Preventing Workplace Violence and Litigation Through Preemployment Screening and Enforcement of Workplace Conduct Expectations

Abstract

This chapter examines workplace violence by employees in the context of defensible hiring practices and the role of the forensic sociologist as an expert in civil cases arising from negligent hiring. It explores upfront considerations in hiring including opportunities for pre-screening that may identify red flags before a job offer is made. These considerations include criminal background checks, Web-based inquiries, and drug screening. Additional considerations include distinguishing industries prone to violent acts versus employees with a propensity for violence. Some industries have adopted guidelines as a means of recommending best practices to prospective employers. Post-hiring, employers have other tools to assess risk factors in the workplace based on subjective and objective observations, including monitoring relationships between coworkers and between workers and management. Triggers for potential violence may include a mishandled termination, other personnel action, or a conflict between coworkers that escalates unchecked plus external factors that carry over to the work setting, such as possessing or having unimpeded access to a firearm or other deadly weapon, the breakup of a relationship, or financial or legal problems. In civil litigation arising from an employee that commits an act of workplace violence, the forensic sociologist as an expert witness may weigh in on the crime index rate for the area surrounding the affected workplace, identify applicable industry standards and whether they were followed, coupled with an assessment of the employee’s prior conviction history, if any, attributes of the employee’s employment prior history that a reference check may have identified, and whether any behaviors observed in the workplace suggest a potential to commit violent acts.