Wait, what? In the opinion of the court, a company has the authority to demand that their employee hands over the contents of his personal computer? That doesn't sound right... please, somebody tell me the US judicial system isn't that retarded!
If they want, your employer could demand that you wear pink underwear of a particular brand at all times when in the building and fire you if you did not.
Yes, and this case is between American parties, under American law, in the U.S. (of America) District Court for the Northern District of California.
My boss could fire me for disliking the color of my T-Shirt this morning.
Every decision to choose one course of action over another is "discrimination-based"; you mean as long as it is not discrimination on an expressly-prohibited basis.
This is an American case, and it's being litigated in accordance with American law, so the judge is using American rules about employment to achieve the goal here. I would be surprised if there weren't some way to accomplish the same goal in Germany.
Regarding discovery, I must say that the US system is actually more advanced than Germany, where, in civil law, there isn't really a doctrine for recovering incriminating evidence (or otherwise compelling evidence) from the opposite side, apart from a few specific circumstances.
"A person is guilty of arson when he or she willfully and maliciously sets fire to or burns or causes to be burned or who aids, counsels, or procures the burning of, any structure, forest land, or property." [1]
The incendiary's ownership or not of the property doesn't matter.
[1] https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySectio....
This is absolutely the case with at-will employment, and maybe even with an executive or officer directly involved in a case even without that (and an executive likely has a contract that puts them under something other than simple at-will terms.)
> That doesn't sound right... please, somebody tell me the US judicial system isn't that retarded!
If you don't like the law, that doesn't make the judiciary retarded for correctly explaining it.
is that what you meant? I think 08-15's concern was more along the lines of an employer having the ability to demand someone to give up their personal information without their consent.
But in this case these are files that are related to the day job, and are materially impacting the business. Seems like they would be on solid ground conditioning further employment on furnishing the files.
I am guessing they do have the ability to fire on those grounds.
> And you also have the authority to say, "And if you don't do that, you're fired."
Basically, if the employee refuses and the company fires the employee, the company can shield itself from liability by cutting ties with the employee and telling the court that they had no idea what the employee was up to and didn't condone it at all.
