can you get fired for accidentally sending confidential information

Fired for gross misconduct because I sent confidential information to personal mailbox - how do I get another job? Having a natural, human reaction doesnt mean shes in the wrong field. Many employers monitor emails, and some employees . Leaking anything that could put those things at risk is an insta-fire offense. He and my mother kept their noses clean. I DEFinitely sometimes shared those tidbits with friends and family who were big tiger/hippo/etc fans. can you get fired for accidentally sending confidential information ninkondi prime stance 3d parallax background mod apk latest version take me to st ives cambridgeshire can you get fired for accidentally sending confidential information. And if it is a part of that, the coworker was obligated to report it! In addition to 100% needing to own it when asked about it, I think OP may also benefit from focusing the job search on jobs that dont involve handling sensitive or high profile information. 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. Its not about breaking a rule, its about potentially causing some serious issues by leaking information. They would definitely see any mention of confidentiality breach as a huge red flag and drop OP from the hiring process at once. When you accidentally receive a confidential from someone within your own organisation, things are pretty simple. Access rules are very, very strict, and there are reminders all the time. I would absolutely be fired for checking out things for curiosity, I only have access in the first place so I can see whether people are currently clocked in (if you change their access to something while they are actively using it, odd things happen, so I need to check to see if they clocked in that day before I begin). I might consider you as a candidate who truly gets it in a way that someone who hasnt been tried by fire might not. 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. quite a lot of people are going to feel as though youre making them an accomplice in your bad behavior. 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. 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. (Even before learning it was to a reporter!) I cant say any details yet, but needed to share my excitement!!. Inadvertently, in my view, would be something along the lines of had confidential documents in a briefcase that you accidentally left behind at a coffee shop. Employees can't just post anything they want on Facebook or anywhere else. Yeah, we dont want to go down the road if encouraging the OP to continue acting unethically that will ensure she stays unemployed. She got paid to pose as Roeders* mistress, once. Medical too. Sorry this happened, OP! Hind-sight is 20/20, but the LW should have thought twice about sharing that leaked incident with any coworker, especially a mentor who likely would be obligated to let the higher-ups know. Or maybe one of those people isnt quite as trustworthy as the person who told them thought they were, and they tell the wrong person, or tell multiple people, or write an article about it because theyre also a journalist. While it didnt result in any press, it was obviously a major lapse in judgment and I understand why it resulted in my termination. This was all public information, but the original report was work product of Company A even if it had originally been created by the coworker. Don't worry, you're not alone. Thank you for following up with Alison and here in the comments, and Im sorry for what youre going through. Learn that about yourself, and move on. That the information eventually became public is not in any way relevant. And all you learned was to avoid freshly mopped floors? Even innocuous-sounding information, like the name of a database, can be a huge security risk. Thats how a lot of people get found out in the end, it doesnt just stop with telling that one friend. Build sneaky protections into your life so you get away with violating important rules is NOT what LW needs to learn. [Well-known bad person] is going to be fined/punished/arrested. That is exactly what could have happened to her government agency with the info that she leaked in the first place. This has to be, and often is, done formally, with agreements to give something secret in advance so the journalist can prep a story for later, when its OK to share. I hope you mean it when you say you understand the magnitude of this mistake and why you were fired for it. 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 just seem to still want an answer and I picked up on this as a possible avenue to reflect on in your letter. Sometimes, like you said, you dont get a second chance. A 40 year old making the same mistake would be much harder to trust later. Ugh, yes. read something out loud THEN realize that it wasnt public information. Its completely understandable that you were upset about it when you wrote in (and upset about it now). LW doesnt seem defensive at all here, and its okay to feel upset while still taking ownership of their actions. Contact the GDPR manager at once. Agreed. Good points, and good advice for anyone whos apologizing for anything. Within hours, there were writeups on tech blogs about the new iPhone before its official release. Dont get me wrong, she shouldnt have ever told the friend and Id understand if they were worried if she told more people, but its concerning how they immediately jumped to an even worse conclusion based on nothing but their own assumptions. Its understandable that you feel betrayed by your coworker, but she probably felt obligated to say something. Ive been poking around in our payroll system for the last two weeks. Lack of the maturity to keep exciting news to onesself. When we accidentally receive a confidential email from people outside our own organisations, things are a little