E-mails are never private. Some employers learn that the hard way.

A much-publicized discrimination lawsuit has been filed against the Secret Service. Most of the attention has centered around an noose allegedly being hung at a training facility to intimidate African-American employees.

But there’s some other evidence that spells bad news for the agency: e-mails containing racist jokes.

Ten e-mails have been submitted to the court as evidence in the case. They include jokes about interracial sex and insults and threats regarding prominent African-American figures like Jesse Jackson.

Be careful

Of course, companies need to warn managers about all forms of discriminatory and harassing language. As this case shows, that includes e-mail conversations. Often, e-mail is especially damaging because it creates a permanent record that can be used against the employer.

Lessons about e-mail can be added to regular harassment and discrimination training. Managers should be reminded not to put anything in an e-mail they wouldn’t say publicly - because you never know who’s going to end up reading it.

Tags: discrimination, e-mail, jokes, racism, Secret Service