But the messages survived on backup computer tapes and were preserved, including damaging communications sent by Iran-contra figures Oliver North and John Poindexter. Legal experts recommend that workplaces have some form of monitoring e- mail and disclose this to employees. Some experts even suggest that companies routinely dispose of e-mail messages from backup computer systems the way they would other sensitive documents. They also say companies should develop immediately a written policy for e-mail and provide training on its proper use. Most importantly, such policies should prohibit the use of offensive language or jokes about race or sex, they said.
Experts also caution employees of the same race and sex against sending each other off-color jokes.
Patricia L. Morris, dean of the School of Education and Urban Studies at Morgan State University, said off-color racial or sexual jokes reinforce stereotypes. This is especially true for black workers who might be passing along jokes to each other about Ebonics, for example, at companies where African Americans are still striving to be paid and promoted on the same basis as whites.