Angie Walls
(photo by shaunl from iStockPhoto)
Published in The Human Resource Blog by C4CM, May 27, 2011

In Arkansas this week, a fired employee has filed a lawsuit for harassment against Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. The employee, who currently resides in Oklahoma, alleges that Wal-Mart is forcing him to an Arkansas court as part of a 4-year-old trade secret violation case.

One of their computer security specialists, Mr. Gabbard had been suspected of copying documents from work. Wal-Mart asserts that he has retained confidential information after he left the company, which directly violates the employee agreement on sharing trade secrets.

From the Wall Street Journal, Mr. Gabbard is believed to still have company documents based on postings he made on his website as recently as a month ago and on a forensics investigation of his computers, which show that he copied corporate files before leaving.

He had been previously fired from Wal-Mart for monitoring phone conversations between other employees and a New York Times reporter. Also, he shared confidential information about a board discussion he heard through the surveillance system about a corporate sex-discrimination suit and secret plan to boost their stock price by spinning off of Sam’s Club.

Read the Wall Street Journal article