Companies place a considerable amount of trust in their
employees. Confidential and sensitive information that
has taken years and millions of dollars to develop is placed
at the disposal of various employees within an organization.
In the vast majority of cases, this confidential information
and trust is not abused by employees. However, almost every
employer, large or small, at one point or another will deal with the
scenario where a departing employee appears to have taken confidential
information.
In the February 2018 edition of HR Professional, important
practical and technical tools to help prevent and investigate these
difficult scenarios were discussed. This article will discuss an
extreme legal tool – the Anton Piller Order – that may be used by
employers when all other measures have failed.
Briefly, the Anton Piller Order (so named from the British case
of Anton Piller K.G. v. Manufacturing Processes Ltd.) is a courtordered
private search and seizure. An Anton Piller Order allows
a plaintiff to conduct a surprise search of a defendant’s private
property in order to seize and preserve evidence. In the scenario
of a departing employee, an employer who is granted an Anton
Piller Order typically searches the departing/departed employee’s
home and a competing business the ex-employee has recently
established or joined for evidence that the original employer’s confidential
information has been taken.
Before going further, it is important to understand what an
Anton Piller Order is not. An Anton Piller Order is not a tool to
be used by the plaintiff for early discovery, or to go on a “fishing
expedition” of suspected improper conduct by a departing
employee. An employer attempting to get an Anton Piller Order
will be required to provide evidence to the court that they already
have a strong case against the employee. The tools discussed in the
February 2018 edition of HR Professional – such as digital imaging
technology – will be invaluable to meeting this initial threshold.
log88off/123RF Stock Photo
legal words
Anton Piller
Orders
AN EXTREME TOOL WHEN
TRUST HAS BEEN BROKEN
Mark Repath
pngtree.com/ john 33
HRPROFESSIONALNOW.CA ❚ APRIL 2018 ❚ 9
