[neudof]

The company I work for has the same thing. The security policy requires that you set a 4 digit pin to unlock your phone. This is so someone does not pick up your phone and see confidential information. This is a server rule, it is checking your device for compliance before syncing.

I would be interested to see what ROM's you have used that the security policy was not applied and you could still sync your email. Maybe it will work for mine too!!