There is perhaps no workplace issue less understood but more urgent than that surrounding the proper use of emails. The reason has to do with etiquette, a social construct that develops over time and eventually crystalizes into a hard-and-fast set of principles. We are not there yet. There is not yet a definable, all-encompassing etiquette when it comes to emails. As a result, corporate legal advisers are being asked to untangle situations that are sometimes throw-out-the-playbook unprecedented.
The issue has made banner headlines in the public sector. For over a year, Pennsylvania’s executive and judicial branches have been embroiled in a controversy over bawdy and inappropriate mails that were shared among some of the state’s highest ranking officials. A Supreme Court justice has resigned, another is under investigation, and various members of other agencies have been identified and have also resigned.
