Question about an employee

[wdfifteen]

Our sales person has been on the verge of being fired for several months. Last Friday she came in and resigned. We took her company phone immediately, but she left the company computer at home. So we followed her home to get it. She obviously had planned this out, because every one of her business emails has been deleted. She used Outlook, and there is nothing in the deleted mail folder.
She was in sales, so her communications with clients is essential to us being able to move forward as seamlessly as possible. We don't know whom she has contacted to what she may have promised them.
We still owe her a paycheck, and I'm considering holding it until she produces the emails. Obviously this will require a visit with our attorney, but I'm just wondering if anyone has any experience with anything like this.

[lendaddy]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

Our sales person has been on the verge of being fired for several months. Last Friday she came in and resigned. We took her company phone immediately, but she left the company computer at home. So we followed her home to get it. She obviously had planned this out, because every one of her business emails has been deleted. She used Outlook, and there is nothing in the deleted mail folder.
She was in sales, so her communications with clients is essential to us being able to move forward as seamlessly as possible. We don't know whom she has contacted to what she may have promised them.
We still owe her a paycheck, and I'm considering holding it until she produces the emails. Obviously this will require a visit with our attorney, but I'm just wondering if anyone has any experience with anything like this.

Yea, not so much. That being said you may be able to get them off the server (highly likely really).

[Tobra]

I don't know for sure, but I think the business emails belong to the business. You will want an attorney there for your next meeting with this person, or would be well advised to.

[MRM]

All the business emails belong to the business. You can read them off the C drive if you bring them to a forensic expert. You can (and probably should) immediately get a restraining order against her to prevent her from using the company data she clearly kept and to keep her from contacting company customers. I'd do it right now, before the end of the week. You know she's home calling each one of her old customers and every other contact she ever heard of in your company.

However, you cannot withhold that last paycheck, even if she's stolen from you and owes you money. You have to give her the paycheck timely and sue her for damages later.

[70SATMan]

Originally Posted by Tobra

I don't know for sure, but I think the business emails belong to the business. You will want an attorney there for your next meeting with this person, or would be well advised to.

Tobra is correct. Those emails are property in the same context as the physical hardware.

Was she using a VPN network for email server access or was her computer completely isolated? If through a company held server then the emails should still be there even if she deleted them. Deleting them in that manner just frees up "local" disc space for her email account. If your IT person has set up your network properly that is.

At any rate, those emails belong to the company and the return of that company owned material I believe can be a requirement to settle final compensation.

[RonDent]

If the e-mails were sent over the companies E-mail server, your IT group should be able to recover them.

[stomachmonkey]

Outlook uses a .pst file to store mail.

It's one file that acts kind of like a database.

Other mail clients are flat file, each email represented by an individual file.

The nature of the pst makes recovery much more difficult.

Who / how is your email handled. Where / what is your email server?

Your best / easiest shot will likely be at the server level.

This is the same employee you were having trouble with not too long ago?

Not much help now but for future reference you can always set up an alias or blind forward for an employees mail so you get a copy of it, for inbound at least.

[70SATMan]

Originally Posted by MRM

However, you cannot withhold that last paycheck, even if she's stolen from you and owes you money. You have to give her the paycheck timely and sue her for damages later.

OK, forget what I said..

[mreid]

Did she sign a non-compete and non-disclosure? These should be common practice for any sales role and are fully enforceable anywhere but California.

[mojper]

Have similar situation but after I threatened to sue him, he react and give me files which I need for business.

And someone told you - if your email are on some server of your website, your hosting provider should be able to recover all data, including mails.

[Cajundaddy]

Laws vary by state but in Calif. you must give the final paycheck in a timely manner. Even if they stole all your trade secrets and sold them to the Chinese. Emails are company property and may require a lawyer to get them unless they are on your server.

I would be on the phone right now to all the clients she handled and tell them about the great new free services you are offering as a long time customer. You are in a race to protect your relationships because she will likely burn them.

[mreid]

Every state has a rule as to how many days may pass before you pay her. Most are no more than 14 days and you do have to pay her.

[MRM]

I have a forensic computer expert who will be able to tell you what color her fingernail polish was when she deleted the emails and what perfume she used when she sent them originally. PM me and I'll send you the contact information.

The emails and ALL information she gained working for you are company assets.

If she is going to work for a competitor you can sue her and them for violating trade secrets. If you threaten that they will drop her and you won't have to actually sue.

This was well planned out. She's been in contact with your clients already. Think about what you would do if you were in her position and wanted to achieve maximum damage against your company. That's what she's been doing and what she's doing right now. You better get to your lawyer tomorrow morning.

[id10t]

Your IT person does make a full backup of your emails - which are configured for IMAP access only - every night right?

[slakjaw]

cant u get the mail off the server?

[lane912]

you could have been monitoring company emails all this time too and she would have never known-
until you fired her for planning this little operation she is in the midst of-

[stealthn]

You are in a legal loose-loose situation, there are precedents on both sides of the fence regarding who owns what, privacy, etc...

Recover her mailbox from a week ago, restore, change her password in AD and access the email from another computer. If you find anything bad talk to a lawyer and I hope she signed a lot of employee contracts

[lane912]

is this your IT guy?

[TechnoViking]

Moving forward, invest in some CRM software. Hire salespeople that know how to use it.

[SeanPizzle]

Originally Posted by TechnoViking

Moving forward, invest in some CRM software. Hire salespeople that know how to use it.

this.

you should have up to the minute knowledge of all your sales reps pipelines in Salesforce or if you have in house talent, Netsuite.


you will never have to worry about whether your sales reps will leave or if they are doing activities to provide revenue for the company.

Also, use a hosted Exchange service. They are pretty cost effective for companies with less than 150 employees in my experience.