Personal information on all 8,275 employees of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power was compromised when computer equipment was stolen in a burglary, reports The Los Angeles Times.

The equipment stolen from a private contractor contained each worker's name, date of birth, Social Security number, employee identification number and other information. In response, the utility has agreed to provide free credit monitoring for all employees.

The information also included those who retired between July 1, 2006, and June 30, 2007.

Bob Cherry, a communications consultant for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 18, criticized the utility's decision to entrust such information to a contractor:

They [employees] believe this is a direct result of the mania for outsourcing that the DWP has had. The DWP should have been paying more attention to the potential impact of sensitive data like this getting sent to outside vendors.

Utility spokesman Joe Ramallo said there is no evidence any of the missing information has been misused.