HR: E-Mail Policy

According to an HRWatch item, an unnamed consulting firm was sued for $3.7 million over an alleged defamatory job reference. He requested copies of all e-mails citing his name, going back 10 years. The company responded that the cost of retrieving those e-mails, requiring going through numerous file back-ups, would be $7.8 million. 27% of Fortune 500 companies say they have had to deal with similar harassment claims involving e-mails.

Comment: I thought this case was very interesting from a couple of perspectives. But unfortunately, the story did not report on either the outcome of the case or the outcome of the challenge from the company. But my third reason for including a note was still valid -- keeping company's aware of the need for training in the area of writing e-mails.