Morrisons is being sued by over 5,500 of its employees after their personal details were leaked online by a former colleague.

A High Court action against the big four grocer has been brought by 5,518 of its current and former staff after their personal details were posted online by former auditor Andrew Skelton.

Skelton was jailed for eight years in 2015 for the data breach.

However, the impacted employees are seeking compensation from the supermarket chain for “upset and distress” caused by the incident, which Morrisons has denied liability for.

The trial, which started this week and will go on for two weeks, will determine whether Morrisons is liable for damages. If so, a second trial will take place to determine the level of compensation.

The consortium of Morrisons staff involved in the case are being represented by barrister Jonathan Barnes from law firm JW.

According to the BBC, Barnes told the High Court that the grocer had been awarded £170,000 compensation against Skelton, but the staff directly impacted by the data breach had received no financial compensation to date.

“We say that, having entrusted the information to Morrisons, we should now be compensated for the upset and distress caused by what we say was a failure to keep safe that information,” Mr Barnes told the judge.

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