Legal email and text messaging training is for every employee who sends business messages from work accounts or devices. That includes managers, sales staff and remote workers. A single careless message can create liability for the organization. The 9-minute English video explains why work messages are permanent and rarely private.

In most cases, an employer can read email and text messages sent on its own systems or devices. The Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 generally allows monitoring of company-provided systems. Most employer policies state that employees have no expectation of privacy. Some states require employers to give notice of monitoring.

Deleted work emails can usually be recovered. Organizations back up their servers, recipients keep their own copies, and forwarded messages spread further. Forensic specialists can often restore messages removed from a hard drive. Assume any work email or text could resurface years later in an investigation or lawsuit.

Work emails and texts can be used in a lawsuit. Attorneys routinely request or subpoena electronic messages during litigation, including texts sent after hours on company devices. A joke, complaint or offhand promise can become evidence. Write every work message as if a judge or jury might read it.

Never send defamatory statements, offensive or harassing content, or confidential information to unauthorized people in a work email or text. Avoid making agreements you are not authorized to make. Do not share inside information about securities or open suspicious attachments. Follow your employer's written email and texting policy.