Do you know that emails are electronic traps that can be potential landmines that could land you and your company in court and even slap you with thousands of dollars in penalties?
Has your company established written policies on how the office email should be used?
Gone are the days when the incessant ring of telephones and party lines dominate the offices anywhere in the world.
Sending e-mails has become the trend over the years and fewer people are using the postal services. With e-mail, you send messages faster and get quicker replies.
In his presentation at the 2011 annual conference of the Society of Human Resource Management CNMI Chapter on Thursday, government lawyer Michael Ernest, who did the presentation, not as a representative for the Attorney General’s Office but with his legal background told business owners that more than 90 percent of internet users between 18 and 72 said they send and receive e-mail, making it the top online activity just ahead of search engines such as Google. This fact, taken from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, also states that 67 percent of the respondents prefer email as a communications channel over other online vehicles, and 65 percent believe this will continue to be the case in the next years.
Ernest said that 20 percent of emails get sent to the wrong person, hence extra care should be taken if you don’t want your email to land in the wrong hands.
Ernest told the participants to think of the Send button as an enemy.
Ernest said that employees these days use various web tools including social networking sites like Facebook, business networking sites like LinkedIn, twitter, texting, personal blogs and employer-sponsored blogs.
“Every e-mail you send is against you and your company. Before you hit the Send button, go over your message and think twice. Think that the message you are about to send will be read by everybody all over the world,” Ernest said.
When you hit the Send button, Ernest said that your computer will have a copy of that e-mail. The person you sent that email to will have a copy. They can print it out and they can forward it, and they can change the e-mail message and forward it to as many people as they want. In short, your original e-mail can be altered and land in the wrong hands.
E-mail Rules
Ernest said that the old rule states “Never put in writing everything that you would not want someone to read in open court.”
The new rule states “Never put in an e-mail (or blog, Twitter or Facebook) anything that you wouldn’t want viewed by millions of people including your colleagues, supervisors, potential jurors, opposing counsel, friends, enemies, AND your mother, father, grandchildren and people 100 years from now.”
Ernest said that people who use the e-mail should get rid of some assumptions that could land them in trouble like million-dollar suits.
“Never assume that an e-mail is not a real document just because it’s not a real letter. An email is just the same as a written letter in court,” Ernest said.
He added that you cannot be careless with sending messages on e-mails, Twitter and Instant Messaging without thinking because these are potential landmines.
Ernest said that companies need to eradicate these assumptions from their organizations.
E-mails as potential landmines, smoking guns
“An e-mail becomes a business document. YOUR business document and it represents you and your company,” Ernest said.
He said that from the legal aspect, an e-mail has evidentiary value that can and will be used against you in a court of law.
“With that in mind, use proper grammar, spelling and proper words in your e-mails. Remember, when the case goes to the jury, you will stay behind and your e-mails will go with the jury. They are the last things the jury sees before deciding on the fate of your company,” Ernest said.
He added that e-mails could also be “smoking guns” in various cases that will be attached to the summary judgment opposition, and helps guarantee a lengthy, costly trial.
Ernest said that companies should think twice about sending e-mails that they don’t want the world to see and know like performance reviews, termination and discussions about employees, confidential matters and other privilege communication that could serve as smoking guns that could possibly damage the company’s reputation or brand, damage your personal credibility and that could serve as evidence.
He encouraged companies to go over their policies and create a clear e-mail policy regarding the use and monitoring of company emails, keep the policies updated.
End note:
Remember, an e-mail is forever and ever. Consider the SEND button as your enemy.
