Raymond Clark III is alleged to have killed Annie Le because he thought she was not following the rules at work, a laboratory at Yale University.
It has been reported that Mr. Clark had sent Ms. Le some vitriolic e-mails regarding the manner in which she kept the lab where they both worked. It is unknown if there is anything that could have been done to change the tragic outcome.
But the murder of Ms. Le once again brings to light workplace violence and legal issues that employees and employers need to understand in order to deal with this critical issue.
On average, 1.7 million workers are injured each year, and more than 800 die as a result of workplace violence, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Despite these seemingly large numbers, murder at the workplace is a relatively infrequent event.
Workplace violence has been described as “violent acts, including physical assaults and threats of assault, directed toward persons at work or on duty.” The FBI defines it as murder or other violent acts by a disturbed, aggrieved employee or ex-employee against a co-worker or supervisor. Most common are the threats, harassment, bullying, domestic violence, stalking, emotional abuse, intimidation and other forms of behavior and physical violence that may evolve into more serious violent behavior. Supervisors, managers and co-workers deal with these types of behaviors on a daily basis.
Workplace violence is generally divided into four categories – criminal intent, customer/client, worker-on-worker and personal relationship.
Type 1 – Criminal intent – violence by criminals otherwise unconnected to the workplace – usually results in the most serious of workplace violence injuries. It is recognized by the lack of legitimate relationship to the business or employee.
Type 2 – Customer/client workplace violence describes a situation where the offender does have a legitimate relationship with the business or an employee. The offender is usually a client, customer, patient, or student and the violence is directed at employees of the organization that provided a service.
Type 4 – Personal-relationship workplace violence occurs not when the offender has a legitimate relationship with the business, but when he/she has a current or past personal relationship with the employee-victim.
Key Steps/At a Minimum
Preparing to deal with workplace violence can be a long, involved, and sometimes expensive process. While determining what steps to take, and developing a Workplace Violence Prevention Policy, the following key steps should be implemented immediately:
• The most important step to building a safe workplace starts with your hiring process. Recruiting, interviewing, hiring, training – these steps are your crucial first steps to building a strong team that will not engage in workplace violence but also will recognize and react appropriately to workplace-violence warning signs.
• Training for all new hires as well as supervisors is essential to the success of your process. New hires need to be provided with sufficient information so that they recognize warning signs of danger, they are empowered to report the threat and they know the appropriate individuals who should be involved. Managers and supervisors need to be trained so communications are clear and appropriate steps are followed quickly.
• The entire company must support the process and the plan. Create a team to develop the plan and include individuals from different levels.
• Get to know your workers. Watch for or be aware enough to notice changes in behavior, a decrease in socialization and/or productivity; an increase in agitation, frustration, or loss of concentration; a change in language used in the workplace.
• If an employee feels threatened in any way, move to a safe area and contact the supervisor as soon as possible and/or follow your company’s policy for such situations. If the threat is imminent, notify those in your area while you remove yourself.
• Develop a specialized team trained to work with management to assess the potential for workplace violence, either immediate or that which is percolating, and to develop a plan to address it. Train and remind employees of all policies and procedures, all contact numbers and codes, to take all threats seriously, to listen carefully and follow through on suspicious actions or information.
• If you spot a conflict early, use a good mediation or Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) program to resolve the issue early.
• Refresher training for existing employees is necessary, as well, to reinforce the importance of your Workplace Violence Prevention Program and to ensure everyone knows their roles.
By putting these safeguards in place, individuals who receive e-mails of the nature that Ms. Le did will be in a better position to recognize the danger and seek some help before another tragedy occurs. •
Nancy A. Newark is a partner at Boston-based law firm Burns & Levinson LLP and a member of its Labor, Employment and Employee Benefits Group.
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