Three ex-employees of AK Steel's Rockport, Indiana plant have been accused of stealing confidential information and trade secrets when they left last year to join rival company ThyssenKrupp Steel.
Ohio-based AK Steel filed a lawsuit last week in the Butler County Common Pleas court against Donald Earley, senior process engineer; Dona Ashby, quality coordinator; and Jonathan Salisbury, senior electric maintenance manager. All three signed confidentiality agreements when they were hired by AK Steel.
The suit demands that the court bar the accused from continuing employment with ThyssenKrupp and disclosing the information, and also order them to return the purloined information to AK Steel. Additionally, the suit seeks actual and punitive damages.