The UK's High Court has said that thousands of Morrisons staff members whose personal details were posted on the internet could be eligible to receive compensation for the distress caused.
Workers brought a claim against the retailer following a security breach in 2014, when Andrew Skelton, a former internal auditor, leaked the payroll information of nearly 100,000 employees.
Skelton, who was found guilty of fraud in 2015 and jailed for eight years, sent a file of employee details, including salaries, dates of birth and bank account details to the Guardian, Daily Mirror and the Bradford Telegraph.
Appeal Process
Morrisons denies liability for the breach, and says that the case is now being referred to the Court of Appeal.
"The judge found that Morrisons was not at fault in the way it protected colleagues’ data but he did find that the law holds us responsible for the actions of that former employee, whose criminal actions were targeted at the company and our colleagues," a Morrisons spokeperson said.
The company says that it worked to get the data taken down quickly, and is not aware of any staff member who suffered direct financial loss.
"We believe we should not be held responsible so we will be appealing this judgement," the spokesperson added.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Sarah Harford. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
