Husband lost his job. His fault but he had good intentions. We are both deeply upset. Please help.

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My husband's boss phoned him a fortnight ago, and told him to stand down and to hand his laptop in to HQ the following day. My husband was so shocked, we didn't know what was happening. We were in a distressed state as he's contract and won't get paid either.
After over a week, of not sleeping, eating, desperately worried, we received a very aggressive lawyers letter from the company. It accused him of downloading documents to his private e mail to read. Husband did do this, they weren't sensitive but he did do it so he could read them at night, and deleted them right after. He honestly didn't realise he was doing wrong. He was doing his best to help his team and get the work done. He's always known for getting jobs done and been told he's a great asset.
Back story to this is, I've been very ill the last year. I nearly died, also lots of illness on my part, mental breakdown, 2 operations, serious illness. He was trying to look after me and do his job at the same time in the evening. He's now been dismissed. Looks like we are going to have to pay both sides legal fees, but he has no job, I can't work. We speak to a lawyer tmro.
He has been foolish, but he did it with the best of intentions to get the work done. We are early sixties and so distressed, I'm worried he will have a heart attack. He's cried non stop, he is horrified, ashamed, embarrassed. Please be kind x

OP you haven't seen the letter have you.
You're going on what your husband has told you.
If you'd seen the letter, you'd be able to say what it said about legal fees. And why would you have just handed it over to a lawyer and not just given them a copy or taken a photo of it for yourself so you have a record of it.

You need to make sure you have seen any letter, I'm not sure your husband is being honest with you.

I think his side line is what’s flagged this to them as being potentially conflicting.

What sideline? What other business?

Most contracts where I’ve worked they’re crystal clear about what you can and can’t do IT wise and GDPR etc wise.

What's done is done but the use of personal devices/personal IT accounts and downloading non work related software to a works device got people removed where I worked. They worked in IT and knew the rules and could even ask IT security if they were unsure of the policy

I wouldn't believe his 'naivety' here in not realising how seriously sending docs to a personal email would be taken.

No, sorry, there is definitely more than that. There is a breach of data, must be sensitive at some points and he hasn't realised. I don't know. I don't know what I'm asking for at all here. Just been so upset.

Oh I missed the side line post.

Yeah it’ll be the sideline. He’s no actually that exhausted and frazzled looking after you and holding down his contract then, he had capacity for a whole other business too

OP, it’s concerning that he states he didn’t realise what he was doing was wrong / against company policy. In my workplace annual training is mandatory. As he is a contractor, how long has he worked there, when was his contract due to end and has he completed or planned to do any other work, either for himself or someone else?

Clearly it is serious and upsetting, but try to stay calm. It’s happened now, but you can work to control your reactions. Try to get out for a walk in nature and other things that you find help you manage stress.

Your husband realises this now but he really needs to take on board all this and more when he gets a new contract. As far as I know most companies especially when employing contractors just want you to do the job and nothing else. Did his company/bosses know about this sideline or not? Was it approved?

You don’t sound stupid.
you do sound vague but you’ve explained why.

you’re in the self-accusatory/shame phase. I’ve been there, it’s paralysing. I spend a lot of time getting my own clients out of it.

there is nothing in any of the scenarios outlined so far that should result in paying legal fees if the lawyer handles it properly and you both hold your nerve.

if you/your husband don’t feel calmer/reassured immediately after seeing the lawyer then come back here and we can between us recommend some excellent ones who have empathy.

my guess is that he should be giving full disclosure plus giving undertakings straight away. With my own clients, we don’t admit and we draft the undertakings ourselves.

good luck OP.

The last year has been horrendous but it happened a fortnight ago? A long fortnight then?

I work for a relevant organisation.

Is he an employee, or a self employed contractor?

Unfair Dismissal isn't about whether the reason was morally fair - it's about the process of dismissal, and if they haven't followed a fair process, it could potentially be seen as Unfair Dismissal if he has 2 years service

Why are you saying 'we' its got nothing to do with you, he shouldnt have done what he did he got sacked, you say you cant work but if you need money one of you will have to unless you can retire, what hes done is gross misconduct, its the same as bringing files to look at at home which shouldnt leave the office,

He has realised. He's a contractor and has used the company he was contracted to's documents and intellectual property in his other personal endeavor. That clearly is theft and isn't the same as downloading documents to your personal laptop to read in bed and help you do the contracted job better.

I'd leave him and the lawyers to this OP. Unless there are significant sums of money involved I suspect they would terminate the contrcat immediately and send scary sounding legal cease and desist letters, which sounds like is what they have done. Whether any legal action is worth their while would depend on the value of the stuff he used and the sums involved I'd have thought. Companies often send the scary legal letters and then dont bother with actual legal action if its not worth their while.

Either way, that contract has gone, lessons learnt, move on.

So he's been sacked for gross misconduct ? So he was employed ? The letter should explain what the misconduct was and why it was considered gross misconduct. I assume these data/information was extremely sensitive and that is why.
If these data are such that it was patently obvious that he shouldn't have done it and he did and the company have always been clear that this is a gross misconduct letter then he doesn't have a leg to stand on wrt sacking. But that's a couple of big ifs. We've had in our org examples of this and it's never been instant dismissal but final written warning. But again, all depends on data really.
There are no lawyer fees to pay though if he was employed. They're having it on.
Now if he was a contractor employed under a contract and the contract says that in a misconduct scenario then the fees are to be paid, then thats a different kettle of fish. But you seem to be implying he's full employee so ignore the threats for recovery of costs.

I’ve just seen your update on him having a sideline / setting up a business. Did he inform the company of this in writing and was he given written consent? Did the work he forwarded have anything at all to do with this sideline?

Does your husband work for a company where he needs security clearance? Is he bound by the official secrets act at all? Does he have a copy of his contract? Is there anything within his contract that specifically states that he's not to download work related documents to a personal device?

The company have decided that your husband has committed 'gross misconduct'. However, I find it odd that he was told to hand in his laptop and there was no discussion. I could understand him being asked to hand his laptop over and suspended, pending an investigation. Once he'd been spoken to and they'd investigated, then dismissing him.

Why are solicitors involved? Are they claiming for a breech in contract?

If he's downloaded work related documents to his personal laptop, regardless if they contain sensitive information or not, your husband's ex employer has no idea if he's passed that documentation onto another party. So I can understand why he's been sacked.

They don't do it. But on the other hand, early retirement isn't bad. We only live once.

This is kind and sensible advice. Shame is a very weighty emotion to carry and can be misplaced. We do all make mistakes in life and we learn from them.

If your husband was senior he would know not to do that. What is the industry? It sounds like he is not telling you the full story. For some reason he wanted them in his personal email otherwise he wouldn’t have taken the known security risk.

he may work hard but it’s obvious he is either clueless or up to something. Stop going on about how hard he works. That doesn’t mean anything, and it doesn’t grant him any excuses.

Hey if this is a stackable offence, I should have been fired loads of times. It might be industry specific. Without knowing what sector (e.g. SC cleared), it's hard to know, but this seems quite suspicious of his employer.

The handing in of the laptop is to ensure that he doesn’t access/send other harmful docs/IT info.

This. Or even if he wasn’t, they think he was.

He's a contractor, not an employee. It is not his job, dismissal doesn't apply etc, it's a service delivery contract. One with multiple contracts by the sounds of it. His contract has been terminated. They can do that for any reason, it's not the same as being an employee and doesn't give the same rights. It sounds as though he has stolen company data. As a contractor, he must have insurance though, so if they pursue legal action he should be covered that way. I don't buy the 'he didn't realise' line. Sorry. No contractor is that naive.