its 100% her fault. When you don't know the sender, but the email is clearly confidential and sensitive, things are little more complicated and you have a decision to make. Thats when it gets tricky. ugh, no if you cant tell them the actual news, dont tease it. (It also might be notable that you didnt originally mention that your friend was a journalist until I asked about it which makes me think youre underestimating how much that matters.). I dont know the full text of the conversation and I dont want to, but she was probably in a position where she had to tell someone. Theres a difference between wishing you had a second chance (acknowledges they arent entitled to one) and being upset you didnt have one (expected that there would be one). Phishing emails are emails that appear to be from a legitimate source, but are actually from a malicious source. I can't remember the details, but there was a point about the fact the word "confidential" added in every e-mail by such a notice wasn't actually helpful, since tools that looked for the word confidential were flagging everything up, including a large number of false positives. No! 2007-2023. . If I were your coworker I would have done the exact same thing. was my company right to fire my coworker for accidentally sending me a Really? I will never not believe the publisher did that intentionally and threw him under the bus. When you are genuinely accept the error, analyze why you made it and address how to alter yourself to not be vulnerable to this kind of mistake again, it will naturally come across when you talk about it in interviews because youll be genuine and not trying to find a strategic angle and that genuine quality will land well with other mature professionals who have made their own mistakes. Youll get another job. Yeah the world just being what it is, if youre this bad at keeping secrets, youre gonna get burned by it pretty quick. I went to my boss explained the situation and let me boss make the decision if we wanted to share the report. You breached confidential information to a journalist. Is it illegal to read an e-mail that was accidentally sent to you? Nah, I think the odds of whats super exciting to a government agency being equally exciting to me are pretty slim. Know your workplace rights: New laws protect employees during - NBC12 If you had the same role in a public company, you could have have been fired because of regulations preventing insider trading. and sent to multiple people (!!)? I always assumed the phrase meant no feelings are incorrect, and it made a lot less sense than the way youve laid it out! Some seem to imply there is no reason ever to leak information, which isnt true. Unless this job was the bulk of your experience, I would leave it off your resume. I actually think your big mistake was telling your coworker, not telling a trusted friend. You are right. Or the surrounding land if its something that will raise property values. Im sure the OP will find a new job. If you embezzle from the company and tell a coworker who then reports it, the mistake is embezzlement, not telling a coworker about it. 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. OP erred, which she knows, but I dont think that means her mentor no longer has the obligation to be honest with her. This is NOT a myob type situation at all. Coworker did nothing wrong and isnt untrustworthy but OP erroneously decided to trust her which is key. And the young comment. Its very dangerous to OPs professional reputation to assume OP can trust anyone who is unauthorized, including a good friend, with embargoed information. I agree. (Im not from the US, and not in government) If I were in OPs place, I would also be upset and feel betrayed. Id spend some time processing how you felt and trying to learn to take accountability and personal responsibility for this (and seriously its something thats really uncomfortable and hard for everyone but it helps so much). There are many ways to say thing like this without lying. Email Sent in Error? What CFOs Should Do Next - Finance Monthly Nothing dangerous, and while I was there it honestly wasnt even anything that would be a big scoop or exciting dinner party story. I understood her to say she texted from her cell phone. If not, an investigation would be started on which employees were poking around in Famous Persons account and why. when we had a high school shooting, a student I knew (10 y old) and who got into it (gladly uninjured) got a visit from his own uncle who was a journalist that very evening, who came to visit the parents and then proceeded to try to get his nephew to talk about the details. As I read it, LWs friend couldnt pass the information along at all. Because she knows other journalists who do cover your area and one of them just might need a serious break right when she knows this information. LW, people in the comments are also ragging on you for being upset with your coworker but frankly, I would be mad too! OPs best bet is to stop blaming their coworker or minimizing what happened. Non-Disclosure Agreements - Workplace Fairness trouble, it doesnt seem applicable. Regardless of what word you use when you disclose what happened, understanding that difference, owning up to it, and showing how you've changed as a result is your best hope of gaining future employment.