can you get fired for accidentally sending confidential information

Posting confidential company information, good or bad, is not protected. It is not clear at this stage whether the 911 caller will be pursuing a civil claim for damages as a result of the privacy violation. Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. 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. This will sound very, VERY strange, but if you have the urge to share things youre not supposed to, theres a trick you can try: telling a fictional character in an imaginary conversation. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top, Not the answer you're looking for? So mention it only if explicitly asked. I could have just sent the report and most likely no one would have ever known, but it would have been a violation of company policy. Depending on their responses it ranged from retraining, to suspension, to immediate dismissal.. They may very well have not had the option to give you a second chance, whether you wanted to or not. But what might walk that back to a performance plan would be a sincere, unqualified apology showing understanding of the gravity of the error. And in this case, I beleive that is correct. It would have been nice- but Im sure the coworker was also pooping masonry. Frequently there would be confidential news like, The tiger had her baby and its a girl! or Were getting hippos! that we couldnt share with the public for a few days (to be sure the baby was healthy and would survive past a critical period, or so the news could be shared in the way the marketing department deemed appropriate, or whatever.) Examples that most journalists would find pretty snoozy (although journalists who cover the agency super-closely for trade publications, Politico Pro, Bloomberg Gov, etc, would still be interested): A true 100% owning of what you did. You're fired for violation but convince the Dept of Labor that no one without an IT degree could ever understand your policy. I feel your pain. 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. A fine of up to $100,000 and five years in jail is possible for violations involving false pretenses, and a fine of up to $250,000 and up to 10 years in jail is possible when HIPAA Rules have been violated for malicious reasons or for personal gain. (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.). In my experience, a FOIA request can come from anywhere. This is your making, and while I wish you luck, you have zero cause to be disgruntled with your coworker or employer. So, the implication is actually the opposite of giving your feelings 100% credence its saying, separate how you feel from what you do. The actual problem is that OP shared confidential information. But how do I explain this to show I learnt from my mistake and get a new job. Of course. I consider it my greatest ethical obligation in my job, because I have been entrusted with sensitive information and I treat it like Id want mine to be treated. Yeah, I agree. 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. Based on the post its probably public now, so I would guess its likely not too exciting. Instead, the employees found out by reading the news instead, which hurts morale. More employers are still going to be turned off by that than impressed. It may be a requirement of employment regarding compliance. Someone would then check into it to see if there was a valid reason for someone to be poking at it. All we can do is learn, rest, and go on another day. I got defensive and young from OPs response. I used to work in a one-industry town. Its no fun to be fired. When I worked for the bank in the security investigation department, we had systems in place that monitored Famous Peoples accounts and would flag them if they were opened/touched. 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 was then let go but will be extremely vigilant in the future to never let this happen again. 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 . It also protects the coworker from any immediate threats or retribution by LW. There are no legal ramifications or civil lawsuits at this stage as it wasn't trade secrets or secret IP. Also, she wasnt a journalist I ever interacted with professionally shes a friend Ive had for years. If it comes across like you dont think it was a big deal or that you blame the coworker for alerting your employer, thats not going to go over well. 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. This was a Friday. what did you want to get out of sharing with her? But it could be that GSAs dad had a code/password to verify it was actually him and the caller forgot to verify that first. Lack of the maturity to keep exciting news to onesself. Thank you for pointing this out! Whats not fine is trying to take somebody elses, or dramatically moping about it until someone gives me theirs. 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. Moving on from that company is probably a mixed blessing. Reporting misconduct is the right thing to do, and thats how an interviewer is going to see it. A breech of confidentiality like that can land you and others in jail. Yeah, its like that line from Horton Hears A Who. But OPs situation sounds like more of a case of I am just soooo excited about Cool Thing that I had to tell rather than something dangerous or corrupt is going on and the public should know.. I guess you just say I inadvertently let an important piece of information get out and I will take extraordinary safeguards to never let that happen again. 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. I thoughtlessly mentioned an embargoed announcement to a longtime friend in journalism before it was public. There are, unfortunately, many things I am doomed to not know even though I would really like to find out. Also ratty. You just seem to still want an answer and I picked up on this as a possible avenue to reflect on in your letter. This is awkward to frame as apparently it would have passed unnoticed if you hadnt taken aim at your own foot and then pulled the triggerit would be better if you were fired after fessing up to your superiors, rather than involving anyone else. We literally filled a room with records for them, and 99% of it was people asking what flavor of donuts to bring to a meeting or requesting copies of informational flyers. (IE: if they think you f*cked up, then respond like you did, however you actually feel). Youll get another job. (Presumably easier to get caught via company comms but doesnt make the leak any different imo). Your tone is very this wasnt a big deal and I shouldnt have been fired for it, when it really should be I made a foolish mistake which I deeply regret and Ive definitely learned my lesson. I resent our new hires for setting better work-life boundaries than our company normally has, hairy legs at work, my office sent me a random TV, and more, heres an example of a great cover letter with before and after versions, my employee cant handle even mildly negative feedback, my new coworker is putting fake mistakes in my work so she can tell our boss Im bad at my job, insensitive Diversity Day, how to fire someone who refuses to talk to us, and more, weekend open thread February 25-26, 2023, assistant became abusive when she wasnt invited to a meeting, my coworkers dont check on people who are out sick, and more. And then there are things you cannot even hint at under any circumstances. I actually think this was a little rough of her mentor. 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. Ah, no, there definitely was a record if there was any form of written communication at all about the information. I am very, very lucky. Appropriately so, but still, wow. 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. 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. [important person 1] and [important person 2] are coming to my office for a press conference. I replaced someone who had embezzled from the (small) company. Not me. Calling this victimless shows OP still doesnt have insight into their behavior. I arrived in 69. 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. I have worked and volunteered at government-related organizations before. Only behaviors are right or wrong. As others mentioned, the breach is possibly a fire on first offense potential, but since they fired you after investigating slack that makes me wonder if you had too casual and friendly of chats with the journalists whose job it was for you to talk with. Stack Exchange network consists of 181 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers. For context I work with PHI covered under HIPAA for my job. Coworker did nothing wrong and isnt untrustworthy but OP erroneously decided to trust her which is key. What if another journalist saw the email over your friends shoulder? +1 Yep, I have a friend whose grandmother was a codebreaker and took loose lips sink ships seriously till her dying day. Its a huge risk that if discovered by the employer would likely result in being blacklisted from the company and if the LW is employed there immediate termination. I think people are reading defensiveness from the qualifiers probably and suppose. I can sympathize that this is still very raw for OP and perspective will only come with more time. 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. See Rule 1.2 (d). Your contract can still be terminated if you violate a lawful . Going forward definitely own this mistake and explain that you are freaking Fort Knox going now to new employers, knowing now the seriousness of such a transgression. And that wasnt even technically confidential. Yup. 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. I think it helps that you told your coworker. 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. I think the wider point is that anyone can make that mistake at any age, and speculating about this part of it is irrelevant and not helpful. I know that I messed up and I shouldnt have told anyone; in a moment of weakness I texted one of my best friends. Also, its not clear from your response Do you understand how serious what you did was? Yeah, if the LW is in the US or things operate the same way in their country, theres no point in trying to lie or even waffle about what happened. Businesses have a term for that kind of behaviour, and that is 'data leakage'. Most companies will not say so-and-so was fired for doing x in a reference check. These comments seem harsh for the most part. Coworker Jean who would CC her boss and her grandboss when Jean thought shed caught somebody in an errorbut would then cease CCing once she realized that there was in fact no error? Your second co-worker who sexually harassed a woman was put on a PIP?

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