Former Prudential Employee Fights Personal Cloud Access in Federal Civil Case – NBC Connecticut

What are your rights when it comes to using your personal devices for work-related activities? That’s the issue at issue in a federal civil case involving Prudential Insurance and a former employee.

“I feel heavy. I feel overwhelmed, rightfully so. And very stressed.”

The stress Jenny Kowalski has felt for the past three years defending herself in federal court in New Haven. She’s been sued by her former employer, Prudential Insurance, where she worked as a junior employee in its Hartford office from 2017 to 2021.

“When I left Prudential for another job, I was sued and accused of misappropriating Prudential information,” Kowalski said.

During the legal proceedings, her personal devices, such as her cellphone, were examined by an independent investigator. Kowalski used her own phone and personal email while working at Prudential, alleging that many other employees and managers did the same.

“I was trained in a way that my bosses, supervisors and colleagues would often use their personal phones to text about work, send graphic messages or videos about work-related matters,” she said.

During that investigation, an investigator inadvertently sent files containing confidential Prudential information to Kowalski’s then-lawyer. Over the course of several months, Prudential and Kowalski’s attorneys drafted a takedown order. They hit a snag when the investigator requested Kowalski’s username and password for three cloud sources: Dropbox, OneDrive, and Google Drive, after seeing “possible activity” in the cloud. Kowalski argued that this was an invasion of her privacy and an overly vague request.

“If you allow someone to come into your computer or your Facebook account with your username and ID, which has your name and likeness on it. So they come in as you, that’s a really dangerous thing,” she said.

But a judge disagreed, ruling he had to give them access. Kowalski denies any wrongdoing and is still fighting the order in court.

“The court has the authority to order a search or conduct forensic examinations. Instead, Prudential asks that you provide us with the keys to the house by providing usernames and passwords,” she said.

In a statement, Prudential said it takes its responsibility to protect customers and the company’s confidential information seriously and has a policy prohibiting employees from sending that information to private email addresses. The company added that it had tried to resolve the matter with Kowalski without legal action.

“This matter could have been resolved almost two years ago had she complied with court orders requiring her to cooperate with Prudential’s process of identifying and deleting information. Our primary goal has always been to ensure that Ms. Kowalski no longer has access to Prudential information,” the statement said.

Quinnipiac University business law professor Anthony Minchella said Kowalski is in a unique case and has a compelling argument, but she faces significant hurdles because a court has already ruled against her.

“You have to show that they ignored some law or that there were other grounds for terminating or repealing the order,” he said.

He says there is a law in Connecticut, Public Act 15-6, that prohibits employers from requesting passwords or usernames for personal accounts, but only under certain conditions.

“When you have something that combines business and personal matters, your employer kind of has access to those matters,” Minchella said.

His advice to people starting a new job is to carefully read everything you sign.

“Read the policies the company gives you. Take the time to read them and understand them,” he said.

Kowalski is now representing herself because she can no longer afford lawyers, having spent at least $200,000 on them, according to bills reviewed by NBC Connecticut.

“I do it out of principle, but I do it in accordance with the law because as individuals we are protected. We are protected from unlimited, unlimited exposure to privacy, unlimited exposure to privacy, from fishing expeditions,” she said.

He urges every employee to think twice before using their personal devices at work.

“Keep your personal life and your professional life separate, even if you see others and leaders doing the opposite. Because at the end of the day, there has to be a clear line between what the company owns and what you own,” Kowalski said.

On July 30, a federal judge issued an order ordering Kowalska to comply with an earlier court order, threatening to place her in federal custody if she did not.

Kowalski said she intends to continue with the legal proceedings.