Data owned by employer

Extensive deletion of files belonging to a company – without prior order – can result in termination without notice. This was insisted on by the Hessian Regional Labour Court. An account manager in a company in the IT sector had unauthorisedly deleted about 80 files and 374 stored contacts, e-mails, tasks and appointments. The employee had done this during negotiations to amend or terminate his employment contract. According to the judgement, such an act destroyed trust in the integrity of the employee. (AZ: 7 Sa 1060/10) All data at the workplace was under the employer’s power of disposal. As a result, the account manager was dismissed without notice.

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