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Employers are in a vulnerable position when employees either go off medication or experience severe emotional swings, thus causing other employees to be fearful of them. Supervisors should be trained to recognize potential problems and be aware of how employees are interacting. Often, isolated situations may be warning signs and can lead to bigger issues if left unchecked.
Clearly, traumatic events involving death of a family member, separation, divorce, medical conditions, financial or family problems affect employees and cause stress. Most employees are able to balance personal stressors by turning to family and friends for support.
When individuals are not well-balanced, or have lost friends or family, or fear losing a job, or are engaged in substance abuse, inappropriate behaviors may surface.
In workplace situations involving threats of violence, employers need to take those threats seriously and be prepared to act quickly to diffuse a situation to protect the health and safety of other employees.
If an employee threatens another employee, the threat should be taken seriously and the employer should call the police. Police officers are equipped to handle difficult, highly charged emotional situations and are able to determine whether the individual poses a threat to themselves or others. If, after observation, the officer determines that the individual may pose a threat, the officer has authority under Welfare and Institutions Code Section 5150. This section provides the following:
“5150. When any person, as a result of mental disorder, is a danger to others, or to himself or herself, or gravely disabled, a peace officer, member of the attending staff, as defined by regulation, of an evaluation facility designated by the county, designated members of a mobile crisis team provided by Section 5651.7, or other professional person designated by the county may, upon probable cause, take, or cause to be taken, the person into custody and place him or her in a facility designated by the county and approved by the State Department of Mental Health as a facility for 72-hour treatment and evaluation.”
In order for the police to evaluate an employee’s mental state, officers need to observe the employee’s behavior. If an employer waits until after the incident, the police may not have sufficient information to take the person into custody.
In some situations, employees may be taking prescription drugs to control their emotional and mental state. Sometimes employees may tell employers about their medical conditions and the effects of taking or not taking medications, but most often employers are unaware. For privacy reasons, employers are not permitted to ask an employee for a medical diagnosis or what prescriptions they are taking. When an individual stops taking his/her medication, emotional problems may surface in the form of paranoia, aggression, depression or violence.
When an employee informs the employer about a medical condition, it is important to keep that information confidential and know how the employee wants to handle an emergency, who to call and who will make decisions for the employee.
If the employee has not provided any contact information, the best thing to do is leave it to the authorities to determine the best course of action. In any event, it is important to remove the employee from a potentially harmful situation and diffuse the situation as best as possible until the authorities or a responsible family member arrives.
If an employee is getting medical attention and is taken off work, the employer should be prepared to put the employee on a leave of absence according to legal requirements, company policies and/or past practices. If the employer is concerned about not wanting the employee back at work, the employer should seek legal advice.
Most California employers are also subject to workplace violence prevention standards. Covered employers must develop and implement a workplace violence prevention plan (WVPP) either as a standalone document or as part of their required Injury and Illness Prevention Plan (IIPP), which must include procedures for receiving reports of workplace violence, investigating and responding to threats and incidents of violence, and identifying and mitigating workplace violence hazards. Employers must also train employees on the plan, create workplace violence incidence logs and periodically revise the plan. Among other things, employers’ WVPP should address situations like the one described above in which an employee makes threatening comments at work.
Employers can use CalChamber’s Workplace Violence Prevention Checklist to help develop their WVPP.