Employment and Labor Relations Lawyer & Attorney : Porter Wright's Employer Law Report : Employment Litigation, Non-Compete, Trade Secrets

A recent Sixth Circuit decision addressed the issue of whether the disclosure of confidential, proprietary documents by an employee to her attorneys constitutes a protected activity for which the employee cannot be terminated or otherwise disciplined. In 2000, numerous individuals filed a class action against the Cincinnati Insurance Company (CIC), alleging that CIC had discriminated against women in violation of the Equal Pay Act (EPA). Kathy Niswander, a claims manager at CIC, was one of the plaintiffs in the class action. 

In order to respond to CIC’s discovery requests, the plaintiffs’ attorneys asked each of the plaintiffs, including Ms. Niswander, to send them any documents in their possession that related to the case or that might support their discrimination claims. In response, Ms. Niswander sent the attorneys any documents she had that could potentially be relevant, but she also submitted confidential claim-file documents that did not contain any information relevant to the alleged discrimination.

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Does your company have a policy for disposing of human resources records that contain employee social security numbers and other personal information? A recent Fair Trade Commission (FTC) enforcement action may make such policies a priority for companies in 2008. 

The FTC just agreed to a settlement with American United Mortgage Company of Northbrook, Illinois.  The FTC accused American United of violating the FTC’s Disposal Rule (http://www.ftc.gov/os/2004/11/041118disposalfrn.pdf), which requires companies to dispose of credit reports and credit report information in a safe and appropriate manner. According to the FTC’s Complaint, American United repeatedly disposed of intact consumer credit reports, which contained consumers’ personal information, in an unsecured dumpster near its office. The settlement, which was announced by the FTC on December 18, 2007, requires, among other things, that American Mortgage pay a $50,000 civil penalty for violations of the Disposal Rule and obtain, every two years for the next 10 years, an audit from a qualified, independent, third-party professional to ensure that its security program meets the standards of the settlement order.

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