Legal Question in Employment Law in Pennsylvania

Verbal employment contracts

I had a verbal agr. for a severance contract when I joined the company. Stupid on my part but it was never signed but legal did draft a copy of the agreement. I have emailed our legal dept. frequently for a signed copy. There is also email dialogue confirming the agreement between the owner who struck the deal and the legal dept. All the emails suggest that there was a deal, he just never got around to signing it. Company is now trying to lay me off and not honor the contract. As the head of IT, I have full security access to all email dialogue and have pulled copies of emails sent regarding my contract by the owner and legal (I was not copied on these emails) and pulled a copy of the contract from the legal folder on the network.

Question 1-Do I have a verbal agreement that will hold up?

Question 2-Am I within my rights to pull emails and files out of other user's accounts to make my case if they are on the company network? I am the head of IT so I have full security rights to all electronic files. I have done this on the company's behalf in the past but never for my own case.


Asked on 3/27/06, 2:06 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Roger Traversa Arjont Group (Law Office of Roger Traversa)

Re: Verbal employment contracts

First and foremost, do not remove any documents from the company. You have no right to do this. If you do so it will be seen as cause for termination even if they did violate an agreement.

If your position includes the explicit authority to monitor email then you _may_ be authorized to search and retain those messages. But only on company property within the bounds defined by your position. You may or may not have the authority so you need to speak with an attorney immediately.

This is both good and bad. An empoyment agreement for longer than one year must be in writing to be enforceable. While you don't have a final signed copy you do have the email writings which evidence an agreement. In many cases the signature and final agreement can be inferred from the electronic "writings."

What you can do is note the dates, recipients and substance of those communications in your own handwriting for purposes of potential litigation, and then only for purposes of impeachment or for abuse of discovery.

Contact me to arrange an appointment to discuss this matter further.

Regards,

Roger Traversa

[email protected]

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Answered on 3/27/06, 2:56 pm


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