Laid Off? Know Your Rights About Proprietary Material

Getting fired or laid off in the recessionary economy is bad enough for workers. After the initial shock, however, most want to move on and find new work.

And one way many workers do that is by showcasing their past work. But what if your former employer makes that impossible?

Is it legal for an employer to deny a former employee access to their email and computer files and work? My position was recently eliminated on short notice (for reasons beyond my control). In cleaning out my desk, I borrowed a flash drive pen from the office manager to store my files, including examples of my writing and research. Upon trying to access my files the following week to obtain a writing sample to submit with a job, I discovered that the drive is corrupted or damaged and that I could not access my files. Although a manager initially said that I could access my email at least for a month following my last day, access was denied the same day. I followed up with them, but now they are saying they will not allow me to access my email. Access to email would at least enable me to get some of my material, but unless the drive can be fixed I will likely not have anything. I understand that the computer and my work are the property of the company, but it seems like an employee should be able to access something he has written.

Bill Bethune, a Northern Virginia attorney who mostly represents corporate clients in employment disputes, says that a worker hired by a corporation is hired under the "work for hire" doctrine and the copyright on any work done belongs to the company.

"The copyright belongs to the employer if it is created by your employee who is not an independent contractor," Bethune says. "The work is to serve the employer's needs and done on the employer's watch. So it does not belong to the employee."

That said, Bethune suggests that laid-off employees "can request permission to see their work" to pursue other employment and "proprietary material could be removed. The [former] employer might be willing to release that material" under such a scenario.

"Describe what document you're looking for and say that you'd like a copy for the limited purpose of getting new employment," he says.

And lacking that, he says unemployed workers ought to enlist former supervisors as references about their research and writing abilities.

Kenneth Bredemeier has six years of experience writing about the workplace. On the Job, a column addressing real worker questions about office relationships, corporate policies and workplace law, is written exclusively for washingtonpost.com.

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