Copyright infringement

Termination for cause upheld for breach of computer information access policy

January 28, 2011 Christina Catenacci Employment/Labour Standards, Human Resources, Privacy and Security

Ontario’s Labour Arbitration Board recently held that an employer did not overreact when it terminated an IT employee for cause after he used an employer computer to download, store and share thousands of copyrighted works including movies, TV shows, music tracks, games and pornographic material, totalling over half a terabyte of data. The board found that the employee violated the employer’s trust in him and acted in flagrant disregard for the employer’s computer information access policy over many years.

computer information access policy, Copyright infringement, copyrighted works, Data breach, employee handbook, employee Internet use, employee relations, employment law, file sharing software, Illegal downloads, Internet Security, IT employee, Labour Arbitration Board, Network Security, policy manual, pornographic material, termination for cause