Lack of email retention causes stir in Boston

Posted on July 27th, 2010 under Proposed Laws and Compliance Regulations, Email Dangers

Last September, a major case erupted in Boston when it was discovered that a right-hand man of Mayor Thomas Menino had been intentionally deleting emails from his government-issued computer.

The case arose when the Boston Globe asks for public records of emails sent to and from Michael Kineavy, the city's chief of policy and planning. Kineavy was only able to produce 18 emails sent and received between October 1, 2008 and March 31, 2009, which immediately raised questions.

Current state public records law requires municipal employees to save electronic correspondence for at least two years, regardless of the informational or evidenciary value of the content. Prior to 2007, the Boston Redevelopment Authority asked its employees to delete emails to save space; however, since then employees were supposed to act in accordance with the public records law. Thus, Kineavy and other city officials, were violating this law. A lawsuit has since been issued and the case continues to wage today.

Regarding the case, Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin - who is responsible to enforcing such regulations - said "clearly, employees cannot delete emails that have substantial content. The improper deletion of email is a violation of the public records law. Period."

The case highlights the importance of companies having email archiving or retention solutions in place to avoid lawsuits or potential fines and sanctions. Recently, the Securities Exchange Commission fined Merrill Lynch $2.5 million for failure to produce email correspondence in a timely fashion.