Former worker admits deleting overtime and compliance records
An employee was fined $5,000 after he deleted 20 files from the company's Google Drive following his termination from his job. The 30-year-old employee was fined after pleading guilty under the Computer Misuse Act of unauthorised modification of computer contents, Channel News Asia reported.
According to reports, the employee had already tendered his resignation when the termination took place. He was serving his agreed 30-day notice period when he received the letter of termination, notifying him of his termination based on his overall work performance that did not meet the company's expectations. The termination had a one-day notice, adding that his final pro-rated salary would be given by the end of the month, Today Online reported.
The employee was then asked to return all intellectual property rights, current projects, company email login details and all related material that were in his possession back to his employer. But while still in the office, he used his company account to access the firm's Google Drive and delete 20 documents, and permanently removing 16 of them.
The employee was later asked about the incident, who lied and said the files were in a certain folder. It was later discovered by the IT department that he deleted the files.
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Only 16 of the removed files were retrieved by the company, while the remaining four were documents related to workers' overtime records and a record of the firm's compliance with the requirements of the Singapore Food Agency.
The employee initially denied deleting company files, saying the deleted documents were his, before confessing five months later to his actions.
As a result, the former employee was fined S5,000, while S$1,500 will be deducted from his outstanding salary as compensation.
According to the CNA, the former employee's charge under unauthorised modification of computer contents could have landed him jail time for up to three years or a fine of S$10,000, or both.
