Smyrna man files suit over Labor Department personal data leak

A Cobb County man has filed suit against the Georgia Department of Labor on behalf of himself and 4,756 other Cobb and Cherokee County residents whose personal data was inadvertently emailed to about 1,000 people last year.

Thomas McConnell of Smyrna is seeking class-action status for his suit, filed Jan. 17 in Fulton County Superior Court.

According to the suit, the Department of Labor created a spreadsheet with the names, social security numbers, ages, home phone numbers and email addresses of 4,757 individuals over age 55 who had visited the department's Cobb-Cherokee Career Center.

“On Sept. 5, 2013, a Georgia Department of Labor employee sent the spreadsheet containing the personal information … to approximately 1,000 individuals,” the lawsuit claims.

“I am just appalled than an organization, such as this, let my information go where it went,” McConnell told Channel 2 Action News.

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