LW, I work under some pretty hefty NDAs (currently, Im working on a project where the security protocols themselves are considered to be non-shareable with anyone who doesnt have a business need for them and hasnt also signed an NDA. Also ratty. So, he learns about things at the same time as the public, and he just knows when Im extra busy because theres a big release coming, or someone messed something up, etc. It only takes a minute to sign up. Those questioners would hammer her on this. So mention it only if explicitly asked. as a manager, should I not wear a childless shirt in my off-hours? I say dont lie during any part of the job application. If not, that would be an additional reason for your bosses to take the maximum option to respond. Its also something that happens in a business relationship rather than a personal one, because the assumption is that personal relationships are entirely off the record. Accidents happen inadvertently but this is not the case here. Email DLP: A key investment management tool. Because when your mentor is a coworker at the same employer, you cannot, cannot speak as freely. Request that they email you to confirm they've done so. I disagree. She already got that advice from Alison. 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. Your understanding of confidential is not mine. I work for a state government agency and FOIA is a really big deal. Your failure to understand the gravity of your actions is alarming. A large part of this is creating the interest that will drive The Thing, and the market/desirability of The Thing. Now, hopefully that would never happen, but if you consider reporting serious breaches to be ratting out, narcing or even tattling, your (potential) employers are going to know that you cant be relied on to report when its necessary. But I had a boss who always used to try to cover his ass 110%. (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.). If you can trust someone, you can trust them, journalist or not. Im still pretty upset that I had no second chance, but I suppose I just lost their trust.. People leak or share things to journalists they know all the time, with agreements by those journalists on how to share it. OP has a right to be annoyed with Coworker, but Coworker was doing her job as well. [important person 1] and [important person 2] are coming to my office for a press conference. So for instance when I got an emergency grant from a water supplier for a woman with no income, there wasnt any risk that telling my wife would identify the woman. Once you told your coworker, you dragged her out there on the plank with you. She shared it with a friend. Thats a horrendously burdensome thing to ask! I see a lot of people saying that its always wrong to share confidential information with the press, and thats not necessarily true. The above divulged details to a journalist about allocation and resources they should not know about. Employees. Im so paranoid about it, that I only talk about what the company has already shared publicly. how to explain you were fired, when interviewing. Best wishes! LW, first, I want to offer sympathy. Confidential information is meant to be confidential and not shared with anyone. One of my favorite shows had a plotline about a sibling not liking someone not breaking doctor confidentiality. You can bounce back! Noooooo. . But how do I explain this story to future employers? We go through training every 6 months, that we should NOT to tell the coworker or customer that we will need to report them. It can bring vital information to the public who have a right to know. Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. Its also important to note that OP called it non-public and Alison was the person who called it confidential. I agree with you that its ok for OP to feel resentful (at least in the short-run)! I actually think this was a little rough of her mentor. Of course. Even innocuous-sounding information, like the name of a database, can be a huge security risk. Those kinds of disclosures often rise to the level of immediate termination, which is what happened, here. If *you* got that carried away, you cant guarantee that she wont, either. Both the affected parties were amazing clients who prided themselves on solid security practices. 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. That makes the violation much worse. Theres a lot of admittedly not very exciting info the federal government is sitting on at any time. 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. Be careful. I work for a government entity and believe me if you need a reminder not to text a journalist non-public information my line of work is not for you. Confidentiality, especially in government, is no joke and should be taken very seriously. How did you talk to your boss about the slack channel full of journalists? Were you able to correct the factual mistake in context, and what phrasing did you use? Sure but I think its highly unlikely that someone at OPs level would have access to that. Some things a company wouldnt want you to tell a competitor, but wouldnt mind if you told your spouse. Period. 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. 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. 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. I dont feel like we need that caveat though, there of course will be exceptions, but this is kinda derailing. Having a mentor at a different organization in a similar role might be a good idea for the future. Yet they were fired outright for gross misconduct. Absolutely this. If she had been doing something perfectly acceptable, seen by someone who misunderstands the situation, and fired because of that, then she would be an innocent victim of a very unfair employer. The emotion is neutral; its what you do with it that counts. I was dismissed for a breach of confidentiality. . For a market where most of this stuff lives in a big way for one season, and then only has some ongoing staying power? It would have been nice- but Im sure the coworker was also pooping masonry. My mother got a reference-check call recently regarding someone shed managed and then fired. 