Assuming this is in the US, and were talking about FOIA laws, typically a records request will come through a particular channel (not likely to be some random employee in communications.). I hope you mean it when you say you understand the magnitude of this mistake and why you were fired for it. Same-sex marriage is going to be legalized tomorrow!. I did something similar over 20 years ago. I always assumed the phrase meant no feelings are incorrect, and it made a lot less sense than the way youve laid it out! People have gotten jobs in their field after vastly more serious forkups, don't despair. Yeah, its like that line from Horton Hears A Who. That doesnt mean youre a horrible person who should never work again! But it could be that GSA's dad had a code/password to verify it was actually him and the caller forgot to verify that first. When they call for a reference, many employers will absolutely say if you were fired or laid off, and they will give detailed references. Or if the coworker only decided afterwards this couldnt be kept in the dark, call her and tell her this. I was coming to the comments section to say the same thing. My guess is thats where some of the defensiveness in the initial letter comes from that no one would have known if not for the self-report. Ive only had a very general idea of what my husband does since 2002, because he cant tell me. Changing how you feel (as opposed to what you say or do or think) is not something you need to do to solve the problem. You will find another employer who will trust you and will give you that chance to shine for them. 2 July 2018 at 9:11PM. Moving on from that company is probably a mixed blessing. This violates workplace compliance and trust. I recently saw a movie in pre-screening thats being pushed to be a blockbuster. So, you've accidentally sent an email to the wrong person. It may be unfair to assume a journalist is cutthroat and would kill for a lead, but its also nave to assume they wouldnt let anything slip to the exact wrong person. Im still learning Slack, so maybe being naive. Employees can't just post anything they want on Facebook or anywhere else. Thats a good friend but you put her in a bad position. 2. You committed battery. Maybe you get a 2nd chance IF you were contrite enough and blamed your excitement at the new teapot program. I, too, have made foolish mistakes that cost me a job. But when the guilt is deserved, its got a purpose. They are designed to trick the recipient . This is how old I am. It would have been nice- but Im sure the coworker was also pooping masonry. Both of those would merit a reprimand, separately or together, but somehow in the telling it got turned into that the latter happened with the former as the method. But according to the LW, the trusted friend would not have blabbed, so if the LW didnt tell the coworker, the company would have never known and everything would be hunky dory. I reminded him that anything sent in our work email is subject to FOIA and not really completely private from our employer, so if he was going to continue to work against the plan, use personal email. But you should try to understand how this happened (why that friend? I work in retail, and the company has yearly mandatory training on How to handle confidential info. And honestly, you broke an embargo for your own company. Im still pretty upset that I had no second chance, but I suppose I just lost their trust. A 40 year old making the same mistake would be much harder to trust later. As a communicator, youre likely to be privy to confidential information on a regular basis during the course of your career, and if that information leaks for any reason, it could have serious repercussions for the organization especially if its a government body. And that doesnt even take into account that I could be prosecuted for divulging any private information. In other words, dont assume the information only went to the person you sent it to. Oh, this is all interesting, and I appreciate all the responses. Yep, we regularly are reminded about FERPA requirements (academia) and staff members have gotten in hot water for not promptly picking up student transcripts from the printer (for instance). Still wondering why there was no second chance, though. Like, its so obviously wrong that people dont even talk about it. Unauthorized Emails: The Risks of Sending Data to Your Personal Email Accounts. Period. There is zero entitlement in saying that shes upset she didnt get a second chance. 10 Ways to Rebound From an Embarrassing Email Mistake I understand that the breach was very bad and that the organization needed to take some disciplinary action, but it seems to me that firing an employee who fessed up to something like this to a senior coworker sends the message: If you mess up bad enough, dont tell anyone. And the young comment. 7 Ways Your E-mail Can Get You Fired - US News & World Report The government takes this stuff very very seriously. Its a common occurrence, especially within a large business where autocorrect can incorrectly select people with similar names. Its like winning the jackpot in a slot machine then declaring that you KNEW you were going to win, so it wasnt really gambling at all. Just a bad situation. 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 always wondered if they remained friends after that fiasco. Concepts like snitching, tattling, and ratting out dont apply in the workplace. Thats why they told you the information was confidential. Funny story: My mom used to call the bank I worked at where she had an account. Which means have to vet things like your friend is a journalist, but doesnt cover your area? Privacy Policy and Affiliate Disclosures. I love my younger co-workers and value their fresh take on things and energy, but there is a clear pattern of not understanding reputation risk and liability. I was fired from a job and when I started interviewing for following ones, I kept trying to spin it and it did not work at it. Extremely good advice! The company I work for uses keyloggers and text scanners on our computers to catch these kinds of issues. and starting the work of rebuilding reputation. She got paid to pose as Roeders* mistress, once. 