Manager’s incriminating e-mail read by Congress
Filed under: Communication, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, Security and law
Here’s another communication lesson for supervisors: Don’t ever write an e-mail you wouldn’t want read aloud in court.
Stewart Parnell, owner of Peanut Corp. of America, learned his lesson the hard way.
Products made by Parnell’s company have been blamed for a salmonella outbreak linked to nine deaths and more than 600 cases of severe illness.
The latest news in the sad story: Parnell authorized shipment of products known to be contaminated.
That fact was revealed last week after the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee subpoenaed internal Peanut Corp. e-mails. In one of the messages, Parnell told a plant manager to “turn them loose,” referring to items a lab test had shown to be tainted with bacteria.
The lesson for managers: Treat every e-mail as if it will be made public. If your employer is ever accused of wrong-doing, it probably will.
Comments
3 Comments on Manager’s incriminating e-mail read by Congress
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Ed on
Tue, 10th Mar 2009 1:09 pm
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Bob on
Tue, 10th Mar 2009 1:53 pm
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Randi on
Tue, 10th Mar 2009 4:29 pm
I think that Mr. Parnell should be sue for wrongful death, intentional negligence in cusing widespread illnes and serve his life behind bars.
Sued heck, he should be prosecutted for 9 counts of negligent homicide. He and the plant manager both should face these charges.
And he should be ordered to pay restitution to all the victims — not that money will bring back those who lost their lives, but he needs to be held accountable on every level.
