Workplace E-mail: Employers Beware!

Sam Miller was a poor employee. He regularly came to work late and left early. He frequently took egregiously long lunch breaks. He avoided taking on work, whenever possible, and the quality of the work he submitted left something to be desired. Countless instances of tardiness, laziness, and poor performance had been painstakingly documented by Sam's supervisors over time, and he had been informed of these chronic performance issues in his last four formal evaluations. The decision to terminate Sam's employment has been made. Sounds like this employer has done everything by the book, right? So why does his employer now face costly litigation and large potential financial exposure? In a word, e-mail.