My wife says you should never put anything in a company e-mail that you don’t want to be shown to 12 strangers on a big movie screen. She practices employment law, including sexual harassment lawsuits, and she said you wouldn’t believe what people put in e-mails that end up being shown to juries in public courtrooms.
Searching electronic archives of company e-mails and files is becoming an increasingly useful tool for lawyers involved in lawsuits against you or your boss. It’s called “e-discovery.”
Following are phrases that lawyers and investigators like to search for, from Roger Matus’ “Death by E-mail” blog:
- “I could get into trouble for telling you this, but…”
- “Delete this email immediately.”
- “I really shouldn’t put this in writing.”
- “Don’t ask. You don’t want to know.”
- “Is this actually legal?”