trickier. My mom worked in sunshine law for state government, and what constitutes a record is a lot broader than most people realize. Im excited about the project I started today or Something cool is happening at work would be fine to say in most situations. I hope you find something good soon and can put this behind you. Im not understanding how OPs update comment reads as defensiveit shows significant progression from deflection to ownership, to me. It can depend on what mechanisms are in place to protect the content of the email, who is sending the email, who it is being sent to, the content of the email, and whether the subject of the HIPAA information has provided their written authorization for unsecured PHI to be . Depending on their responses it ranged from retraining, to suspension, to immediate dismissal.. I suspect youre referring to a case where a patient was put in danger, but where no obvious harm occurred like a psychiatrist consensually sleeping with their patient, which an unscrupulous psychiatrist might see as a victimless crime, but which is incredibly risky behavior. 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. I thought it was over. I mean, mayyyyyybe but the OP put the coworker in a really uncomfortable position here, and while Im sure she didnt mean to, thats what she did. Fwiw the journalist agreed to destroy the info. There are lots of situations in which leaking information to a journalist would absolutely be the right thing to do, and we should absolutely encourage it in those cases. 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. So in regards to the tell an imaginary friend idea, I have also: openly disclosed highly confidential information to a) my cats and b) Jesus. OP, I join Alison in wishing you the very best of luck! I would push back slightly on the leak to press part. We just had something similar happen at my office last week. That was a stressful week for all concerned. I strongly disagree with this. Certainly not an electronic blog. If you break certain unspoken rules, you can lose your job or ruin your career. I dont know if shell do it again, but Im certainly not going to take the risk on someone who doesnt even seem to be sorry. Yes, this is the valuable lesson about how precarious trust is and how breaking it can have swift painful consequences! Everyone messes up. One colleague really didnt like the plan, and he was communicating with people who were organizing opposition to it using his work email. If you told, you breached confidentiality, no matter what the other people did. 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?. (Especially since termination hearings and the related records are often public records once the employee is terminated, so any concerned employer could just do a records request and get the whole story.). Honestly, I might be more likely to dismiss (or not hire) someone who, like the LW, does not seem to understand what exactly they did, what it could have caused than someone who, for personal ethical reasons, deliberatly leaked information, but understands that this is Not OK. For excellent reasons. Thats just not something you can let yourself do. Assuming OP was correct and journalist friend never would have said anything, OP could have pretended it never happened. (i hope this story still makes sense with all identifying details purged, but hopefully its clear from context uh why i am purging all those details smdh) 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. I was kinda thinking that an otherwise level headed and calm employee wouldnt punch a colleague unless the other guy had been doing something truly egregious. Confiding in an older mentor in the expectation of confession-like confidentiality? OP, specifically following up with Alisons advice above, you were fired because you showed your employer that your first reaction when learning about confidential information was to text (1) someone outside of your company who was not authorized to know that information and (2) someone who was a journalist, who by profession is at risk for leaking said confidential information EVEN IF you only know them as a friend and EVEN IF you promise pinky swear that they would never ever do that. Fortunately, I was not fired for the mistake, but my employer did call me on the carpet for a very serious discussion on why we cant share any information that we only have access to because we work there, regardless of how sensitive or not sensitive we think it is on a case-by-case basis. 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. Same here (investing). You texted proprietary information to a journalist. The first person needs to understand that most of the time, you arent entitled to negotiate a yes, because the answer is no. He was valuable. If we think about this, not only did she trust her journalist friend, she trusted her coworker not to tell anyone either. and starting the work of rebuilding reputation. Wouldn't employers just throw my application to the bin once I declare I have been dismissed for gross misconduct? Our grant program is going to be fully funded by Congress! The communications team is often brought on board to develop strategy for organizational decisions that may not be public for weeks or even months. Disclosing Government information to a journalist (even a friend in confidence) without permission is a major breach of confidence and Im not surprised it resulted in a significant sanction. Im not sure what the best way is to address this, but were trying! In other words, dont assume the information only went to the person you sent it to. If the coworker said that when that wasnt communicated to her, that was wrong as hell. Yup. I deal with it by having friends in the firm who I can say it to (but not in a bar!). This is a very important life lesson, both for your professional and personal life. On the weekend, I was sending a personal email to a friend. Dont blame your colleague she may have been obligated to report this. 