## Q28 key (Employee-Retained Documents)

1. Category A is the strongest protected set: Serena lawfully accessed the payroll records, they directly substantiate the report, and limited disclosure to counsel and the labor agency is reasonably necessary. Use a secure, targeted production rather than sending the entire drive. Missed: core evidence is surrendered or buried in an indiscriminate disclosure.
2. Category B should be quarantined and returned or securely deleted only under a documented forensic protocol. Customer bank and identity data are unrelated, excessive, and not protected by the wage report. Missed: Serena creates severe confidentiality and data-security exposure.
3. Category C must be sequestered immediately. Counsel should stop review, notify Avenor's counsel, and arrange return, clawback, or court review without using its substance. Missed: receiving counsel compounds an unauthorized privilege intrusion.
4. Category D must not be retained for competitive use or shared with the new employer; preserve it temporarily only as needed for the handling protocol, then return or delete under supervision. Missed: a whistleblower case becomes a trade-secret misappropriation case.
5. Category E personal notes are generally Serena's and may be preserved; screenshots tied to the payroll claim may be treated like Category A if limited and securely handled. Notes reproducing unrelated protected material require redaction or protocol. Missed: personal recollection is discarded or used as a route to retain unrelated data.
6. Send nothing to the journalist or prospective employer. Public and competitive disclosure fall outside the protected channel and materially increase injunction and damages risk. Missed: Serena forfeits a defensible evidence-retention position.
7. Reject Avenor's demand for immediate unverified deletion of everything, but propose counsel-to-counsel imaging, hashing, category segregation, targeted regulator production, privileged-material return, and supervised destruction or return of unrelated data. Missed: evidence is destroyed or improper possession continues without control.
8. Serena's retaliation claim is not defeated by possession of every file, but Avenor may discipline or sue for independent Category B-D misconduct if treated consistently. The advice must preserve the wage report while curing excess. Missed: either protected activity is treated as total immunity or one overcollection erases it.