CREW Sends Letter to NARA – Demands Action Against Ongoing Destruction of Email at Labor Departmen
Washington, D.C. - Today, CREW sent a letter to National Archives General Counsel Gary Stern requesting that NARA take action to prevent the ongoing destruction of email at the Department of Labor (DOL). Documents provided CREW reveal that DOL has a media “sanitization” policy and procedure under which all information on digital media is permanently destroyed when an employee leaves the agency.
Notably, nothing in DOL’s policy or implementing instructions references in any way the agency’s concurrent obligation to preserve those electronic records – including email – that qualify as records under the Federal Records Act. Equally disturbing, DOL apparently has a policy of not backing up the email of departing non-career employees. Accordingly, when former Assistant Secretary Patrick Pizzella left office his desk top computer was wiped clean, over the objection of a DOL records manager, leaving no emails behind, even on back-up tapes. These actions directly contravene DOL’s obligations under the law.
Click here to read CREW’s letter.
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