A top manager at a Moscow engineering company was lawfully dismissed…
A top manager at a Moscow engineering company was lawfully dismissed for transferring confidential work documents to her personal email and uploading them into the Chinese AI platform DeepSeek, which the court ruled constituted a breach of commercial secrecy. The employee's attempt to challenge the dismissal and claim a 5 million ruble severance package failed, though she received partial compensation for moral harm.
Consensus
- The woman was dismissed from her position as director of sales at a Moscow engineering company.
- She transferred confidential work documents to her personal email address.
- She uploaded internal corporate documents from the protected company system into DeepSeek.
- The court ruled that these actions constituted a breach of commercial secrecy.
- The dismissal was deemed lawful by the court.
- The employee sought to have the termination changed to 'by mutual agreement' to claim a 5 million ruble severance, which the court rejected.
- The company offered a settlement of over 400,000 rubles, but she declined.
- The woman's monthly salary exceeded 800,000 rubles.
- She worked at the company for less than six months.
Points of divergence
- One supplier ceased cooperation with the company after the incident. — mn
- The employee's actions led to a supplier cutting ties, though it is unclear if this was causally linked. — vm
- The court partially satisfied the claim by ordering 10,000 rubles in compensation for moral harm and canceling one disciplinary warning. — mn
- The court fully rejected all claims, including those related to moral harm. — vedomosti
- DeepSeek's data policy states that user files are collected and stored in China. — novaya_eu
- On July 21, 2026, user conversations with DeepSeek became publicly accessible via search engines through a special query. — vedomosti
- The incident gained public attention only after the July 2026 data exposure scandal involving DeepSeek. — novaya_eu
- The employee sought to change the termination basis to 'by mutual agreement' in order to receive the 5 million ruble severance. — tg_varlamov_news
Coverage (11 sources)
- Court ruled firing of employee for uploading data to DeepSeek legal — РИАМО
- Moscow woman fired for uploading work documents to DeepSeek — Московские новости
- Can You Be Fired for Using AI: Lawyer's Response — Вечерняя Москва
- Top manager of Moscow engineering firm fired for leaking trade secrets — she uploaded internal docs to DeepSeek — Varlamov News
- Top Moscow Company Executive Fired for Forwarding Work Documents to DeepSeek — Новая газета Европа
- Top manager of Moscow company fired for revealing secrets via DeepSeek — Ведомости
- Top Moscow Company Manager Fired for Uploading Work Documents to DeepSeek; Court Ruled Termination Legal — Дождь (Telegram)
- Top manager of Moscow company fired for leaking secrets via DeepSeek — Вести
- Top Moscow Manager Fired Over DeepSeek and Personal Email — Новости Москвы
- Top manager of Moscow company fired for leaking secrets via DeepSeek — Вечерняя Москва
- Top Moscow Manager Fired for Leaking Corporate Information to DeepSeek — Коммерсантъ
Key entities
- Moscow
- DeepSeek
- RIA Novosti
- Evening Moscow
- Moskvichka
- Babushkinsky Court
- Mir24 TV
- Moscow Engineering Company
- ООО «ГК ЭнергоПроф»