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Forgetting to attach a mentioned attachment is common, but still embarrassing. This is NOT a myob type situation at all. I think that WAS her second chance, and I think something she said at the meetings (perhaps about how the problem is the coworker for being a rat) blew that second chance. It was super not personal, it was just a situation were second chances were not given, period. The only thing an employer may not do is make employment decisions based upon you being a member of a protected class. How could you have felt defensive about getting disciplined for that? 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. When you are genuinely accept the error, analyze why you made it and address how to alter yourself to not be vulnerable to this kind of mistake again, it will naturally come across when you talk about it in interviews because youll be genuine and not trying to find a strategic angle and that genuine quality will land well with other mature professionals who have made their own mistakes. a. problem then you APOLOGIZE and APOLOGIZE rather than defend yourself. I know Id be pissed at you. Im not sure what the best way is to address this, but were trying! ! mode if she told me a general were harassing her, unless making this public is something shed want. Lack of the maturity to keep exciting news to onesself. Dont blame the co-worker for ratting you out. And that wasnt even technically confidential. We wont tell anyone. They made much more money off of the JK Rowling name. Regardless of what word you use when you disclose what happened, understanding that difference, owning up to it, and showing how you've changed as a result is your best hope of gaining future employment. I understand the issue had to be reported, but why this way ? Ive only had a very general idea of what my husband does since 2002, because he cant tell me. Fwiw the journalist agreed to destroy the info. I dont know whether you meant it this way, but the co-worker is not untrustworthy for reporting this. In this situation, it is acceptable to make 'fear of attachment' jokes. Back in the dinosaur era (early 80s) the directors secretary was the only one tasked with typing up yearly evaluations on high-level staff. It was bananas. According to Tessian research, over half (58%) of employees say they've sent an email to the wrong person. You might add to Alisons script, I knew immediately that I needed to report my indiscretion, and I did so right away. 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. I was in tech there and had worked on a new interface for agents, lets call it TEAPOT. What is the point of Thrower's Bandolier? Extremely good advice! They have absolutely no obligation to keep secrets for government agencies or private companies. Even though shes made the same mistake 2 times). Later the coworker left the company and at company B was asked to write a similar report for the new company. I want to push back hard on this, the coworker is not a rat. If when when LW talked to their boss, they conveyed the sense that theyre thinking Whats the big deal, its all fine, the coworker who ratted me out sucks, I did it once and Id do it again but next time I wouldnt self-report to my coworker the boss would probably be unwilling to give a second chance, whereas a oh shit I screwed up, heres what Im going to do to make sure this never happens again could have gotten one. As soon as someone has decided you're not a team player, or are a problem employee, then even tiny things get seen as evidence that you should be fired. You dont get a warning for things like that. That really set the tone for the reference she gave. Its also possible that the way you talked to your boss about it cost you a second chance too- if you were anything other than mortified and taking 100% responsibility, they likely thought it wasnt worth trusting you again. Nothing got out about this before it was supposed to. The OP was not entitled to be making calls on who outside the org could be trusted with this information. It doesnt matter that its a good friend of yours who happens to be a journalist shes a journalist, and her JOB is to tell people about things she finds out about. Especially odd because LW emphasized how trustworthy the friend is for why the friend wouldnt blab. Thats why they told you the information was confidential. I think particularly since its the government, they couldnt take the risk of it happening again and it becoming public that not only was their a breach of confidentiality but that the person responsible had done it before. It also protects the coworker from any immediate threats or retribution by LW. How on earth could you know this was a misunderstanding? It could also end poorly if the employer actually sees a job opening posted for the position the LW claims was eliminated. Thats also real life. She can come to value the lesson while seeing it all clearly. Thanks for answering! 