WORKPLACE VIOLENCE

Consult Carswell
OCTOBER 2009

DEALING WITH WORKPLACE VIOLENCE - 3 STEP GUIDE

TERMINATIONS How employers should respond Is your organization facing or concerned with labour and employment issues? Are there situations in your workplace that are potentially grounds for dismissal - such as complaints of disruptive behaviour in the workplace, privacy rights violations, misuse of social media technology, or employee misconduct? Canadian employers are increasingly concerned with labour and employment issues, and in a 2008 survey conducted by a Canadian legal firm, 19% of all current and 23% of expected legal issues in the survey related to employment/labour disputes. Of the 300 respondents, 40% indicated they had at least one legal dispute brought against them in one year, and among those that were sued, they averaged 8.3 disputes. As an Employer, What Should You Do with a Complaint of Violence or Disruptive Behaviour in the Workplace? With the increase of violence and disruptive behaviour in the workplace, employers are increasingly concerned about how to respond to these situations. Workplace tragedies have increased, and this has employers putting their attention to how to best respond, and react, when these situations arise with employees in the work environment. An employer's response to real or threatened violent incidents at work depends upon whether or not the workplace is unionized or non-unionized. This is due to the fact that the consequences that flow if an employee is found to be terminated without just cause are significantly different in the two situations. And, even within the physical workplace, evidence of threats and actual violence have been viewed with care by arbitrators and the courts to distinguish actual assaults (which often result in termination) from altercations between coparticipants (which will often result in a lesser penalty). In these situations, how should the organization respond? Automatic termination might seem like the obvious response to any kind of workplace violence. It is the right responsesometimes, but in all cases, the right approach is to conduct the steps professionally, ethically, and legally.

In Consult Carswells Termination topic called Workplace Threats and Violence, the following guidelines below are provided. Additional information is provided in Consult Carswells Employment Law topics to help employers better plan for and avoid bullying and harassment, sexual or mental harassment situations.

tWORKPLACE VIOLENCE

- 3 STEP GUIDE

OCTOBER 2009

STEP 1:

Conduct a full and thorough investigation. Use as much sensitivity and discretion as circumstances will allow. Remember that witnesses may have to provide sworn testimony at some point. Employee may be removed from the workplace if the situation is volatile; however, this should be done in a way which does not suggest that guilt is a foregone conclusion.

STEP 2: Depending on the potential seriousness of the situation, decide whether police involvement is necessary or desirable. Those immediately involved may take that decision out of the employer's hands. If the police are involved, the employer has a further decision to make should the police's and/or court's disposition of the mattercharges, conviction, acquittal, withdrawalbe determinative or should the employer reach its own conclusion based on its own investigation.

STEP 3: Depending on the facts and assuming there is grounds for dismissal, determine if termination or some lesser sanction or response is done taking into account the factors discussed in the steps above.

Visit www.consultcarswell.com or call 1-800-342-6288 ext 5811 to learn how Consult Carswell gives you immediate access to more information on termination. Endorsed by the HRPA and HRIA, Consult Carswell is the online resource that will help you handle any challenging HR situation. From developing a communication strategy to understanding your legal obligations, Consult Carswell is the Canadian HR solution that delivers current and best practices HR information, legal compliance, and a suite of ready-to-use tools all in one place.