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. One of my friends is working on projects that she cannot list on her resume now that shes applying to jobs and I only know that because Im looking at it and she told me shes frustrated because she has good work that she can quantify but cant talk about yet. But Im a journalist whos covered federal agencies, so I know super exciting to agency employees does not necessarily equal huge news for everyone else. How you analyze the situation and internalize the lesson is more important than wording for future employers right now. Its to LWs friends credit that she didnt pass on the info to a journalistic colleague who DOES work in that area; its not to LWs credit. I have news from my job that I cannot share with some coworkers. President issuing an executive order on (issue the agency deals with) trouble, it doesnt seem applicable. Hes in an unrelated field, it doesnt affect him at all, and he wouldnt really care outside of knowing whats going on in Eddies life but hes a chatterbox and theres a decent chance hed forget and say something to someone. Interpretations, justifications, conceptualizations can also be wrong, surely. Ratted me out annoys me too, because it just means that someone told the truth and wouldnt cover for your lie. I worked for a federal government contractor and we were awaiting news of whether we were getting a contract renewal. it really should be I made a foolish mistake, Its more a case of I broke the rules bigtime and expected someone else to cover up for me.. But fairly often it was classified to some degree, and he could only talk about how his project was going but not about what it was. That being said, I think you can overcome this. This is especially true if the employee in question signed a confidentiality agreement prior to starting the job. (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.). (Plus, were not sure how much of the inflation came from the coworker and how much came from their superiors. How on earth could you know this was a misunderstanding? I am now going to assume that its exactly that. It sounds like OP is young enough that they havent learned that there are some jobs where gossiping about your workplace with your friends is okay, and some jobs where that absolutely cannot fly. 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. Some certainly will, especially those who are more security-conscious. The LW blabbed, why would her friend have more self-control? All rights reserved. There is no other guarantee, and yet people count on it. update: how can I turn down training requests from my clients? As this was almost the entirety of your job they really couldnt keep you around. Please keep us updated and let us know how things work out for you. But how do I explain this to show I learnt from my mistake and get a new job. I minored in journalism and this attitude is why I never worked in the industry. Im assuming the LW plead their case and filled in relevant information. All the meanwhile you're still trying to run a successful business and handling other things that are coming up. It can take down evil people who mean to do others harm. Some projects you could talk about with a trusted friend as long as you didnt get specific, but shouldnt announce on twitter. They have absolutely no obligation to keep secrets for government agencies or private companies. In the real world, it happens often enough that I think its more realistic to talk about the practical ways to do it that keep you on the safe side of the boundaries. Ive had the occasional day when Ive really wanted to tell someone I met X today! This reminds me of how Northwestern Hospital had to fire 50 employees back in March for violating HIPAA by accessing Jussie Smolletts medical records. True story: in my last job someone mistyped an email address by a single letter and instead of going to a related government org it went to a journalist. (I thought Al Frankens apology to the fellow entertainer was pretty good, actually. I dont think you have to be Catholic.). Im thinking of the Elizabeth who went on a 20-email rage about being called Liz, or even the old 1970s memos from the Tiger Oil CEO that found new viral life in the digital age. 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. Organisations can set up static rules (for example, you can send emails to business A but not business B), but these traditional methods are rigid and unreliable. Good luck! Even though I was only suspended for two weeks, it hurt so, so much. Honestly this feels well intentioned but not right. Then, when someone particularly notable would enter our database, we would get a reminder email not naming names but reminding us that no matter how interesting the information is, its private and not ok to share. I think this really depends. 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. I have a friend whose mother did work for an intelligence agency during WW2. Privacy Policy and Affiliate Disclosures. LW, we are all human. Preventing email data loss in Microsoft 365. 1) Slack vs text: doesnt matter. No, shes a person with ethics who plays by the rules. 1) Broke a rule Im sorry this happened to you OP, yeah, in communications at nearly any company this in indeed A VERY BIG DEAL. +100 to this. I was new, too eager to please, naive and I let the client rush me instead of following established protocol. If youre excited about a new, increased source of funding, that shows your agency has money to spend. Im in Chicago so I read about those firings with interest. I encourage you to spend some time really thinking about this and absorbing the very good feedback you have generally received here. +1 My employer lost a lawsuit where they had been sued for violating open records and meetings laws. 4) The coworker was absolutely right to report the breach in confidentiality. If its the government, theyd be defending Area 51 unless its a false flag operation, and the point is for the invasion to occur, but show nothing suspicious, because the government already relocated all the aliens! In the US, sexual harassment wont merit a police response. As a sidenote: *Even if* you think it *wasnt* a big deal, when you get hauled into the boss office and told it. I work in retail, and the company has yearly mandatory training on How to handle confidential info. Is it FOUO though? Cringe. Don't say "I was escorted out by armed guards" where you can say "My manager was disappointed enough to let me go". Build sneaky protections into your life so you get away with violating important rules is NOT what LW needs to learn. This will suck for a long time writing this post has made me feel anxious thinking about my own lapses and consequences from years ago but it all works out in the end. OP erred, which she knows, but I dont think that means her mentor no longer has the obligation to be honest with her. I once interviewed someone with a great resume but had switched specialties within the field. I arrived in 69. I agree, but its been called out and I dont want to derail on it. Thank you. This is a great point LW. But you should try to understand how this happened (why that friend? 