Copied the company drive but never signed an NDA…
Greetings fellow monkeys
What if in a hypothetical situation one were to download the company drive after a seemingly wrongful termination, and one were to copy the company drive. And what if this individual has never been given an NDA nor an official employment contract to sign, as besides primitive cyber security, the company’s organization is a mess.
Is there anything unlawful bout this hypothetical scenario in a US or an EU based company?
I’m shocked you didn’t have to sign anything. When you joined, did you have to do new hire paperwork? Generally this includes signing a document saying you have received and understand the company handbook, which has NDA provisions and things that cover this scenario. Not every company has an employee handbook, but most do.
Nope, I only signed something related to employment insurance and I figured the contract etc. would come in due time. I received some kind of intro guide, but have not signed anything except for the insurance statement. The company somehow got knowledge of it and they are threatening to sue but I wonder whether they have any legal standing. I suppose distributing information would be something else as it is confidential data but that is not my intention at all. Happy to get some input from some law bois
My understanding is that if you didn’t sign any agreement, they cannot go after you for just having the documents on your personal computer or a thumb drive. However, if you start to use those files for personal gain (such as through competition), you may find you’ve entered a legal gray line. Additionally, the drive probably contains protected files such as owned intellectual property, in which case they could probably go after you for stealing IP. I’m really not sure though. Better off asking the question on a legal forum than a finance one.
If a firm gave you guides on not stealing information, etc, and you received them and continued working at the company, you may have implicitly agreed to the contents. You don't need to sign every rule the company ever creates for you to be required to follow it. Also, there are intellectual property / straight up theft concerns involved.
Not a lawyer, but don't think any court of law will look kindly upon this situation for the employee. There is so little benefit for you downloading the company drive... just move on to your next job
Regardless what you did or didn’t sign, it wouldn’t take much for the firm to rake you over the coals if they wanted. With enough reasonable suspicion, they could file suit and press charges. Do you really want to hire an attorney at $350/hr to argue that you didn’t think downloading the company drive wasn’t wrong as you didn’t sign something saying not to!?
$350??? That's a cheap attorney nowadays! You're looking at a higher rate than that and most won't even get started with you unless you cough up a $20k retainer.
I'm thinking back to the days when my boy got a dui and had a worthless attorney who took his money at 350 an hour to plead it down to a careless driving. Friend thought, I could have done that myself! I'm sure a civil case would demand a retainer like you mentioned.
Blow the whistle about their terrible practices. I wouldn't want to use any potentially important services from a shit company like that.
reach out to a journalist especially if they handle important information
Whistleblowing about what??? A company firing someone for cause, and then threatening to sue for copying their entire drive...? Even if this dude was wrongfully terminated it's straight up crazy to steal all of their files
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