About six months ago I had been successfully employed and enjoyed working as an OPM background investigator by an OPM contractor and was being recruited by several competitors. When I received an offer too good to pass I accepted, and subsequently submitted my resignation. In the week that followed I was given several counter offers and a request for the competitors offer. I declined and the contact between myself and this employer became cold. HOWEVER - as I was anxiously making the transition and completing my assigned cases I carelessly did a mass copy of files I believed to be strictly personal pictures and document templates (without verifying each file/item individually) from my business laptop to my e-mail account. The initial contractor HR and RM contacted me and terminated my employment with them just days prior to my resignation for violation of business policy and ethics alleging that I had copied over proprietary and/or training materials. I acknowledged my carelessness and maintained that those items were caught up in the mass copy unintentionally, The contractor refused to consider my explanation or negotiate / issue any disciplinary documentation other than outright termination. The contractor also reported the security breach to OPM / NBIB who in turn assigned me an unfavorable status based on this. After weeks of multiple correspondence explaining and acknowledging the carelessness on my part and a request for understanding between myself and OPM they (OPM / NBIB) assigned a final unfavorable status determination.
Obviously the offer of employment with the recruited company was rescinded,
As said I really enjoyed working background investigations and wonder if I have been given the “kiss of death” as far as ever doing so again or if there are any alternatives to obtain an active status outside of legal actions. I’m a retired law enforcement officer and realistically do not believe I have the “time” or “money” to litigate this matter as a genuine return of investment.
What kind of documents and templates did you have sent to your personal email? You said they were proprietary infromation of an OPM contractor? What was your purpose in sending over proprietary documents to your peraonal email that belonged to this OPM contractor? Depending upon the nature of what you emailed, this can be seen as unauthorized disclosure of information.
Though I’m not surprised that you were fired from this company, I am surprised that OPM/NBIB did not allow you to do work for another vendor and that you were given unfavorable status. I don’t think there is much you can do unless there is some sort of appeals process with OPM/NBIB or wait time until you can apply to work for another vendor? Has OPM/NBIB blacklisted you from working for them?
What kind of documents and templates did you have sent to your personal email?
· Investigative process training sheet for TIER cases (if this – do that)
· Documents were indeed proprietary to the OPM contractor, but not anything that weren’t already accessible by print or hard copy.
· I don’t dispute it occurred in hindsight after discovering my negligence.
I’m not surprised that you were fired from this company
· Me either, but actually I was hoping for some negotiation as I had heard of similar oversights by ongoing employees that were met with disciplinary procedures other than first offense termination.
I don’t think there is much you can do unless there is some sort of appeals process with OPM/NBIB or wait time until you can apply to work for another vendor?
· I corresponded with OPM in regards to an appeal of the unfavorable status to no avail.
· Is there a “wait time” (1 year, ect?) that allows forgiveness or review?
Has OPM/NBIB blacklisted you from working for them?
The situation is unclear…were you issued an SOR and your clearance was revoked? If so you have to wait one year before being eligible to apply for a cleared position. If you were just terminated from a contractor background investigator position for misconduct then the letter issued by NBIB should have notified you of how long your were barred from working in the position (max 3 years).
