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 say dont lie during any part of the job application. Im also miffed by the fact that the coworker kinda blind sided OP. Your assistance is much appreciated. Your employer lost control of this information, even in a very small way, and thats a big deal. The ex-coworker reached out to me asking if I could send them a copy of the report so they didnt have to start from scratch and repeat the same work they had already done. I know this is pedantic, but as someone raised by a mother with BPD, I feel like its important to say that no ones feelings are wrong. update: how can I turn down training requests from my clients? The mistake was breaking company policy not that they announced to a coworker they broke company policy. With regards to getting a new job within the software engineering/analytics/data science field, I wouldn't lie on application form and in interviews if asked why I left my old job. I will be in so much trouble if anyone finds out! your blindsided coworker is not required to enter into a cover-up conspiracy with you. Journalists are very charasmatic and will fish for info its their job. It's really just a 30 . Please keep us updated and let us know how things work out for you. Employer found out and had grounds to fire you. Theres a great blog called SorryWatch (.com) that analyzes & critiques apologies made by public figures. Whether nor not anyone got fired might depend on context, but somebody would at the very least get a serious talking-to. AND I told somebody within the company about that? So yeah, confidential stuff is confidential for a reason. Im confused about the fact-finding meeting. This is incredibly condescending. I replaced someone who had embezzled from the (small) company. They are designed to trick the recipient . The phone rang in the middle of the night and my mother picked it up, before she could hand the phone to my father, the person on the other end of the phone explained everything that was going on and why he was calling. Or when she builds a pattern of sharing harmless information until suddenly it isnt harmless? +1000. 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. Finally I decided to own it at the next interview and I got the job. OP, you truly buried the lede: you leaked to a journalist. LW already feels wronged. Or well often hear from contacts on the Hill about something going on behind the scenes, like that a bill is about to be introduced. The terminology is often not eligible for rehire., And every time Ive ever given a formal reference, that has been one of the questions: Would you hire her again? or Is she eligible for rehire?. 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. Or the surrounding land if its something that will raise property values. can you get fired for accidentally sending confidential information. (Also the NASA leaker didnt get fired. They looked at themselves as an organization and realized that the damage was irrevocable. He had a fairly high security clearance and was stationed at NORAD for a time. You dont get a warning for things like that. Some of the stuff I handle is really interesting logistically and historically but I just do not have the right to get carried away and share it. Dont disagree feelings arent wrong but the way we think about them often is. And that doesnt even take into account that I could be prosecuted for divulging any private information. And all you learned was to avoid freshly mopped floors? Even if you feel that way, definitely dont say that! They care a little more in the last 2 years, but not much. As someone who works in PR/comms, my recommendation is to tell future employers the truth and emphasize what youve learned: You texted proprietary information to a journalist. I understand the issue had to be reported, but why this way ? Ah! So- bad judgement buddies? If I ever texted a journalist about nonpublic information Id be fired. We got [Celebrity Y] to promote a big public health initiative! We go through training every 6 months, that we should NOT to tell the coworker or customer that we will need to report them. And maybe they can, and maybe that chain will end with someone who doesnt forward the info on, or peter out once the information does become public in this case. confusedabouteverything Forumite. It makes the sender aware of their mistake and less likely to bother you again in the future. As I read it, LWs friend couldnt pass the information along at all. Plenty of folks are friends in my business lobbyists, journalists, staffers you cant lose control of your impulse to share information. For example, a lot of insider trading is based on the TIMING of someone finding out information. If you can trust someone, you can trust them, journalist or not. Per my story above, when I made the mistake that I was fired for, I did take responsibility at the time, and they fired me anyway. Wouldnt you ask why the govt didnt fire them the first time? 2) Told someone you broke a rule. Best of luck in your next job! Yeah, we dont want to go down the road if encouraging the OP to continue acting unethically that will ensure she stays unemployed. Dont reveal confidential information and fully own up to your shit are good lessons. 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. The advance knowledge of something pending going public is a very powerful position. I now work somewhere where I have access to sensitive information, including my own. This may have been part of why the manager took the steps she did. I previously worked as a journalist. I deal with it by having friends in the firm who I can say it to (but not in a bar!). Thank you for pointing this out! There is zero entitlement in saying that shes upset she didnt get a second chance. Also to prevent someone who might be a bit dangerous, from hurting you. I am now going to assume that its exactly that. But what you do when youre on the other side of the inbox? It was sheer luck that she didnt get caught by some other means. Share information about a company merging before its publicly announced? If anyone required training to answer FALSE! 