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. You can bet Id be gone with no second chance despite my almost-20-years and ton of good work. Especially since the letter seems to have been written almost immediately after the incident, before their feelings had time to settle properly. Of course. Based on the post its probably public now, so I would guess its likely not too exciting. 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. Im assuming the LW plead their case and filled in relevant information. Phrase it as a serious learning point, because you sure as hell aren't going to do it again after getting fired. (Im a journalist, there are only a few specific cardinal sins in our industry, so lets euphemistically call this a case of inadequate attribution.) The details dont really matter. 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. This is a very important life lesson, both for your professional and personal life. You may ask them to delete the email before they read it. Nothing dangerous, and while I was there it honestly wasnt even anything that would be a big scoop or exciting dinner party story. Its a bigger deal because that friend is a journalist. It also protects the coworker from any immediate threats or retribution by LW. Please keep reflecting on this. I actually think your big mistake was telling your coworker, not telling a trusted friend. The violation was only victimless by accident and confidentiality rules dont hinge on whether or not the leak is known to have caused damage. But I cant talk about the specifics of that scene. A terse to non-existent IT policy or one that's full of unexplained jargon can work against a company. 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. Age is hardly an indicator of a persons ability to consistently make the best choices at all times. How to answer question on moving to another country for job? Why is it so hard for people to just keep their (figurative) mouth shut? He shared it with one person, telling them it was a joke. Absolutely this. People leak or share things to journalists they know all the time, with agreements by those journalists on how to share it. Am I missing something? Im more curious about what KIND of exciting information it was. Its not a big career risk for her friend the way it is for her, but depending on what the information was, it could have put the friend in an awkward position. That brings us to your questions. This is a GREAT way to position it. Now I just leave and cry and deal with the long-term consequences, like never moving up. Even if this person had not turned her in, there was this bomb just sitting there waiting to go off. What I ended up doing is learning to avoid mopped floors as much as possible and warning people to be careful around them. An employee who doesn't know about a policy important enough to fire someone over is just a ticking time bomb to an employer. 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. But I dont think it helps OP to feed a narrative that prevents OP from owning the situation going forward. Thats a flat out easy to uncover lie. However, it is unlikely that the circumstances of your firing will be able to be overlooked by an employer who needs to trust your judgment with sensitive data, definitely for the foreseeable future, possibly for many years into your career. Ultimately, its your choice to make. 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. If someone told me something that I know Id have to report, I would report it. OP, if everything that was predictably risky, harmful, dangerous, bad, illegal or wrong really felt bad on some core level, we would almost never need to make rules. Thats the one that needs to learn to keep things to herself? This type of thing could have easily happened to your journalism friend in the office. Based on it happening before GSA was born, this most likely happened on a land line. Certainly not an electronic blog. On the weekend, I was sending a personal email to a friend. (And yes, the records request would come through the custodian of records, but the point of my second paragraph is that non-public information does not have special protections like confidential information and that the general public has a right to access that information as soon as it is available, and not just when the agency finds it convenient to send out a press release.). I say dont lie during any part of the job application. You simply let the sender know you've received it by accident, then they can rectify their mistake and you can delete the email. I am assuming you had a clearance of at least Secret. But your processing of it has to be at one step removed. A very long-term employee who did excellent work, as a joke, made up a fake news release that indicated we got the contract. I agree with you! She should have told her this is serious and Im going to have to report you. Then at least OP could have avoided the slack room full of journalists escalation. Unless his bedroom was a SCIF and the phone secured, thats really bad. I think in both cases, part of the concern is this retroactive removal of risk. It will also help you to not repeat the mistake in the future. That being said, it doesnt change the fact that OP shouldnt have done it anyway, so harboring ill will towards this coworker is pointless. 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