Catalog of Sample Policies for Pennsylvania's Conservation Districts

E-mail Retention Policy
(Department of Environmental Protection)

Generally, E-mail messages are temporary communications that should be discarded routinely. However, depending on the content of an E-mail message and/or its attachments, it may be considered a more formal record and should be retained. Examples are messages concerning policy, decision-making, specific case files, disciplinary actions, promotions, contracts, or memorandum of significant public business. These E-mail messages are similar to printed communication and should be written with the same care. E-mails and/or their attachments that contain sensitive material should be stored in printed form, and the E-mail deleted from the computer system when no longer needed.

The Department may be required by contracts, discovery demands in litigation or lawful demands from law enforcement authorities to search and turn over Department records, including E-mail sent or received by Department employees. The need to preserve records for litigation may give rise to orders prohibiting the destruction of any records. Employees should not create an E-mail they would not want to be seen by their supervisors, be published in the media or become an exhibit at a trial.

Employees should be aware that when they delete a message from their mailbox it may not be deleted from the system. The message may be residing in the recipient's mailbox, be forwarded to other recipients, be printed and circulated, or stored on the computer's back-up system. Messages thought to have been deleted can often be recovered long after, even after multiple reformatting.