IT guy let go

[technick]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Iowa

I worked in healthcare for a year and a half and was recently fired. I was the main IT guy at the organization and handled everything.

My employer terminated me because I was able to read emails sent by senior level in the organization, we were having spam problems and I was just doing my job checking over things.

My employer gave me a letter saying that my employment is being terminated immediately due to unethical and unprofessional conduit and failure to maintain the confidentiality of the business and patient information in accordance with their policy.

I did not share or do anything I wasn't supposed to.

Also I have not gotten all my personal belongings back - I have several things that are still in my office I sent a email to my boss with a list and all the receipts.

 

[Eekamouse]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Iowa

I worked in healthcare for a year and a half and was recently fired. I was the main IT guy at the organization and handled everything.

My employer terminated me because I was able to read emails sent by senior level in the organization, we were having spam problems and I was just doing my job checking over things.

My employer gave me a letter saying that my employment is being terminated immediately due to unethical and unprofessional conduit and failure to maintain the confidentiality of the business and patient information in accordance with their policy.

I did not share or do anything I wasn't supposed to.

Also I have not gotten all my personal belongings back - I have several things that are still in my office I sent a email to my boss with a list and all the receipts.

You would not have had any reason to be reading their emails. Your spam excuse is weak at best.

 

[FlyingRon]

I'd have fired you as well. I've worked in both IT and corporate management. There are ways to detect and deal with spam short of reading other people's email. Even when we go on hunts for classified information that has escaped into the unclassified space, we don't go willy nilly reading the entire email box.

 

[commentator]

I'd definitely file for unemployment and let them work out the relative "You should've"s or "You shouldn't haves." But in the meantime, though you have no legal question that I can see, what he did was perfectly legal. It will depend, your approval on unemployment, a lot on what the company policies were, whether or not you reasonably knew that what you were doing was inappropriate, could lead to your firing, what the company policy (if they had one) might have been. But unemployment is pretty much your only recourse here, while you are looking for another job. About your things, I suspect they'll be okay with you coming in, possibly with an escort, at an appointed time to retrieve your possessions.