Employees got in a fight. I do nothing...right?

Parent Cafe
1

<p>A couple months back, we had hired 2 young men (both 19 years old) who were rooming together. They seemed to be good friends. We did, however, just in case, place them on two different shifts. Things were going well for about 3 months…Today, roommate #1 came in during his non-working hours and asked if he could speak to roommate #2. We initally said no, warning him that he should not disrupt roommate #2 during his work hours simply because they’re friends or roommates. He said he just needed the keys to the house, so we eventually allowed him. </p>

<p>The layout of the place is such that the employees share a room to change into work clothes, sign in, etc. The manager’s office is quite a distance apart, on the other side of the building. </p>

<p>Well, about 15 minutes later, roommate #2 walks into my office with a bloody face and a swollen eye. In shock, I asked him what happened. He told me that roommate #1 (the guy who wanted the keys) asked to speak to him in the employee’s room. Apparently, roommate #1 wanted to move out tonight without paying his rent (they were going to get evicted tomorrow morning). Roommate #2 got frustrated (roommate #1 is not an official tenant; he simply moved in in place of a previous roommate without the approval of the landlord), and I’m guessing things elevated from there. Roommate #1, by this time, had left through the back door. </p>

<p>We asked roommate #2 (the one w/ the bloody face) if he wanted to call his parents or if he wanted to call the police. He said he was going to call his dad (who, for some reason, has his son live by himself when he only lives 20 minutes away). We gave him the phone to use. His dad arrived, and obviously asked us what had happened. We gave his dad a brief overview of what I heard from his son. His dad said, “Thanks, we’ll see what he wants to do.” and left. </p>

<p>Obviously, there isn’t much that we could, or should, do. But just wondering - could any part of this situation come back and bite us? </p>

<p>We’re obviously calling roommate #1 tonight to not come back to work. How about #2? Let go of him, too? </p>

<p>We should try to stay out of this as much as possible, correct? Are we responsible for anything? They aren’t minors…but still pretty young. </p>

<p>Also, how would things be different if they were a couple years younger?</p>

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<p>If roommate #2 is a good employee, why fire him? Roommate #1 should be fired and told to never set foot in your business again.</p>

<p>Stay out of the drama. Leave that for him and his parents. You’re only responsible for being his employer/boss.</p>

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<p>You should try to find out more details before doing anything. From the sounds of it you haven’t gotten the #1’s story yet - just some of #2’s story. For all you know #2 could have swung first. You also don’t know what kind of shape #1 is in.</p>

<p>If you can determine who started the physical violence first then fire that person but it shouldn’t be held against the person defending himself IMO.</p>

<p>You should only get involved to the point that it relates to what happened at the workplace. </p>

<p>You can’t control everything so fights can happen at work but if you don’t address it such that the environment is unsafe you could have problems.</p>

4

<p>I think <em>you</em> should have called the police. An assault took place on your property.</p>

<p>“Are we responsible for anything?” Employee #2 could easily sue you for not maintaining a safe workplace; you allowed someone in who was not working there, did not supervise him, and as a result he got assaulted.</p>

<p>I would fire them both. What if the fight had spread and damaged equipment or injured another employee? What if one or both bring weapons next time?</p>

<p>In addition, I have a problem with people who don’t pay their rent. Their landlord will wind up attaching their pay or whatever, and then you will have to deal with that too.</p>

<p>What does your employee handbook or employee manual say about fighting?</p>

5

<p>Give Roommate #2 a break–his roommate is a deadbeat and will stiff him for rent; his roommate physically assaulted him–and now you’re thinking of firing HIM? Go ahead and make it the worst day of his sorry young life…</p>

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<p>Could he…? What if someone else (an entirely random person) walked in and started a fight with one of my employees…? What if, hypothetically, some seemingly normal customer striked me in the face while I was working at, I don’t know, Walmart? Would Walmart be responsible for creating an “unsafe” environment? </p>

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<p>Weirdly enough, there’s nothing about this. It’s a small, locally owned store…the “handbook” is not very exhaustive at all…</p>

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<p>I don’t want to have to fire him…but as uc dad and notrighenough have pointed out, I don’t know roommate #1’s side of the story… and I don’t want to probe any further because then I would be getting myself involved.</p>

<p>*After I posted my original post, the police came and asked us about the incident. We gave the police what info. we had on file…I’m guessing roommate #2 called the police after he left with his dad.</p>

