Is It Yours To Take?

Most people who spend their working lives in front of a computer screen have a number of things in common; boredom and eyestrain spring to mind! However, they all probably also have a large “contacts” folder on their computer.

These contacts can range from friends and family to colleague’s mobile numbers and then the details of clients or customers. In the computer age, it’s very easy to keep a lot of information about people stored in one, easy-to-access, place.

Imagine what it must be like for a journalist. Not only do you have the normal information in your contacts folder, but you also have details of all the people you have spoken to when researching and writing stories, including contacts developed before you even joined your current newspaper.

As you can probably guess, this is based on a real life case and the journalist in question decided he wanted to leave the newspaper. Understandably, he wants to keep his contacts so can he print off the list and take it with him? Or could he email it to his home computer or to a friend?

The answer to both those questions given by the court was a resounding “no”. The list of contacts was stored on his employer’s computer and so the contacts belong to the newspaper.

Considering how reliant we have all become on storing information on our computers, there is a really strong lesson in this case for employees and employers alike. Employees who move jobs and take with them “useful” documents, databases, precedents or indeed anything that takes their fancy, are liable to be faced with court proceedings and a claim for damages from their irate ex-employer.

While legal proceedings may be an option for employers faced with disappearing documentation that a departing employee has taken with them, the old adage “prevention is better than cure” applies to this area of law.

Employers should have clear and well publicised policies setting out what is regarded as company property. This needn’t be too complicated; frankly, a short and clear policy that is easily understood by all staff is much better than a policy the size of War and Peace!

The simple position for employees is to remember that anything you do at work probably belongs to your employer, so store your private contacts somewhere away from work.

Published 11/07/2007.