The Law Firm Cheongchul (Attorney in charge: Lee Young-kyung, Bae Gi-hyung) provided comprehensive legal advice regarding the act of deleting information managed by an employee upon their departure at the request of a financial company.

An individual intending to leave the company who deletes or unlawfully exports the materials they have primarily managed without handing them over is in violation of the Unfair Competition Prevention Act and may also be guilty of business embezzlement under criminal law.

The client company confirmed that an internal marketing employee deleted marketing materials from the company's cloud upon resignation, and requested a response from the Law Firm Cheongchul. Cheongchul communicated to the company the necessity of securing log records related to the deletion and the list of materials, enabling a swift collection of evidence, and conducted contact with the departed employee to prevent further damage and carried out the necessary responsive actions.

As a result of the consultation, the client company was able to recover a significant portion of essential materials, thus preventing potential disruptions to their operations. 

There are numerous instances where employees overlook that business-related materials are the property of the company and may even constitute trade secrets, leading to their deletion or unlawful export. In such cases, this could amount to unfair competition acts under the Unfair Competition Prevention Act and business embezzlement under criminal law, potentially imposing serious legal liabilities on the employees and causing disruptions to business operations for the company due to data loss.

As swift resolution through consultation is essential, if you require legal advice regarding the deletion of materials or unlawful export by departing employees, please do not hesitate to contact The Law Firm Cheongchul.