You shouldnt be upset at your coworker, if anything she should be upset with you for putting her in that situation. Then what? Once you told your coworker, you dragged her out there on the plank with you. Really? Yes you can. Even if healthcare providers and business associates are compliant to HIPAA Standards, there is always a possibility of unintentional or accidental disclosure of Protected Health Information (PHI). Good luck with your job search! 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. And you did it over company lines. Is there a single-word adjective for "having exceptionally strong moral principles"? No. Alisons given you great words to say now its to you to live out your learning with sincerity and build trust with a new employer. All journalists are human and many of us have spouses/friends who do things that are news, and this is a situation where good boundaries can protect everyone. It is ok to be upset at the coworker but it is important to recognize that she did nothing wrong and is not a rat. Sometimes were lucky and there arent any repercussions. The OP would be better off to own up to her mistake and her mistaken thinking in saying/writing/texting the information, say what she learned from it, say how she would plan to deal with a similar situation about exciting confidential information if this ever happens again, and conclude by saying that it was 100% her own fault, that she doesnt blame the organization, the manager, or her coworker, that she understands that she put her coworker in a horrible position, and that she will NEVER do anything like that EVER again. To be clear, you were fired for admittedly breaking confidentiality not because of your coworker. But the judge's response to the request for a. I work in the auto industry in media communications. This kind of reaction from the company screams 'serious laws broken' and there aren't many other possibilities on what these laws maybe. This is probably not a feasible strategy, unless the OP was at the job for only a few months. Oof this is so condescending! *(assuming that you did so)* She covers a totally different subject area so it never even crossed my mind that her career would be an additional conflict. I agree. The best workplace I ever saw in this regard was a law firm that specializes in foreclosure (I am not a lawyer, but I worked there in another capacity). Im glad youve learned from your mistake, and I really hope you take this experience to heart as you continue your communications career. Everyone absolutely everyone employed at a hospital has to undergo annual HIPAA compliance training. In no time you will have your next job lined up and all this will be just a post earning you rep. OP will also want to consider not focusing her career path on jobs that require a security clearance for classified information. Obviously leaking to one journalist that youre friends with is better than leaking to a whole Slack channel full of them, but partly because its possible to do the first innocently, whereas theres no question of innocence with the latter. If a member of your staff violates this explicit. when we had a high school shooting, a student I knew (10 y old) and who got into it (gladly uninjured) got a visit from his own uncle who was a journalist that very evening, who came to visit the parents and then proceeded to try to get his nephew to talk about the details. I sent confidential documents to someone by accident via email I need the file completely removed - Gmail Community Gmail Help Sign in Help Center Community New to integrated Gmail Gmail Stay on. Employer found out and had grounds to fire you. I supervise a manager who falsified an employee write-up but I dont think she should be fired. Sometimes its because someone could obtain an unfair benefit from early access to what will later become public information (e.g., think analogous to insider trading). It can take down evil people who mean to do others harm. And theres a difference between feeling (sensation) and feeling (conclusion drawn from integrating sensations and information). (Obviously dont tell any potential employer that but its my personal opinion). They thought it was funny and shared it with a couple more. Because she knows other journalists who do cover your area and one of them just might need a serious break right when she knows this information. And theyll be first with the story. 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! Hi LW, I agree with Alison the best way to approach with is by taking full ownership of what happened. Rather than leading you on and allowing you to continue to work for them under a cloud of mistrust (and all the downsides that come with that), they made a clean break and released you to get a fresh start elsewhere. 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. Im very aware of that reality, so I confine my work email to work stuff only. I am replying under Engineer Girl for a reason. People find new jobs after being fired all the time. You may ask them to delete the email before they read it. I was then let go but will be extremely vigilant in the future to never let this happen again. Ive worked in the banking industry for a couple decades and this would be a fireable offense on the first instance, no ifs, ands, or buts. Personal info is never OK to share with anyone, or things that could lead to recognizing a person if someone happens to know that person (and you never know who knows who). One day its pre-public FOUO information; what next? My first thought was of the whole JK Rowling / Robert Galbraith fiasco. The Smurfs have a secret colony in the woods of Maine!. Ive been actively observing how my more senior colleagues handle that sort of thing (we need written permission to share information about clients with people connected to their situation, and knowing how to answer questions from people who arent authorised to be told something but who are definitely going to ask is covered in training). No one was allowed to approach her and her desk for the week and every night she locked up the removable ribbon from her typewriter because it could be unspooled and read. This is so well said. Any message that starts with Oh honey is going to read as rude and condescending unless its followed by a sincere Im so sorry in response to something terrible happening. UK government has fired people for looking up records of contestants on reality TV series, multiple times. It would probably breach a few laws in other European countries too. It was spur of the moment and, as soon as I