violence in the workplace
Tammy
14 Posts
One of our employees who has been having performance problems, did not meet another one of his assignemnts that was supposed to be presented to a group of outside customers. This presentation was pulled off of the agenda. The employee was not happy about it.
A couple of days later, he spoke with one of his co-workers, and when the conversation touched upon this incident, he made a comment that he could kill his supervisor.
The coworker was alarmed by the comment, and informed her supervisor. The supervisor talked to HR, the incident was discussed with th employee, he denied saying it, but nevertheless was asked to leave the premises until further investigation.
Employee was asked to see an EAP counselor who was supposed to talke to him to assess his fitness for work and whether he may be violent. The counselor released the employee to come back to work. Subsequent discilpinary actions were taken, such as a letter into his file for inappropriate conduct.
The employee has never acknowledged making the comment, has never displayed any violient tendencies or anger before, and was not happy about the organization taking this to, what he perceived, as an extreme.
The question to those who have dealt with issues of similar nature before, would you have handled it differently? Did the company overreact, or acted appropriately? By the way, we do not have a violence in the workplace policy at this time.
Your input is higly appreciated.
A couple of days later, he spoke with one of his co-workers, and when the conversation touched upon this incident, he made a comment that he could kill his supervisor.
The coworker was alarmed by the comment, and informed her supervisor. The supervisor talked to HR, the incident was discussed with th employee, he denied saying it, but nevertheless was asked to leave the premises until further investigation.
Employee was asked to see an EAP counselor who was supposed to talke to him to assess his fitness for work and whether he may be violent. The counselor released the employee to come back to work. Subsequent discilpinary actions were taken, such as a letter into his file for inappropriate conduct.
The employee has never acknowledged making the comment, has never displayed any violient tendencies or anger before, and was not happy about the organization taking this to, what he perceived, as an extreme.
The question to those who have dealt with issues of similar nature before, would you have handled it differently? Did the company overreact, or acted appropriately? By the way, we do not have a violence in the workplace policy at this time.
Your input is higly appreciated.
Comments
"Better safe then having a supervisor and some innocent bystanders gunned down or injured by an employee who loses it."
Okay this may not be a Chinese proverb. Fact is some people could make this remark, and most of us would not bat an eye. Then there are some employees who when they say it..... causes a chill to run down your spine. If a person gets that feeling they should report it. Make sure you thank that person for doing the right thing.
My $0.02 worth,
DJ The Balloonman
Real life example - a friend was granted a restraining order against her ex because he said "I'm going to kill her" in a fit of anger. Figure of speech or real threat??? Who wants to really find out?
Tammy (not Binford) isn't a moderator, but that won't stop me from blaming her for anything else that goes wrong this afternoon. x:P
James Sokolowski
HRhero.com
As to the topic here, I agree with Balloonman's observation. Some people can be just using a figure of speech to indicate anything from mild irritation to extreme anger. Apparently this EE was released to work so it is probably more of the former and less of the latter. This EE has already been disciplined, I assume, for the performance issues. This is one of those cases where a judgement call has to be made and only someone familiar with the EE should do anything other than erring on the side of caution.
Another EE might have stated "I am really upset with my supervisor" and meant the exact same thing, but it is doubtful any of us would have responded with the EAP card. This EE could have still meant he or she was about to go postal and just because words were more carefully chosen, the comment would not be given the same weight. My point is, it all boils down to a judgement call.
If you need a copy I can fax or email to you.
Lisa