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. Its not about breaking a rule, its about potentially causing some serious issues by leaking information. journalists dont leak information, unless its something confidential about their own employers. She would ask every rep if they were using TEAPOT o service accounts, and would proudly exclaim, My daughter built TEAPOT! She thought she was connecting with the people who helped her. And sometimes at shows they dont identify themselves as press immediately. Well, this is both unkind and off-base. While I was working there, I started dating an entertainment journalist who then covered some Marvel projects, and there were definitely things that happened at work which I did not share with him because of my NDA. Im excited about the project I started today or Something cool is happening at work would be fine to say in most situations. 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. Negative emotions are a learning toolfeeling guilty is very uncomfortable, so we dont repeat the behavior that led to the feeling guilty. A breech of confidentiality like that can land you and others in jail. And while you felt mad at coworker, really youre mad at yourself. And I dont think it helps the OP to say that she doesnt have the right to have feelings of resentment toward the coworker. Either way, if you commit an offense, its best to never go with its not that big of a deal anyways. Owning up to your mistakes at the right time is hard and the natural instinct to defend yourself is strong, but ultimately thats the best thing to do and garners respect. OP notes that she is a government employee. I actually think your big mistake was telling your coworker, not telling a trusted friend. He was very good about keeping track of his boundaries, and we got very used to finding ways of being politely interested in how his work was going for him without putting pressure on him about the details. And Im not saying it was fair or unfair or whether your previous employer made the right call. Well its possible your coworker just had it out for you, but it sounds more likely that she genuinely misunderstood or that she understood perfectly but thought leaking info to a journalist friend was serious enough to report and then it was your boss who misunderstood the details. 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? (And thats before you tack on that LW thought it wasnt SO bad because he told Journalist Jason, who can keep a secret, as opposed to Reporter Robert, whos a real sieve.). You didn't accidentally email the material to yourself, you did it on purpose. The awareness that anything sent in your work email is subject to FOIA and open records requests really varies. If she tried to downplay the seriousness of the breach in the meeting (like saying it was a victimless crime) then they may have decided that they couldnt afford to give a second chance. And, yeah, that happens, its part of being a human. True, but youre talking more about deciding to become a whistleblower over something potentially dangerous to the public. A true 100% owning of what you did. Box-ticking SA&T wont change security behaviors. That said, is there any reason you need to answer these questions? But also to say that when you work with confidential info, the impulse to share is a common one, and managing it is something you need to be on top of from every angle. I work in communications for a large organization and I see this as a trust issue with leadership. That really set the tone for the reference she gave. 2. Thats totally true, and when I worked for state government release of confidential information would have been grounds for immediate termination, but Alison is the only one who calls it confidential, OP calls it non-public. I had the same thoughtthat was very unwise. In jobs that require non-disclosure, active disclosure is a very big deal. You want to minimize this, and thats natural. I agree that the companys response was wrong the sexual harasser should have been fired but in the US, authority doesnt care. Instead, you gossiped about it and risked an announcement before things were ready. Unless this job was the bulk of your experience, I would leave it off your resume. They are designed to trick the recipient . I did not get fired for the offense, but I genuinely learned a great deal from the experience and it changed the entire way I interacted with clients, for the better. Its going to bite someoneand this time the person it bit was herself, which gives her a good opportunity to work on discipline and discretion. Never mind firing for leaks, they dont even hire people who appear to have poor judgement about confidential information. LW is undisciplined and has a big mouth. I felt as defensive and upset as you. This isnt breaking a rule; its potentially putting your organization in jeopardy. OP, you truly buried the lede: you leaked to a journalist. 2) Told someone you broke a rule. Here are the things that OP needs to remember: First, the coworker is not a rat, even if she misunderstood the scope of OPs unauthorized disclosure and mistakenly misrepresented it. Yeah. I remember the first time (as a teen) that I had something from a volunteer position that I had to keep my mouth shut on. This was not the coworker telling the boss that OP left 5 minutes early, took a personal call during work hours but OP violating a strict rule even if they trusted the friend. and starting the work of rebuilding reputation. 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. a. problem then you APOLOGIZE and APOLOGIZE rather than defend yourself. But would the government do that? Doesnt matter if it was a friend. so that youre ready the next time it happens at your next job. You cant even take a look at *your own* records if you are also a patient at the medical facility. It was a couple of telling E-mails that helped bring down Bear Stearns with the subprime loan mess crashing . She had no idea whether the friend would blab 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. What I find interesting in the original letter is LWs insistence that it was a victimless crime because nothing bad happened as a result of their leak. 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. Why are Suriname, Belize, and Guinea-Bissau classified as "Small Island Developing States"? Im sure they thought she was a fruit cake. How does this make it any better or worse..? It simply means that your employees are not to disclose proprietary information or data about your company to another person without your consent. 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 have to deal with famous folks at well; I work for a company that handles federal medical insurance and every once in a while I might run across Justice X, Senator Y, etc.