Elk Grove firm sues former employee

An Elk Grove Village lighting company is suing a former employee fired for allegedly stealing trade secrets while working with a business in competition with the firm.

Schreder Lighting, an international business with its corporate U.S. headquarters in Elk Grove Village, filed suit in Cook County Circuit Court Wednesday against Edmund Morel, of Schaumburg. The suit accuses him of "a series of disloyal and intentionally wrongful activities" while employed at the firm from 2006 to this January.

It claims he worked to "stealthily form a competitive enterprise and actively compete with his employer," while "using and disclosing Schreder's confidential, proprietary and trade-secret information for his own personal benefit and the benefit of his covert personal business."

Morel was hired as a "tunnel and transit specialist," working to provide lighting to projects in those areas, but the suit said he "funneled opportunities to his own business to pitch, and ... even used Schreder's own product designs" in having competitive materials manufactured in China.

Morel was fired Jan. 15 for violating company policy and confidentiality and intellectual-property agreements, the suit says.

Morel did not return a call for comment.