1. The Client's Situation
In the course of performing cleaning services for production facilities under a service contract with a customer company, the client discovered that some of its workers had taken unauthorized photographs of the customer's internal drawings, site photos, and the like, and had submitted them to the court as evidence. The customer company raised this as a "leak of trade secrets," and the client requested advice in order to review whether and to what degree disciplinary action should be taken against the workers concerned.
2. Your Legal Team's Advice
Your Legal Team first reviewed whether the workers' conduct constituted grounds for discipline under the rules of employment. The team determined that a breach of the confidentiality obligation was established, on the grounds that the workers had signed a security pledge yet took the photographs without authorization, and that they had not gone through a lawful document production order procedure. However, considering that the conduct was carried out for the purpose of exercising the right of defense in the course of litigation, the team advised that "suspension" was a more reasonable level of discipline than dismissal. The team also advised that the disciplinary procedures under the rules of employment, such as the composition of the disciplinary committee, notice of attendance, and provision of an opportunity to explain, needed to be strictly observed.
3. Outcome
In accordance with the advice, the client constituted an internal disciplinary committee and decided on a suspension disposition, and by preventing procedural defects, minimized the possibility of future disputes before bodies such as the Labor Relations Commission. At the same time, to prevent recurrence of similar cases, the client overhauled its security education and pledge-management systems.