Taking Company Documents to Support Whistleblowing— When Is 'Self Help' Unlawful?
Even as federal protections for whistleblowers have expanded, employers can still take strategic actions to address employees taking confidential and proprietary business information to provide to a governmental agency or for use in a whistleblower action.
June 05, 2018 at 01:28 PM
2 minute read
Photo Credit: Shutterstock The Current Conflict
What if Trade Secret Information is Also Necessary to Pursue a Whistleblower Retaliation Claim?
Possible Employer Legal Actions Against Misappropriators
- State-law remedies—such as for breach of contract for violating an NDA and/or common-law conversion or breach of fiduciary duty.
- Federal and state computer-use laws, such as the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and comparable state computer-use laws.
Caution: Court Protection for Whistleblowers
Erhart v. BofI Holding Erhart Erhart Ed Ellis is a shareholder, and co-chair of the whistleblowing and corporate ethics p ractice group at Littler Mendelson, based in the Philadelphia office. A former a ssistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Ellis has tried more than 40 cases to verdict before juries and has represented clients at hundreds of bench trials, arbitration and administrative proceedings. He can be reached at [email protected]. Kevin Griffith, office managing shareholder for Littler's Columbus, Ohio, office, has extensive litigation experience in cases involving trade secrets and covenants-not- to-compete, the protection of business information, and compliance with the whistleblower provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and Dodd-Frank Act, among other areas of employment law. He can be reached at [email protected]. To access The Littler Annual Employer Survey, 2018, visit: https://www.littler.com/2018-employer-surveyThis content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
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