Received a Litigation Hold Notice From Your Employer? Do This
As an employee, it can come as a bit of a shock to you when you receive a litigation hold notice. Basically, the notice informs you that all of your emails, electronic and paper documents, and the like must not be deleted or discarded.
You sort of get the gist of what a litigation hold is, but you’re still new to it all. And most importantly, you wonder, what should you do next? Allow us to assist you.
Don’t Panic
First of all, know that receiving a litigation hold notice doesn’t mean you personally did something wrong or illegal. It might mean that you, and any other employee who may have also received a litigation hold notice, has or may have access to vital e-mails or paperwork that contains crucial information. But why is this information so crucial that it can’t be deleted?
The purpose of making an employee or employees preserve content is if that content needs to be accessed and used for investigation purposes or as evidence in court. Again, the situation may not involve you directly but could involve a third party who is suing your company or who your company is planning on suing.
Preserve All Files and Means of Communication
Per the litigation hold notice, it is critical that you follow the order and preserve the content that it’s asking of you. This could be a certain type of file or even files from a specific date or date range. Not only may the notice explain what information you need to keep, but it may also give you information on how to preserve such content appropriately.
Make sure that after receiving the hold notice to disable auto-delete on your technological devices, if applicable. Restore any relevant content that you may have sent to your recycling bin or deleted folder to prevent it from deleting itself permanently.
Understand that if you don’t follow a litigation hold notice, this could come to bite you in the butt later in the form of legal trouble.
Seek Legal Help if You Feel You Need to
Navigating a litigation hold notice can be difficult at times. In some cases, one might feel anxious when getting hit with a litigation hold notice, for fear that they won’t do the right thing or follow the order correctly.
Commercial litigation lawyers in Sydney can help you get through this confusing litigation hold notice process. They can guide you in answering your questions, help if you feel that the litigation hold is unfair or illegal, or assist you in the event that you deleted a critical document despite receiving a litigation hold notice.
Conclusion
A litigation hold notice can be intimidating for a lot of people. However, it is best advised to refrain from panicking and to instead simply follow the order. In the event that you need legal help with a litigation hold notice, don’t hesitate to reach out to a qualified lawyer.
