Most employers may not know that courts began applying the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act to civil cases a few years ago.
What that means is that employers can now collect damages in court when employees cause damage to a computer system.
Employers typically file civil lawsuits under the act when employees or former employees access computer data to gain a competitive edge at their new place of business.
But the law also enables employers to get restitution for a wide scope of other damages, including for destruction of proprietary information and for knowingly downloading a program that damages computers or computer networks.
To recover damages the employer may sue in federal court, and the damages must be at least $5,000.
Possible damages include:
- Time and resources spent to hire a computer expert
- Cost of hiring the expert to determine and remedy the damage
- Cost of hiring the expert to create a method to prevent future damage
- Loss of confidential or trade secret information.
Employers cannot include loss of revenue and good will or interference with customer relations in its calculation of damages.
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