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. Breach of confidentiality can be described as an act of gross misconduct, so deal with issues that arise in a timely manner, in line with your procedures and look at any previous cases to ensure fairness and consistency. 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. Theres a lot of admittedly not very exciting info the federal government is sitting on at any time. Coworker did nothing wrong and isnt untrustworthy but OP erroneously decided to trust her which is key. I would also lay odds that when LW says Coworker was understandably very uncomfortable with what I did, and we had a very nice conversation about our duties as communication officers, and trust, etc., that means that despite what LW thought about it being a nice confidential chat, her mentor figure was trying to imply to her that she was going to HAVE TO report the incident, because trust and responsibility. This is mostly a matter of describing your motivation appropriately, and in this respect "At that time, I did not realize" does a better job of conveying that your basis of judgment has changed in the course of that experience than a mere "I did not realize" would. 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. Share information about a company merging before its publicly announced? There are offenses, especially regarding releasing items, that would be serious enough to warrant immediate dismissal. Yeah, Im wondering that too. Copyright 2007 - 2023 Ask A Manager. As Alison said, its a lot like DUI; even if no one gets hurt, theres a reason we shouldnt take those risks. In a couple of hours, the news agencies were calling the federal government, to verify the news. Email DLP: A key investment management tool. Of course. Everyone absolutely everyone employed at a hospital has to undergo annual HIPAA compliance training. Even when it doesnt require them to report it, it still could have consequences they dont want to be a part of! Sharing HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL info with a JOURNALIST? It will get out, eventually. Oh, I wish Id seen this before replying. No. I am a govt worker in NY. But leadership has to know that if they share confidential material with us that it will stay confidential. Another engineer girl here, at a place where people have been fired for leaks and it hits the news when it happens: theres a warning during New Hire Orientation, and between that and our reputation, youre expected to know it. Yes, I did filing in a small-town law office where almost every name was familiar and nothing I read or saw left the office. Keep your chin up are you not getting any extra help? At some workplaces, the hiring process includes security checks that even go into your social media profile, blogs, etc, to see whether your personal communications display a suitable level of discretion. The LW actually had a responsibility to keep the info confidential, and the friend doesnt. Man I am swamped with the publicly known project I am barely treading water. Thank you for pointing this out! Recurring theme here is that tattling isnt a thing at work. Really? I was under the impression that most big companies had a policy against telling a reference checker anything beyond dates of employment. Fired. 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. Im not saying the employer didnt do these things or even if they didnt that its anybodys fault other than LW that this happened, but its a good way to stop situations like this before they happen. Coworker would let the other authorities figure that out. The financial firm I worked for had mandatory quarterly compliance meetings with examples of Dont Be This Guy Because He Doesnt Work Here Anymore. A breech of confidentiality like that can land you and others in jail. Then whenever you send a message, you'll be given an option to "Cancel" at the top of the message before it's sent. But you should try to understand how this happened (why that friend? Mostly, Im saying this to you so that you understand that you should never have trusted that co-worker to keep that kind of information to herself, no matter how much of a mentor shed been to you I do think that she should have told you that this was serious enough that she couldnt not report it. But how do I explain this to show I learnt from my mistake and get a new job ? That response will likely impress an employer that she has grown and learned, that she is honest and has some self-awareness, and that she would be worth trusting. No 2nd chance especially because you knew it was a no-no before you shared. It's difficult to prevent a leak from happening again if you don't know how it occurred in the first place. How on earth could you know this was a misunderstanding? Yes, this was a fireable offence, but Im less interested in the nuances of violating confidentiality than in the bigger picture question I have done something where I really screwed up how do I move on? (Someone above mentioned someone bringing a gun to work (Dwight? As a damage control, should I (as the manager responsible) send a message to all employees explaining what occurred and asking them to respect the confidentiality of the information and not open nor forward the information to anyone else or should I just not bring additional attention to this message? The type of violation you are talking about normally only applies to confidential (shall close) records and not non-public (may close) records. And Im pointing out that it wasnt a record at all. Thats when it gets tricky. How to not get fired from work for what you post or send online: Make sure your Facebook and social media accounts are locked down.

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