Contract employee selling our critical data to our rival company

Hi all.
Recently in our company we found out that a female employee on contract was selling our critical data to our rival company. Despite repeated warnings, this employee continues to do so. What are the options available before us?
Please suggest.Its urgent
Thanks
SONAL

Dear..
I think.. its must be mentioned in the Appointment letter that providing company informations to others may lead to termination of the service..
And its a breach of code of conduct.. no one is liable to provide the company information to the rivals..
I think you must initiate the process to terminate her..
Before that one more thing you may do, give her a warning letter stating clearly that you have been found of such activities, which is breach of code of conduct and you are hereby warned to do refrain from such activities, otherwise you will be terminated from the service.. print it in duplicate and take her signature at one copy..
It will be even a proof of record for the same..
I think it will be helpful for you..
Regards,
Amit Seth.

Hi Sonal,
What Amit has said is right....Providing confidential data to the rival company is sackable offence, and could not be ignored....
You can always give her show-cause notice or say warning letter, or can directly terminate her if same is mentioned in company's code of conduct....
Regards,
Chaitali

Hi
what amit say is right, but be careful, unless you have clear cut agreement as well as evidence in support it is very difficult to prove who has supplied the data to the competitor.
its better to give show cause stating the breaches done/committed by the concerned employee and give lessor period to reply say three days and if he/she fails to reply, proceed with domestic enquiry so that statement of complaining person shall be recorded and, thereafter, while considering the case and report, there will be evidence leading to the charges which has been proved so it will be easy for a person to dismissed after giving a copy of enquiry report as well as a chance to explain in person.
regards
arun k mishra

Hi,
The first thing you should do is to make sure that she is IMMEDIATELY taken off from the responsibility handling of such data. She should be suspended pending enquiry. If the data is of sensitive nature, and if the company is committed to protecting the confidentiality of the information as well serious about enforcing discipline, strict action like termination should be taken after following the normal procedure.
Regards,
Naresh Taneja

Thanks all.Your advice was valuable. I have few more queries which I will ask one by one.
1)There is a person in our company whose wife is suffering from blood cancer and he wants a transfer to Las Vegas as well as promotion. he is already earning about 50 lakh p.a. and is on GM level.
His contribution cannot be ignored nor the fact that right now we are not in a position to increase his salary much or give promotion. Not that we are rigid on this. But I want a mid way out.
2) There is a woman employee who wants a maternity leave for the 7th time (unbelievable but true). She has already taken so many leaves before. She wants that her leave shouldn't be without pay. Agreed that under the Maternity Benefit Act there is no binding on the number of children one can have but we want a solution to this problem. What are the available options this time?

hi Sonal,

1) First problem you have mentioned is problem if we think by viewing it personally with human touch. but if we see professionally it is not possible for the company to give promotion or transfer right now. in addition to this his salary package is v.high presently itself.....with due sympathy for his wife you people should make him understand the fact that it is not possible for the company to give promotion/transfer.......but he would be given first preference whenever there is a vacant place...as it is senior position.. or say company can provide him leaves for 1 or 2 months for his wife's treatment...companies provide mediclaim to their employees...as he is on GM positon, his wife would also be covered...comapny can provide him with addition facility so that financial burden wont get increased....

2) Maternity leave for 7th time is something ridiculous....i guess this woman employee is very old and loyal employee of the company....company should use its discreationary power this time..designation, performance of this woman and whether backup is available or not...everything should be given due consideration..

Regards,

Chaitali

Thanks a lot Chaitali. You have almost solved my problem. But could you please suggest more on the second issue.
What are the immediate available options? The employee has been very loyal to this company.

Hi..

you are saying that she is very loyal to the company...that means she understands her responsibility towards company...she should be accountable for the same...

You have not mentioned nature of her work...if it is office work then you can allow her to work from home (if possible- again depends upon management)...there are many companies which do provide these kind of facilities to their employees, especially to the women employees or employees who are suffering from some illness and not able to attend office....

Secondly, You can reduce her working hours...but here before deciding anything other women employees should make understant this exceptional case (7th time maternity leave!!!) otherwise other employees would demand for the same...which would not be possible

And lastly, i would say she is not ready for the same then get rid of her..we should trust our employees but if they betray your trust then we have to kick them off with due respect.... :!:

actually, this issue doesnt have any practical solution.....something could be done through mutual understanding...

Regards,

Chaitali

Terminate here quickly from the service as she doing wrong with the company and also its not good for others in the company to know such things which can easily spread to others in the company.
Should take a strict action so that noone can think of such easy money making or indirect benefits
Regards,
JIMMY CHAUHAN