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. Policy change that is a big deal to staff that works on it, but very in the weeds for the general public (regulation is going to be changed in a way that is technically important but at most a medium-sized deal), Fairly real examples that would be much bigger deals: 27 April 2021. Because I said I wouldnt, I knew there would be consequences if something like your story happened to me, and also because, hows that going to look to a potential future employer that might value confidentiality equally highly? Contact the unintended recipient It's a good idea to contact the unintended recipient as soon as you realize the error. But you see that now I hope. Ramp up your privacy settings across all accounts. What!!! It may be a requirement of employment regarding compliance. We were interviewing someone who had broken the #1 cardinal ethical rule in our industry (a branch of health care). Quite recently, a client of my firm contacted us to say they had heard staff in a bar gossiping about another client. Journalists get embargoed or off-the-record information all the time and are able to play by those rules. We received a staff email that shared that they were going to release some BIG news about positive new office changes and remodeling and that there was going to be a BIG press conference in 2 days at our office with a lot of high-up political bigwigs and asked everyone to show up for support. The actual problem is that OP shared confidential information. LW, people in the comments are also ragging on you for being upset with your coworker but frankly, I would be mad too! 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. Since you touched on it in your follow-up, OP, dont look at this as not getting a second chance. You are its just going to happen at another organization. I see it a lot and I wonder sometimes if its not sending the wrong message that its okay to break confidentiality because Friendship/Family Conquers All or something. If that is so, there is nothing you can do to avoid the termination and you should be looking for new employment. The person you wronged is not obligated to give you that second chance with them. In "Labs," scroll down to "Undo Send" and enable it. 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. . I work for a state government agency and FOIA is a really big deal. Upon further investigation, the supervisor discovers that the employee has asked other employees to also send Company documents to her personal e-mail address. I dont feel like we need that caveat though, there of course will be exceptions, but this is kinda derailing. At the time, I thought it would be ok since it wouldnt cause a problem, but I realize it was not up to me to make that judgement. OP: Move to a sector and a position where you wont be called upon to handle confidential information, and admit that you are doing so because youve recognised your own limitations and are willing to actively avoid being a liability to your future employer. Unfortunately these days a lot of the regulators are crooked and will never do anything about problems without a lot of public pressure (and sometimes not even then). You certainly don't need to blurt out a 5 minute monologue unprompted, but you do want to be ready to answer these questions because they will come up if you disclose what happened as you intend to. My code is GPL licensed, can I issue a license to have my code be distributed in a specific MIT licensed project? Maybe you let them know more then they should even without meaning too? Oh, I wish Id seen this before replying. All rights reserved. That all strikes me as stuff someone quite young and without strong professional and personal boundaries acts. I recently saw a movie in pre-screening thats being pushed to be a blockbuster. When theres something I really want to share with my wife, I mask it, pretty much what we do here talking about how the client invested in llama shearings, or called up asking about rumours of purple llamas, or asked us to sell all their teapots that kind of thing. You are almost certainly an at-will employee so you can be discharged at anytime and for any reason or even no reason at all. Leaking information can actually be the right thing in some cases. I am not falling on the sword or putting my job on the line for a coworker. Ive been poking around in our payroll system for the last two weeks. Thats the one that needs to learn to keep things to herself? Some are minor, some are devastating. But I dont think this applies in any case since it was on her personal cell. A terse to non-existent IT policy or one that's full of unexplained jargon can work against a company. As a sidenote: *Even if* you think it *wasnt* a big deal, when you get hauled into the boss office and told it. Good luck! But it absolutely does not mitigate it AT ALL. Im not cleared for it. Were considering opening ours up to partner agencies, and I spent a good two hours cleaning up the old messages in the general chat. I am a veteran employee in good standing, but if I shared Material NonPublic Information I learned on the job and was found out, I would be terminated immediately and they would be right to do so. trouble, it doesnt seem applicable. Or, she just needs to buy a journal and write the good news, and her feelings about same, down and go on with her job. 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. Excellent points, especially LWs use of ratted out. Alison has said so many times that theres no tattling in the work world. They sound far more serious than what happened. Medical too. If that puts it in perspective. 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. The embargoes I deal with are not earth-shaking (or even quivering), but the people involved are dead serious about not publicizing the information before a specific time. Whose to say OP isnt right that the coworker had it out for her? Back in the dinosaur era (early 80s) the directors secretary was the only one tasked with typing up yearly evaluations on high-level staff. In this situation, it is acceptable to make 'fear of attachment' jokes. 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. Remember to be kind to yourself: youre human, you made a mistake and, as you said, youve learned from it. If it keeps happening, you can report the sender as junk or spam to block future messages. It has to be violent sexual assault before theyll even consider responding. They might tell superiors accidentally, out of frustration (e.g. Thats the wrong lesson to learn. Passing it off as a mistake, or trying to portray ignorance (in the sense of saying "oh, I didn't realize it was wrong when I did it") is just going to make it sound like you don't bother understanding or following policies. Maybe OPs workplace does the same? She can come to value the lesson while seeing it all clearly. More employers are still going to be turned off by that than impressed. My worry, OP, is that you dont see this as sufficiently serious to warrant a firing but I promise you that in most communications positions, it really likely would be. But the judge's response to the request for a. The main problem is that 'copying