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Business Alert:

Lawsuits Over “Innocent” Employee Emails are on the Rise

Does the name Eric Govan ring a bell? If you’re a small or medium-sized business owner, it should. Govan was the public relations assistant for the Golden State Warriors basketball team who, in early 2006, thought it would be funny to send a racially insensitive email to his wife, but instead mistakenly sent it to dozens of newspaper and television outlets.

Shortly after, team President Robert Rowell sent out his own email stating: “It came to my attention moments ago that one of our employees sent out an email that was in extreme poor taste and completely unprofessional. The employee responsible for sending this email has been dealt with in an appropriate manner.” Translation: Govan was fired.

While Govan’s electronic indiscretion was perhaps the most highly publicized email snafu in recent memory, it was hardly an isolated case. From offensive jokes to the transmission of confidential company information, inappropriate workplace email is becoming alarmingly common. What makes email highly susceptible to these issues is that it’s impulsive, easy to disseminate and indelible. The consequences for guilty employees include public embarrassment, criminal charges and termination. But their employers also suffer from such fallout in the form of lost clients and, worse, lawsuits.

Due to the litigious nature of our times, it’s imperative for business owners to do everything possible to protect their companies from the kind of scenario that befell Govan and the Golden State Warriors. One of the most proactive and effective strategies is to institute a formal set of guidelines for approved and appropriate email use:

  • DO establish comprehensive, written email policies, and have all employees sign and date a copy stating they were informed about said policies.
  • DO stress that email is a business tool, and spell out what is—and isn’t—appropriate business communication.
  • DO install policy-based, content-filtering software to monitor and block email that violates policies or regulatory rules.
  • DON’T expect employees to train themselves. Make employees aware of the risks, rights, responsibilities and repercussions of inappropriate email in writing.
  • DON’T create separate policies for executives or managers. Make it understood that everyone must follow the same guidelines.
  • DON’T forget to include policies for international employees.
  • DON’T neglect to clearly define racist, derogatory and sexually explicit jokes, pictures and communications that are strictly against company policy.

Whatever email challenges your company may face, Benchmark Information Technology can help you achieve peace of mind through: spam filtering, email archiving, email monitoring and content filtering (ensuring employees don’t send inappropriate messages or confidential information), installation and support of Microsoft Outlook, and remote email access.

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