Business & Tech

Man Sues Labor Department Over Data Leak

The "employee error" at the Georgia Department of Labor put the personal data of almost 5,000 people at risk for identity theft.

By Justin Ove

A Smyrna man who was one of almost 5,000 people over the age of 55 to have their personal information accidentally leaked by a Georgia Department of Labor employee has filed suit against that department.

On Sept. 5, 2013, a spreadsheet containing the names, ages, home phone numbers, addresses, and Social Security numbers of 4,757 people who had visited the Cobb-Cherokee Career Center was e-mailed to over 1,000 people by mistake.

One of the names on the spreadsheet was Thomas McConnell, who lives in Smyrna. According to the Atlanta Journal-ConstitutionMcConnell filed a suit against the Department of Labor in Fulton County Superior Court on Friday and is hoping to attain class-action status.

The suit alleges negligence and invasion of privacy by the Department of Labor, and requests $3 million in monetary damages, which includes covering the cost of credit locks for those affected, reimbursement of credit repair expenses, and protection against current and future incidents of identity theft.

The full complaint may be read at the top of this article.

Although the agency requested those that received the spreadsheet delete it without looking at it and has offered to provide free credit monitoring for those affected by the leak, many people, including McConnell, are still outraged.

One person told the AJC that he was afraid that some less scrupulous people may not simply delete the e-mail out of hand, but use the information to steal peoples' identities.


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