Cases: E-mail to employees doesn’t create contract term

Ross Runkel’s excellent employment blog LawMemo.com is reporting on an interesting contract formation case which raises the question whether an employer can create a contractual duty to arbitrate by sending a general e-mail to all employees announcing its new policy.

In the case, Campbell v. General Dynamics Government Systems Corp. (1st Cir. May 23, 2005), the court held that the employer failed to do so because the e-mail was not sufficiently clear to put employees on notice, but indicated that there’s no reason why a better-drafted e-mail wouldn’t have worked.  Runkel, an emeritus professor at Willamette, has some commentary here.  More commentary is on Michael Fox’s blog Jottings By An Employer’s Lawyer here.