More than 2,000 current and former workers – with more likely to follow – have begun a group claim after details of nearly 100,000 staff were leaked online

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Thousands of Morrisons staff are preparing to sue the supermarket after their personal details were leaked online.

A senior employee, Andrew Skelton, was jailed for eight years in July after he posted details of nearly 100,000 staff online.

Information including salaries, national insurance numbers, dates of birth and bank account details were also sent to a number of newspapers.

The data breach at Morrisons’ Bradford head office last year cost the company more than £2m to rectify.

More than 2,000 current and former staff are pursuing a group claim alleging that the retailer was ultimately responsible for breaches of privacy, confidence and data protection law.

More staff are expected to join the claim, after lawyers were given a four-month period to sign them up. Potential claimants include people who worked at Morrisons, its subsidiary Farmers Boy or former business Kiddicare before November 2014.

Nick McAleenan, a data privacy lawyer at JMW Solicitors, said: “Whenever employers are given personal details of their staff, they have a duty to look after them.

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“That is especially important given that most companies now gather and manage such material digitally and, as a result, it can be accessed and distributed relatively easily if the information is not protected.”

He said Morrisons workers affected by the data breach were worried about the possibility of money being taken from their bank accounts and potential negative consequences for their credit rating.

Skelton, who worked as a senior internal auditor at the Bradford head office, leaked the data after being disciplined over using the company’s postroom to conduct eBay deals.

The leak was highly embarrassing for Morrisons, coming just weeks after the group’s treasurer and head of tax, Paul Coyle, was arrested over insider dealing relating to trading in the shares of Ocado, Morrisons’ partner for its new online grocery delivery service. Coyle was found guilty of insider dealing and jailed for a year in March.

A spokesman for Morrisons said: “We are contesting this case. We are not accepting liability for the actions of a rogue individual. We can confirm that we are not aware that anybody suffered any financial loss from this breach.”