A dismissed employee sent to himself by email the database of the employer. The employer approached the Labor Court which appointed a receiver to seize the computer, cellular phone and personal mailbox of the employee. The findings revealed that the employee took the employer's database several times and acted to sell it to third parties. Exhibiting a high certainty that other relevant evidence exists, the employer moved to the Labor Court for additional search and seizure and disclosure of additional data seized during the execution of the order.
The Labor Court rejected the employee's contention that the search should be limited to exact keywords and emails sent to stipulated entities. The employer has the right to be exposed to all material pertaining to it, whether it was defined by the employee in synonyms or similar terms; a search by keyword will prevent the necessary full disclosure. In addition, because the employer does not know who the employee approached regarding the clients list or anything else related to it, there is no reason to limit the search to a specific list of third parties.
For full disclosure, the office of Afik & Co., attorneys Doron Afik, Yair Aloni and Shira Zaken Porat, represented the employer.