Key facts
- A former employee is being investigated after his ex-company filed a police report.
- The company alleges the employee stole a "proprietary analytical system" (a spreadsheet) upon leaving.
- The employee claims he built the spreadsheet from scratch on his personal MacBook and own time.
- The spreadsheet reportedly contained formulas and structure, not proprietary company data.
- The company may argue ownership because the spreadsheet was used for work operations.
- The employee had previously emailed the file from his work laptop to his personal email.
A former employee is facing scrutiny after his ex-employer filed a police report accusing him of stealing a trade secret. The employee, who posted about the situation on Reddit, claims he created a spreadsheet on his personal MacBook to streamline work processes during his 18-month tenure at a logistics startup. He states the spreadsheet was built on his own time, using his own hardware, and contained only his own designed formulas and structure, with no proprietary company data.
However, the company contends that the spreadsheet, which he used to track delivery times, error rates, and cost variance, constitutes a "proprietary analytical system." The situation is complicated by the fact that the employee had previously transferred the file from his work laptop to his personal email, a move he admits could appear suspicious but insists was for access while his personal device was being repaired.