Electronic mail has done no less than revolutionize the corporate marketplace. Who would have thought that the miracle of fax transmissions would largely be outdated so quickly? Yet so-called email can be a costly and sometimes legally problematic issue for companies as well. Your Massachusetts business management lawyer can help you develop a policy that will alleviate some of the problems arising from email misuse.
A Problem with Many Facets
It is common knowledge that employees waste work time emailing and texting their friends, and even co-workers who are sitting in an adjacent cubicle. Loss of productive work is only one problem that email at work causes.
An employee may have an issue with another, and send an email through the company system slandering the other. Racial discrimination and libel cases have arisen from such communications, and often the company, itself, becomes a defendant.
Even a well-meaning employee can land the company in legal difficulties if he discusses sensitive information in emails. Corporations have had trade secrets and development plans compromised because of an email that finds itself in the wrong hands.
Much of the problem is due to the fact that email remains on company systems and external servers, even after it has supposedly been deleted. In other words, it never goes away. A hacker who accesses company emails may even have such sensitive information as accounts and ledgers at his disposal.
Managing the Problem
It is vital that your company keeps on hire a specialist who can set up multiple firewalls. This way your internal network will have a fair degree of safety from outside hackers. However, this does nothing to protect the company from information that is sent outside the company via email. This is where a Massachusetts business management lawyer can help.
You will need to establish a clear policy on employee emails, with strict penalties. There are ways to monitor an individual employee’s adherence to these policies. You need to develop a set of guidelines and practices for retaining and destroying documents as well. If your email system is compromised, either externally or from within, you need to pursue litigation.
Call Us
If you have a concern with protecting your company from issues arising from email misuse, or another business matter, call a Massachusetts business management lawyer today at (781) 674-2562.
