Archiving Mishap and Password Refusal

I messed up archiving someone's account folder. I asked for their password...their literal words "I don't give my login password to anyone. As my documents were archived without my password, surely its easy enough to get them back" No...i need to recover the file, reset permissions, test the account then everythings fine. If you don't give me your password, I have permission to reset it. So you think you've stopped me from doing my job, you're so wrong in so many ways. Taking in mind this took 2 months to flag up