Scorned ex-HR worker hacks into former employer & changes colleague records

Claire Playfoot, formerly an HR worker at the Royal Borough, has been found guilty of illegally accessing and changing colleagues’ records a year after leaving her role - The Royal Borough Observer reports. 

Reading Magistrates Court heard the specifics of her actions. Playfoot departed Royal Borough HR’s team in 2015 after 14 years there. Her new job was at Ealing Council. The incident in question occurred a year later, in October 2016.

She changed one record to say a colleague was obese (Playfoot told the court: “I regret doing that.”); another, her HR Team Leader, saw her sickness records altered; someone else had their sickness record modified; and one more fell victim to an appraisal rating that was swapped from ‘satisfactory’ to ‘requires improvement’. The holiday entitlements of staff were also tampered with.  

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Sophie Hayes, Playfoot’s HR Team Leader, told the court: “Some of these changes could have had a large impact across the organisation.”