data in a very insecure way to be able to bring those data. I dont even share work release information (good or bad) early with my spouse. Dont blame your colleague she may have been obligated to report this. . i think we often send the message (societally) that making someone feel bad is a mean thing to do; its not. Sometimes were lucky and there arent any repercussions. You say that the information eventually became public, and you seem to think that this mitigates the problem. Im a journalist and Id concur and depending on how sensitive/important the information was, and what a big deal it was when it did break, you might have put your friend in a tough spot at her job by giving her a news tip she couldnt pursue or share with her colleagues. It doesnt, but we still shouldnt state assumptions like facts if theyre not supported by whats said in the letter and theres nothing wrong with Michaela pointing it out. There is no other guarantee, and yet people count on it. Confidential information is meant to be confidential and not shared with anyone. Yeah, I thought it was from her personal cell too. There are, unfortunately, many things I am doomed to not know even though I would really like to find out. It should go without saying: a breach of confidentiality could and would wind up in a bar complaint in my jurisdiction. 1) Broke a rule Im assuming the LW plead their case and filled in relevant information. You can bet Id be gone with no second chance despite my almost-20-years and ton of good work. My 2cents, LW if something was so exciting you couldnt keep it in, you were in the wrong field. Same here. I dont know if it was to avoid track-covering or to prevent retaliation, but that was a specific part of the procedure. This reminds me of people whose response to hearing no is well, how do we get to a yes? LWs response to this was unacceptable and we cannot have a person on our staff who would do this, was Oh, okay, well, next time I have a similar opportunity here I wont do this.. 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. Absolutely this. And especially, sharing information that youre not supposed to tends to be the type of thing that will get you fired immediately without another chance. Lack of impulse control. I DEFinitely sometimes shared those tidbits with friends and family who were big tiger/hippo/etc fans. If there were excetions, that would be explicitly stated. Embarrassing or inappropriate communications sent via company email can damage professional credibility, reputations, and careers. I agree. 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. In this case you will get a second chance it will just be with another employer. 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. Moving on from that company is probably a mixed blessing. Unfortunately, there are instances where employees have accidentally leaked confidential information. And theres a difference between feeling (sensation) and feeling (conclusion drawn from integrating sensations and information). So, you've accidentally sent an email to the wrong person. 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. 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. We let him go for incredibly poor judgmentlike putting me as a reference, for example.. So while the OP can feel what the OP feels, the sooner she can get rid of any hostile feelings about the coworker, the better it will be for the OP. I think it helps that you told your coworker. Leaking private information in a huge breach, especially if that leak is to a journalist. Even if you trust her 100%, she is still too high risk. Of course, if this happens regularly there is more chance of human error being made so it's always best to use a mailing program. 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. If it keeps happening, you can report the sender as junk or spam to block future messages. I always appreciate your combination of kindness and firm clarity. They fell prey to the Its just a quick peek and it wont hurt anybody fallacy. Or does it only matter that I broke a rule?, For #1, Youre certainly allowed to bring up anything you want in an interview, the question you should really be asking is, Will it help or hurt my candidacy to bring this up?. And if we do, well tell them not to tell anyone.. It might possibly be seen as less bad that the information shared was intended to be made public anyway, as opposed to it being information that wasnt ever supposed to get out. I understood her to say she texted from her cell phone. I will never not believe the publisher did that intentionally and threw him under the bus. Those questioners would hammer her on this. Sometimes that PHI belongs to people I know. Yet they were fired outright for gross misconduct. If OP reasoned I told mentor, confident that there was NO WAY she would let anything slip it throws a lot of doubt on her parallel reasoning of how certain it was that the journalist wouldnt let anything slip. You know that saying Its not the crime that gets you, but the cover-up? Its not great, but some breaches really are that serious, and employers cant always be like the library giving amnesty for late fees if people bring the books back. Also, she wasnt a journalist I ever interacted with professionally shes a friend Ive had for years. On the other hand maybe they didnt listen to her or believe her, and in that case shes been fired based on a misunderstanding but that doesnt help her because what she actually did wasnt OK either. I was dismissed for a breach of confidentiality. OP notes that she is a government employee. Yes. If someone stole money from their workplace, or illegally harassed a coworker, and their colleague reported it would that person be a rat too? A member of the public wants some data, they contact anybody in the agency they can think of, the internal employees bounce it around because somehow they dont know who to send data requests to, and finally it gets to us and we respond. I was new to the field and had no idea how dysfunctional that workplace was. This is not about a public records requestits about how information is released to the public before that information becomes public. I think thats misunderstanding the severity of why what OP did was not ok. Theres any number of non-confidential matters that are embargoed prior to their public announcement. But heres the thing you still have to have a ton of discretion about how you share and where. 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. But I cant talk about the specifics of that scene. Yeah, wouldnt it be possible to prove (or rather disprove) that you leaked to a slack channel full of journalists?