When the truth can get you in trouble

An interesting decision was recently handed down in a legal case involving an email sent by Staples to 1,500 of its employees. The email discussed a Staples employee who had been fired for violating the company's travel and expense policy. While the content of the email was factual, the former employee sued for libel, claiming that Staples had sent the email with malicious intent.

A federal appeals court in Boston ruled that Staples was guilty of malice and ruled in favor of the plaintiff. Information on the case can be found here.

It used to be that truth was a defense against libel. This court decision now demonstrates that even the truth can get you into trouble.

Two of the key takeaways from this case as I see it: first, every employer should establish a policy about what employees should not say in email, given that truth can no longer protect someone from being judged guilty of libel. This should be part of a larger, detailed policy about email use. Second, organizations should implement content filtering capabilities for outbound email, instant messaging conversations, blog postings, wiki postings, etc. to monitor, in real time, if corporate policies are being followed.