The golden rule on forwarding emails at work

“An employee who emails pictures of Trayvon Martin‘s head cropped onto the body of a dead police officer is a thought-leading change agent.” 

— Absolutely nobody in HR

No, he gets fired.

According to this story from Chris Biele at FOX40 News in California, an employee in the state’s Employment Development Department forwarded that picture with the message, “Would it make people feel any different if this face was on a dead pig?” And of course, the picture made it onto Facebook.

Just terrible.

Here’s my simple golden rule on forwarding emails at work:

“If you would feel at all uncomfortable about having to explain from the witness stand to a federal judge or jury why you forwarded that email, it’s best not to hit send.”