A glimpse into corporate email

My sister works as an administrative assistant for the legal department of a large corporation. She sent me the delightful email string below this morning. (She appears as "C.K."--I deleted or changed all names and references to the company so she wouldn't get fired.)

Poor J.C. probably still has no idea what a firestorm he sparked.

Enjoy!


________________________________

From: J.C.
Sent: Tuesday, December 19, 2006 10:33 AM
To: G.A.; T.L.
Subject: VACATION PERIOD


G and T


I will be out of the office (period of vacation), from December 26th to January 5th, 2007 (included), coming back to the office on Jan 8th.

The total amount of days to be taken as vacation are days 76.


Best regards,

J.C.
________________________________


From: T. L.
Sent: Tuesday, December 19, 2006 10:46 AM
To: K.S.
Subject: FW: VACATION PERIOD


K.


J.C. seems to have a large number (76) of vacation days accrued. Does this seem right? Do we limit roll-over of days in Venezuela?

Not a big deal, but seems like a potential problem if this is widespread in Venezuela.


T.

________________________________

From: K.S.
Sent: Tuesday, December 19, 2006 9:54 AM
To: Rob L.
Cc: Al M.; Mary B.
Subject: FW: VACATION PERIOD

Could we check this? I would prefer not to ask the HR Manager in Venezuela, as it will go back to the Managing Director that we are checking up on him. Thank you.


_______________________________

From: Rob L.
Sent: Tuesday, December 19, 2006 11:31 AM
To: Al M.
Subject: FW: VACATION PERIOD

Al -- The email below raises a number of questions about vacation requirements in Venezuela. Could you facilitate a call with our local counsel there? To get the discussion going, here are the questions I like him to consider:

* Does VZ law require employers provide paid vacation to employees? If so, how much?
* Do VZ vacation requirements vary by type/level of employee?
* Can employers put limits on the amount of unused vacation that employees can carry over from one year to the next or on the maximum amount that can be accumulated?
* What other legal requirements does VZ have with regard to vacation?

Thanks,

Rob
________________________________


De: Al M
Enviado el: miércoles, 20 de diciembre de 2006 10:16
Para: L.C.
CC: Rob L; K.S.; C.K.
Asunto: FW: VACATION PERIOD

L.C.,

We need some help understanding how Venezuelan employment law deals with vacation benefits. We want to emphasize the need to direct all communications related to this issue to me or the people copied on this email. Please do not discuss this matter with our local team in Venezuela until further notice.

Rob L. is a lawyer in [company name deleted] Employment Law group. He has summarized the key questions that we need to address with our Human Resources Department in his email below. I would like to set up a meeting with him and our Human Resources Manager, K.S., so we can discuss this issue. Please let me know who from your firm can participate on the call and I will have my administrative assistant, C.K., set up the telephone conference.


Thanks for your help with this matter.


Regards,

Al M.
Legal Counsel

_______________________________


From: L.C.
Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2006 9:10 AM
To: Al M;
Cc: Rob L; K.S.; C.K.
Subject: RE: VACATION PERIOD

Dear Al:

We will be pleased to assist you in this matter. Our partner Juan D., a labor attorney, will be available to answer your labor-related inquiries. Please advise him directly when you schedule the conference call. We are forwarding this email to Juan to bring him up to speed with your requirements.

Regards,

L

________________________________


From: Al M
Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2006 9:04 AM
To: 'L.C.'
Cc: Rob L; K.S.; C.K.
Subject: RE: VACATION PERIOD


L,

Thanks for the quick reply. I will have C.K. set up the meeting with Juan and our team.

Regards,
Al M
Legal Counsel

_______________________________

From: C.K.
Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2006 9:58 AM
To: Al M
Subject: RE: VACATION PERIOD

Al,
It is totally none of my business, but in scanning the correspondence in search of the location of [deleted] (to discover their time zone), I saw J.C.'s note. If you take into consideration corporate holidays of Dec. 25, 26 and Jan. 1, the number of days of vacation that J. would be using is 7. Could his note simply be a typo?
Obviously, you do not have to respond. It was just a thought.

C.K.


______________________________

From: Al M
Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2006 9:59 AM
To: C.K.
Subject: RE: VACATION PERIOD


Thanks for pointing this out. W. noticed the same thing. I am calling HR about this now.