E-mails are never private and always permanent. That’s why it’s critical that HR periodically reminds managers to watch what they write.

E-mail slip-ups can often lead to lawsuits and create damaging evidence against the company. Here are seven big mistakes managers need to watch out for:

1. Venting frustrations about legal issues — It’s common for managers to be annoyed or concerned when they have to deal with employees on medical leave. But if they e-mail statements like, “I can’t believe she’s taking FMLA again,” it’s likely that message will end up as evidence in a courtroom.
2. Over-compensating for lack of documentation — In one recent court case, an employee was fired after he complained about age discrimination. After he filed a lawsuit, his ex-manager wrote an e-mail discussing performance problems and backdated it to look like it was sent before the termination. But the employee’s lawyers found out, and the company was hit with a whopping $46 million verdict for evidence tampering.
3. Discussing performance problems — Negative conversations are best done face-to-face — though about 17% of managers admit to using e-mail to avoid difficult discussions. E-mails can always be misinterpreted, and it’s easy for a manager to write something that may come back to haunt the company.
4. Using red flag keywords — Statements like, “Should we get a legal review?” or “We need an attorney” should never appear in an e-mail. To an employee or jury that ends up reading the message, it’ll look like the manager knew something was wrong and decided to do it anyway. Legal conversations are best held in person.
5. Not punishing employees for their e-mails — A lawsuit filed earlier this year accused the Secret Service of tolerating e-mail forwards with racist jokes. The lesson: Harassment and discrimination should never be condoned, but it’s especially dangerous when there’s a permanent electronic record of bias.
6. Making hasty promises — Managers should never use e-mail to discuss salaries, bonuses or promotions. If those decisions are explained in an e-mail and then later changed, that will cause serious problems.
   
7. Expecting nonexempt workers to check e-mail after hours — Nonexempt employees must be paid for any time they spend working — and that may include little things like catching up on e-mail while they’re away from the office. If managers make a habit of sending critical e-mails at night or on weekends, it might give employees the impression that they’re supposed to be working, too.

Tags: e-mail, lawsuit, managers