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<p>You are involved, whether you want to be or not, to the extent that you are a supervisor and the event took place at your establishment and, as was pointed out above, you permitted a unsupervised nonworker into that establishment. </p>

<p>I think you need to speak to both parties, and anyone else within earshot, and develop an understanding of what happened on your own premises. Once you have that, you will be able to decide who, if anyone, to fire. </p>

<p>If you promptly write up what you learn, you will have documentation, which will come in handy if one of them decides to sue you and/or the company.</p>

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<p>Not being a lawyer, I have no idea what your, or Walmart’s, responsibilities would be. However, those situations are different from what you describe. In your situation, management expressly permitted an off-hour employee to come in and allowed that person to be unsupervised, even though management was apparently aware that disruption of the work environment could occur. Is there a policy in the manual about allowing workers onto company property when they are not working?</p>

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<p>You may not be able to talk to Roommate #1 anymore. If he had any brains, he’d have a lawyer now who has instructed him to say nothing.</p>

<p>Losing his job is the least of his worries.</p>

9

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In my opinion (not a lawyer, but I have been sued before) it takes very little to create something you can get sued over, and this situation could lead to one, especially if the lawyer is working on contingency. You might be seen as a target for a quick and easy settlement.</p>

<p>They might not (probably won’t) win, but in the meantime, you have several years of lawyers, courts, and insurance companies to deal with.</p>

<p>This is what insurance is for, hopefully you have a good policy and a good company.</p>

10

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<p>This is silly. You need to make a reasonable determination about whether to fire one or both young men. Speaking to each of them about the incident doesn’t mean you are involved in their fight; it means you are involved in properly running your business.</p>

11

<p>Hate to tell you that Roommate #2 has a Worker’s comp claim.<br>
I think you should have called the police and filed a report and sought medical care for the injured worker. You also should have fired roomie #1 on the spot. If roomie #2 fought back he should be fired as well.</p>

<p>You can do all of this and not get involved in the unpaid rent/roommate situation. It doesn’t matter who is right or wrong here and who owes whom money. All that matters is that this guy walked into your workplace and beat up a worker.
What kind of business is this that you have to come here for advice?? just wondering…</p>

12

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<p>WHAT? Someone comes in to my place of business to attack me and I am not supposed to fight back?? In what world can you not defend yourself?</p>

<p>I would not fire roomie #2. Poor kid has enough problems!</p>

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<p>Unlike some others here, I think I’d want to hear both sides of the story before I did any firing. Just because #2 may have gotten the worst end of a fight, that doesn’t prove his story is true, and it doesn’t prove who was the aggressor.</p>

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<p>Even the OP doesn’t have enough information (at least not that’s been posted) to decide if the one who started the physical fight was #1 or #2 so no one can say whether #1 or #2 or both should be fired. Certainly at least one of them should be since there was clearly physical violence. </p>

<p>The OP needs to conduct an investigation, which might be as simple as reading the police report and having a short discussion with both parties, to determine what course of action to take.</p>

<p>I wouldn’t just out of hand fire both employees since it could be, and likely is, completely unfair to one of them.</p>

<p>It wouldn’t be a bad idea to discuss this with a lawyer since there may be issues that arise down the road as a result of it (wrongful termination suits, worker’s comp issues, pain and suffering lawsuits, etc.).</p>

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<p>Just A Mom asked what kind of business is asking in the Parent Cafe about this</p>

<p>Think small, mom and pop type of main street retail. No HR department, no security detail, no front desk receptionist. No fancy extensive employee handbook (although it’s a good idea to have one).</p>

<p>That’s like my business. I don’t think I’d ask <em>here</em> about <em>that</em> but I have a national organization forum for our industry and I’d ask <em>them</em> before I called my attorney and generated a large bill – although I think she probably does need some legal advice. And yeah, I was thinking workman’s comp claim.</p>

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<p>OTOH they’re both 19 so they might just blow this off.</p>

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<p>Small business owner here. If your handbook doesn’t cover violence in the workplace it should. You really need to at least consult a lawyer and beef up your handbook. Employees should sign that they received a copy of the handbook and you should keep that receipt. I can tell you if this happened at a larger employer like Walmart as mentioned yes, you would have a policy and liability. employers are responsible for maintaining a safe workplace. As mentioned you may also want to consult your workers comp insurance.</p>