Dismissed from dwp for gross misconduct

Mrs_Ryan

I work in a different area of the Civil Service and we’ve been strongly warned not to look up a) our own records b) family members records or c) records of anyone we know/or who might be in the public eye (only exception is if we should happen to legitimately be given a case to work on involving a famous person- but there’s usually a trail of where that case has come from so it’s easy to prove legitimate business need)

It is a huge, huge no-no. You just don’t do it. We had this drilled into us continuously from day one so I’m struggling to believe you didn’t know. I don’t know if DWP are the same (I would imagine they are) but in my department when we join our NI numbers are ‘blocked’ and you need to ring a specific department if you have a genuine query (as I had to when I changed my name) If you try searching nothing should come up. 

Gross misconduct is difficult to get over in any profession- and I remember when I was applying for my job it specifically asked about dismissal. I had to speak to HR as I was dismissed from my NHS job on capacity grounds (basically medically retired as I was too unwell to do the job) They said that was fine, they weren’t interested in something like that as I had done nothing wrong, but it was things like gross misconduct they were interested in. 

I would leave off. Seriously. And if you ever do manage to get back into the Civil Service, don’t be tempted again. 

Malthusian

Sandtree said:

You need to be clear, when you have to be, that you were sacked for breaching the data security rules not for fraud. The data security rules are there for various reasons, including counter fraud, but a breach of them doesnt automatically equate to fraud. Future potential employers will be more sympathetic to a story of not understanding the rules properly and just being nosey -v- any crimes around personal ethics.

I'm not sure many employers would be that sympathetic about ignoring one of the first rules you learn after taking the job in order to access personal data. Many will be thinking that if you're willing to break the rules to access your own data you'll find reasons to access other peoples'.

In addition they would be concerned that even after being sacked the OP does not appear to recognise that what they did was wrong or understand why their employer took it so seriously.

An employer would be most likely to shrug their shoulders over the OP's employment history if the job they were hiring for involved no access to other people's personal data.

Bonniepurple

Mrs_Ryan said:

I work in a different area of the Civil Service and we’ve been strongly warned not to look up a) our own records b) family members records or c) records of anyone we know/or who might be in the public eye (only exception is if we should happen to legitimately be given a case to work on involving a famous person- but there’s usually a trail of where that case has come from so it’s easy to prove legitimate business need)

It is a huge, huge no-no. You just don’t do it. We had this drilled into us continuously from day one so I’m struggling to believe you didn’t know. I don’t know if DWP are the same (I would imagine they are) but in my department when we join our NI numbers are ‘blocked’ and you need to ring a specific department if you have a genuine query (as I had to when I changed my name) If you try searching nothing should come up. 

Gross misconduct is difficult to get over in any profession- and I remember when I was applying for my job it specifically asked about dismissal. I had to speak to HR as I was dismissed from my NHS job on capacity grounds (basically medically retired as I was too unwell to do the job) They said that was fine, they weren’t interested in something like that as I had done nothing wrong, but it was things like gross misconduct they were interested in. 

I would leave off. Seriously. And if you ever do manage to get back into the Civil Service, don’t be tempted again. 

O/T but that would explain why I had issues renewing my Tax Credits years ago.  I’ve always worked for the Civil Service but within different departments, including a spell at the Valuation Office (part of HMRC).

Sandtree

Malthusian said:

Sandtree said:

You need to be clear, when you have to be, that you were sacked for breaching the data security rules not for fraud. The data security rules are there for various reasons, including counter fraud, but a breach of them doesnt automatically equate to fraud. Future potential employers will be more sympathetic to a story of not understanding the rules properly and just being nosey -v- any crimes around personal ethics.

I'm not sure many employers would be that sympathetic about ignoring one of the first rules you learn after taking the job in order to access personal data. Many will be thinking that if you're willing to break the rules to access your own data you'll find reasons to access other peoples'.

In addition they would be concerned that even after being sacked the OP does not appear to recognise that what they did was wrong or understand why their employer took it so seriously.

An employer would be most likely to shrug their shoulders over the OP's employment history if the job they were hiring for involved no access to other people's personal data.

It will be hard, agreed, but less hard than if you were sacked for fraud.

Presumably the OP's defense was that they were never actually instructed not to and given they had less than two years service they can be gotten rid of easily anyway. I share other people's surprise that they weren't told not to but I have worked for some large multi-nationals in regulated industries that appear to have very lax onboarding in terms of agreeing to follow this type of rule.