Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

There were subtle evidence that company leadership was going to fire me because I was aware of their unethical practice to obtain benefits for themselves. Just before I was fired (in which the termination took place without prior verbal or written notice with the termination letter placed on my home doorstep), I copied email correspondence between company leadership and me with the intention to use the emails as evidence in any potential lawsuits. Can the employer sue me for data (email) theft and are the emails admissible as evidence because they were obtained without their permission?


Asked on 9/04/17, 11:00 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Terry A. Nelson Nelson & Lawless

You said they were "between company leadership and me", so you already had received them and could have made copies then, so they were probably not 'company confidential' or protected such that you violated any significant 'law'.

More to the point, if you are thinking that you are a protected 'whistle-blower', you will need to have admissible evidence that you reported, or threatened to report, actual 'illegal" conduct to authorities to have a sound basis for a wrongful termination lawsuit. Either that, or you had a specific written contract of employment that they breached during it's term. Most employees in CA are 'at will', and can be terminated without cause or notice. If you believe you do have grounds for whistle-blower or contract breach, feel free to contact me at 714-960-7584 if serious about pursuing it.

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Answered on 9/05/17, 8:26 am


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