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An employer sends a company-wide email notifying employees about a new policy mandating arbitration of employment disputes. Later, an employee files a lawsuit in Court claiming that he was wrongfully terminated by the company because of a disability. The Court denies the employer’s request that the former employee should be required to arbitrate his claim according to the new policy, and allows the lawsuit to proceed in Court.

On June 3, 2004, the Federal District Court in Massachusetts decided Campbell v. General Dynamics, et. al., holding that a mass email message announcing a change in dispute resolution policy, without more, fails to meet the minimal level of notice required.

In this case, the Court placed an added burden on the employer to expressly, clearly and unmistakably notify employees because the policy required employees to relinquish their rights to assert civil rights claims in Court. In these circumstances, employers are required to give employees “actual notice” in order to implement a mandatory arbitration agreement. The Court observed that the employer did nothing more than just send the email, which it held was plainly insufficient for such an important policy change. It was not enough for the employer to demonstrate that the employee opened the email. It did not show that the employee read the email. Even email technology allowed the company to do better. For example, the email subject-header did not indicate that the message was of critical importance. The employer did not require the employee to send a return email stating that he read the email, or more importantly that he read the new policy and understood its implications. The employer did not require the employee to note “I accept” in a return email. Nor did it use the traditional methods of assuring notice such as holding a meeting announcing the dispute resolution policy with a sign-in sheet to monitor attendance. This case should not be interpreted to mean that email notification of changes in employment policies is never appropriate. Email notification may very well be sufficient for certain matters. For issues as significant as mandatory arbitration of employment discrimination claims, however, the employer must conduct email notifications carefully and properly for the policy to be enforceable.