by James Urbaniak

Created on: November 14, 2009

Appropriate notes and documentation are a serious concern for any business. I have read comments on internal memos, via e-mail and in notes scribbled on a candidate's resume and application no organization would want made public and for that matter, no employee would want to be embarrassed by or lose their job over. A great rule of thumb for all personnel to live by is if you don't want to see your comments shown on the evening news, then don't write it! This goes for any missive. Even a comment written on a post it note may come back to haunt you or your organization.

Inappropriate e-mail is a problem within many companies. Unlikely as it seems that 'for your eyes only' comments sent in a casual manner will be seen by an unintended audience; the risk is greater than most managers would imagine. What is received or exchanged by two people electronically may be forwarded along to other parties by accident. We have all heard horror stories too of corporate e-mail systems being hacked by malevolent outsiders and disenfranchised former employees. You may not think it will happen, until it happens to you. In the event you are the recipient of inappropriate e-mails, it may not be enough to simply ignore them. You may still face liability as the recipient. It is best to reply with Please don't forward these non-work related e-mails to me. They are not appropriate for me to view in this setting. Essentially, any response stating that you do not wish to receive such e-mails at work should successfully manage this problem.

Interviewers often take notes relevant to each job applicant and here in may lay a problem for managers and companies alike. Too often I have seen interview notes written by managers on applications and resumes with such comments as No way! and Don't Hire! or even acronyms indicating some cryptic system of evaluating the applicant. While this may not be illegal, it is at the least not a good practice. Any documentation may be subpoenaed in pre-trial proceedings as discoverable evidence to support a suit brought about by employees, past or present, as well as job applicants. Even e-mail comments exchanged between managers concerning candidates are subject to e-discovery. A good idea is to document only specific and relevant observations from the interview, as they relate to the requirements of the position a candidate is interviewing for. An example of appropriate documentation would be Candidate was not able to make eye contact during interview, chewed

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>