Protecting Yourself and Preventing Workplace Violence

You must review two of the  MOST IMPORTANT  books in  LAWtoday!

"Expungements 2nd"  New for  2002- Freedom from the Disability of a Legal Record
"Defending Your Employee Rights"- The Ultimate Employee Survival Guide (potect yourself against workplace violence) 

What is Workplace Violence?

"Certainly the courts state that violence means and includes activity such as the forcible, fraudulent, criminal, knowingly wrongful, discriminatory, retaliatory, illegal, violations of public policy, and unlawful termination, firing or any other false pretext for ending your employment". From the book  "Defending Your Employee Rights"

The Black's Law, American College, and Random House dictionaries along with the court citations below* define VIOLENCE as:

" unjust (illegal) or unwarranted exercise of force or power, usually with accompaniment of vehemence, outrage, or fury."
See: People v. McIlvain, 55 Cal. App. 2nd 322, 130 P. 2nd 131, 134.

"....force that is employed against the common right, against the laws, and against public liberty."
See: Anderson-Berney Bldg. Co. v. Lowry, Tex. Civ. App. 143 S.W. 2d 401,403.

"Violence in the workplace is not limited to physical contact or injury, but may include... false statements, publicity, and veiled threats, by words and acts."
See: Esco Operating Corporation v. Kaplan, 144 Misc. 646, 258 N.Y.S. 303.

Harassment is another form of work place violence. It is defined in the United States Code at 18 U.S.C. sec. 1514(c)1 as "a course of conduct directed at a specific person that causes substantial emotional distress in such a person and serves no legitimate purpose."

Workplace violence and abuse by the employer, a manager, supervisor, or co-worker is not much different than DOMESTIC VIOLENCE. It is not to be accepted or tolerated and you are legally protected from it.

Workplace Violence is an abuse of POWER and CONTROL and it can involve:



• Psychological and Emotional Abuse
  
  Name calling
  Humiliation in public
  Claims that remarks were in jest
  Lies that they were never said
  
• Threats and Intimidation
  
  Keeping you in a state of fear or anxiety
  Tracking your every move
  Threatening physical harm
  Threatening death
  
• Sexual assault and coercion
  
  Comments with sexual overtones
  Exhibiting sexual material
  Unwanted touching
  Pressure to date
  Soliciting Sex for hiring or for promotion
  

  Some common forms and acts of violence and harassment at the workplace:

• You have been doing a great job all these years and all of a sudden you get poor performance reviews by a new supervisor.
• You are given a new assignment that does not use the skills you have and told that you don't know how to do the job.
• Your boss threatens to fire you for no good reason at all.
• You supervisor makes comments with sexual overtones or are pressured to date them
• You supervisor makes racial or ethnic comments.
• Your superior makes hostile or intimidating comments.
• You are terminated under some false pretense.

What do you do about it?

In the WORKPLACE some very special situtaions arise such as the employer is liable if they know or are aware of such violence or there is any history of such violence and the employer fails to act in a manner that will eliminate violence and the dange associated with it  then they become liable for ANY injury.  You must know how to report, recognize and document it in the event you are a victim.  Employers may be sued into the millions of dollars from injuries  resulting  in injuries to employees.  See "Defending Your Employee Rights" page.

If you feel threatened, document it by gathering all the evidence and witnesses and then report it to police to protect yourself. There is unfortunately a corporate mind set that will terminate both the person comitting the violence and often the person reporting as they do not wish to deal with it - that is a civil rights violation and you are protected. Always report to police any threat of injury  so to protect yourself and to document it .Tell your family and friends to protect yourself from any future denial. There is no need for anyone to work under the threat of injury or death. Your employer must protect you but they can only do so if you inform them. You must inform them.

Understand the law. Contact the Police and Consult an attorney if you are a victim of this type of violence. Do not tolerate it!

Yes, I am a Victim of Work Place Violence - What can I do?