9 Posts. When telling me about the call, she said that when the checker said the guys name, she couldnt stop herself from bursting out, Wait, he told you to call me?!. Thats real life. The violation was only victimless by accident and confidentiality rules dont hinge on whether or not the leak is known to have caused damage. Sometimes people screw up and they still really need their jobs. One day its pre-public FOUO information; what next? If it was the 2nd option then, yeah, they were going to let you go. Or you mistyped her email by one letter and it went to a colleague who had no reason to respect the embargo? I am trying not to be too harsh but yes you screwed up. However, I will agree that, per OPs statement, the information appears to be unsolicited and doesnt seem like it would have been considered a records request (who knows, we dont have a lot of information and what we have has been proven to be distorted). OP erred, which she knows, but I dont think that means her mentor no longer has the obligation to be honest with her. Employees. Once info is out in the community, you have no control over where it goes and any and all ramifications. Coworker did nothing wrong and isnt untrustworthy but OP erroneously decided to trust her which is key. I now work somewhere where I have access to sensitive information, including my own. While irritating, email from mass marketing lists dont require a response and you probably wouldnt get an answer anyway. Yet they were fired outright for gross misconduct. I disagree. If she really understood or valued confidentiality, she would not be trying to convince us of how victimless this was. The focus moving forward should be about realizing how serious a problem it was, how badly you feel about it, and how youre committed to not making the same mistake again. (Or maybe the coworker did fabricate it, but I feel like thats a massive assumption itself. 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). 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?. Letter writer: If youre still dealing with this emotionally, focus on the facts. If OP doesnt recognize and own up to that, thats going to be a bigger red flag for potential employers than if OP said, I made a mistake, learned from it, and it wont happen again.. And then that coworker did tell someone, and she was fired. If I was that coworker, Id have to think shed continue to go around blabbing about this, and there is No Way I could just sit on it until *I* got called on the carpet. You are of course welcome to your feelings, we all feel what we feel, but it sounds like your thoughts and beliefs havent settled to the fact that **your feelings are dead wrong**. Not to mention if you tell a lie (even by omission), its a lie you have to keep up, indefinitely. Youre heading in the right direction, and youve also gotten some really good advice. Im now turning my head sideways and re-reading/rethinking. Best of luck in your next job! Like, its so obviously wrong that people dont even talk about it. I know there are cases where someone might fear retaliation etc, but with a higher up getting a subordinate into (deserved sorry OP!) Whilst Im sure the OP is a perfectly nice person, theres a reason that there are office shootings and other awful things, some people are not. The 2nd chance is just too much risk as far as theyre concerned. If you lie during the interview and the truth later comes out, thats enough to get you fired. Funny story: My mom used to call the bank I worked at where she had an account. People dont talk about it very much but it definitely happens. That said, I am curious if theres other context that explains why they fired you for a first offense without warning you first. If youre excited that your agency is moving into a new building or buying land someone could buy up the new building or land ahead of time for profit. Even when it doesnt require them to report it, it still could have consequences they dont want to be a part of! Plus, I think part of it was that it was exciting BECAUSE it was secret, and now its apparently common knowledge. I work in a field (not government) where some nonpublic is newsworthy but only in the arts and style sections. The financial firm I worked for had mandatory quarterly compliance meetings with examples of Dont Be This Guy Because He Doesnt Work Here Anymore. Noooo. Look the UK Foreign Office is currently knee deep in a police investigation into information thats been leaked to journalists and the consequences are potentially extremely serious. It could be that she did (and I think no employer should ever fire anyone without hearing their version of the story) but the employer still thought its bad enough that they need to fire OP. In those cases I have to be even more careful, because minor details might get linked to the news story and suddenly its not anonymous any more. If you dont need to / want to share with the boss share with your closest family/friend, assuming they dont work at the same place or have friends/contacts there. Replying to the sender is a good thing to do for a couple of reasons. I agree with you! Every bit of what Ive said is probably hearsay. The z department is not allocating the staff they promised. It was a refreshingly candid answer and so we wound up hiring him. But at the end of the day, the reputational risk to my company, versus the relatively low-level risk of having to replace someone entry-level, was just too great to bear.