realized what Id done I circled back to her to clarify that that information was confidential. Some offenses are serious enough that a single incident is enough to fire someone. Before I was born, there was a project where mother had to get clearance as well. The coworker is not a rat or at fault here. Please do not include any confidential or sensitive information in a contact form, text message, or voicemail. Then the second paragraph said Do not release this information to anyone outside of the office because the press are not to know about these changes until the morning of the event. More commonly it means that you either cant share anything, or you cant share parts that someone could connect to a particular client. I replaced someone who had embezzled from the (small) company. There are people who would refuse to acknowledge their error and go about their lives being bitter and blaming others. Leaking private information in a huge breach, especially if that leak is to a journalist. You are right. It would have been better if she had told you first that she was going to tell someone, but whether she warns you first has no bearing on whether she was obligated to disclose. Also, its not clear from your response Do you understand how serious what you did was? That mindset is just so messed up. In 2014 or so, I once slapped a superior in the face because they were yelling in my face because I was stepping on freshly mopped floors. She screwed up, and they fired her because thats what she deserved. Your employer lost control of this information, even in a very small way, and thats a big deal. Like, firing on the spot if I access my own chart. 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? We asked them why they did it. Yup, landline. I have absolutely no clue in your situation, but there are times when it really can be appropriate to let someone go without any second chances. Some agencies will only provide title and dates of employment, which is a lucky break for you. Please keep us updated and let us know how things work out for you. Good luck to you I think Allisons advice for answering questions about this experience is spot on. Age doesnt matter here. 1. I just think it serves OP to choose a more benign explanation because it will help OP deal with the fall out of the situation going forward. Businesses have a term for that kind of behaviour, and that is 'data leakage'. Yes, but lets face it, theres no way its as exciting as what any of us are imagining it to be. In my experience, a FOIA request can come from anywhere. I get that youre trying to take responsibility here, but your Im still pretty upset that I had no second chance, I suppose suggests to me you still have a long way to go toward recognizing and acknowledging the seriousness of what happened. Does that matter? I have information that I have kept confidential for more than a decade that I know the patients wife does not even know (think undisclosed criminal record). Negative emotions are a learning toolfeeling guilty is very uncomfortable, so we dont repeat the behavior that led to the feeling guilty. This is a bad enough screw-up that I would be contemplating a career change, or at least a pivot to an area of communications where things like confidential information and media embargoes arent ever a factor. In that case its not so relevant that there was a misunderstanding. And I told Mom, so so so many times that I didnt build it myself! Other agencies will provide title and dates, and whether you are eligible for rehire. Ohhhh come on. still cant believe that happened. And if weve learned anything from this letter, its that information thats supposed to be kept secret isnt always. LW, you are too focused on using some incorrect details to mitigate the main point: you were a trusted professional who broke one of the most basic policies in the world of communications. 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. OP can come up with steps to fix the real problem in their future jobs, but they cant really fix an evil coworker. There were maybe 50 of us on the team for the app. It doesnt matter that the information is going public next week. I feel like this misses the overall lesson Allison is trying to impart here. Moving on from that company is probably a mixed blessing. This may have been part of why the manager took the steps she did. @bent in my experience most companies view the data leaving their possession as the real concern, anything else is secondary. 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 sorry, what? And even now you sound defensive. (I dont know if the OP explicitly said off the record, but its not like journalists dont handle that all the time when people do.). The best case scenario is former company only verifies employment. Likewise, LW needed to understand that you dont get a next time not to tell anyone confidential information just because you get it now that they meant it when they said the information was confidential. journalists dont leak information, unless its something confidential about their own employers. Cut to a couple hours later, and Im called into my bosss office because she has heard that I leaked this information to a SLACK CHANNEL FULL OF JOURNALISTS. Regulation people have heard of is going to be changed/repealed and its a big deal Sometimes their hands are tied too. An employer of mine got a FOIA request where they asked for every email wed sent to anyone from any regulatory agency. It shouldnt happen but Id understand if it did. as a manager, should I not wear a childless shirt in my off-hours? I hope youre able to learn and move on from this, OP. Please banish the phrase ratted out from your vocabulary and thinking. They made much more money off of the JK Rowling name. And I did use Slack on my work computer, and I did interact professionally with some journalists who covered my area over Slack. If anything went down, you could say But Older Coworker knew! A first offense is still a breach in trust. I dont recall that Lily Rowan ever had a job. Especially in banking! To say my friend was mortified would be an understatement. They must always assume the worst case anyway. If it was more time than 6 months, thats a resume gap that a recruiter will ask about, and if the OP lies about the gap, an experienced recruiter will hear it in her voice. You are allowed to feel your feels about things, so long as you understand the reality. The person you wronged is not obligated to give you that second chance with them.
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