THE Penang High Court has recently declared that a former employee of FP Stencil Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the public-listed engineering parts manufacturer FoundPac Group Bhd, as having breached her employment contract.
The Court granted a mandatory injunction by compelling the former employee to return all company properties and confidential information in her possession within 14 days while awarding a total of RM118,950 in exemplary damages (equivalent to the defendant’s 18-month salary) and RM50,000 in costs to the company.
The former employee, Ng Siew Phei, 44, had resigned without notice and joined FP Stencil’s competitor on the same day she left the company.
Her successor subsequently discovered that almost all documents and information had been deleted from the work computer while vital files were missing from the company’s shared work network.
Upon requests from the company, Ng claimed that the customer contact list requested had been accumulated through her own efforts over the years, hence did not belong to FP Stencil.
However, following a police report lodged by the company and its subsequent repeated requests, she submitted a list which was later found to be outdated and/or incomplete.
Nevertheless, an IT forensic expert engaged by FP Stencil to investigate and retrieve the deliberately deleted information or documents confirmed that Ng had transferred voluminous files from her work computer by having retained them via USB drives.
‘Deterrent damage’
Moreover, she had also performed a bulk permanent deletion of crucial business documents on the day she tendered her resignation on Aug 6, 2021 as a senior marketing executive. She had joined the company on Nov 1, 2013 as a sales executive.
Court evidence further revealed that Ng had directly contacted the company’s customers to procure work for her new employer within a month of leaving.
On this account, the Court held that the duty of confidentiality during and upon cessation of employment is implied in the employment terms, especially when the former employee had access to sensitive business information.
Retaining and utilising the company’s information to benefit herself and the company’s competitor constituted unlawful interference with the company’s business.
As such, the Court also awarded exemplary damages to serve as a deterrent to other employees in the future.
Leonard Yeoh together with Chen Mei Yan and Sharon Teo of Tay & Partners, represented FP Stencil while Beh Hong Shien and Khor Cindy of Y.C. Wong appeared for the former employee. – April 23, 2025
Inage credit: FoundPac Group Bhd Annual Report 2017
