Guns in the Parking Lot: A Delicate Work Issue
Today, some 22 states have passed laws that limit property owners' ability to ban firearms in vehicles in parking areas, according to the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, a San Francisco-based gun-control advocacy group.
Details vary by state, but under most so-called Bring Your Gun to Work laws, employers can keep firearms out of offices and factory floors, but they can't ban weapons in the parking lot.
Some companies have taken the changes in stride, but others are rewriting their human-resources policies, training employees to detect early signs of employee aggression and considering extra security for tense situations like termination meetings. Law firms specializing in labor and employment say managers are bombarding them with questions about adapting to the new measures.
Many big employers, including FedEx Corp., Volkswagen , Caterpillar Inc., and Bridgestone Corp., have fought the laws, arguing that their right to maintain a safe workplace—and set the rules on their property—should trump the right to carry a gun.
"Much like a private homeowner is able to tell his guests whether they can bring a gun into his yard, FedEx should have the right to decide what it will and will not allow on its private property," Mark Hogan, vice president of U.S. security for FedEx Express told Tennessee lawmakers last year. Tennessee considered—and eventually passed—a law allowing guns in parking lots.
Gun-rights advocates counter that such laws increase worker safety, and say that workers have a right to protect themselves during their commutes.
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WORKPLACE VIOLENCE NEWS - continued Do You Know About the APA‟s DSM-5?
The fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, or DSM-5, of the American Psychiatric Association has some unexpected readers: employment lawyers, who want to know how the updated manual will affect disability issues in the workplace. Those new conditions help psychiatrists be more precise in identifying and treating disorders. They also open the door to more requests for accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), possible grounds for discrimination lawsuits, and people leaving the workforce with Social Security disability benefits. Among the changes are new diagnoses such as Social (Pragmatic)
Communication Disorder, which relates to difficulty interacting with others, and Mild Neurocognitive Disorder, which refers to memory problems. The manual also loosens some of the criteria for previous diagnoses such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder. It is important to train supervisors and safety management to recognize situations where employees may rightly or wrongly claim to suffer from a disability condition under the ADA. In addition, reasonable accommodation is required, but not the elimination of bona fide essential job requirements.
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Crafting a Comprehensive Workplace Violence Policy
In his speech at the ASIS 2013 conference, Andre Simmons, a unit chief for one of the FBI's behavioral analysis units, discussed warning signs for employees who may be prone to workplace violence and how companies can prevent and prepare for potential violence. ―You have to keep an open mind about evaluating the potential threat,‖ he explained, referring to the need for security managers to not simply focus on the potential threat from firearms but to take into consideration the entire threat landscape. Simmons also gave a list of possible "triggers" for violent attacks which can include a problem related to an intimate relationship in a workplace or campus setting; retaliation for a perceived slight; refusal of sexual advances; academic or professional stress or failure; sexual violence; or an overflow of domestic violence into the workplace. However, employers can prevent violence by training management to be aware of domestic violence in particular, including how to recognize signs of abuse or abusers, and implementing workplace violence prevention education. Companies may additionally be well served by assembling workplace threat assessment teams, with representatives from security, human resources, union organizations, and other stakeholders.
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NCIS Agents Brief Troops on Stopping Workplace Violence
NCIS is conducting field briefings for sailors and Marines about what they can do to prevent workplace violence. The push is the latest crime reduction program for NCIS, which picks a new campaign each quarter. The BJS estimates that about 1.7 million U.S. workers are victims of assault while on the job each year. Agents hope sailors can do their part to deter their shipmates from contributing to this statistic. ―People are the first line of defense,‖ said Sarah Griffin, special agent with the Threat Management
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