Employee Misconduct: When Do You Call the Police?
When an employee crosses the line and commits what appears to be a crime, should you automatically contact the police? It's a dilemma many small employers face. Here are three specific situations where this question of employee misconduct gets raised.
3 types of employee misconduct
1. Assault
When a fistfight erupts in the lunch room, your first concern should be to break up the melee and take action to ensure that additional people are not drawn into the fray. Then you need to conduct an internal investigation before you take disciplinary action.
This is also a good time to hire a security professional who can alert you to the possibility that the tensions are being "taken outside" and could explode again.
When an employee says they're going to press charges, never try to dissuade them or say, "We can handle this ourselves." Employees who engage in physical fighting in the workplace are commonly terminated. If you decide upon a different course of action, take care to ensure that it's fair and will promote a peaceful environment.
If the fight results in an injury, it's probably time to call the police. The injured employee may also decide to press charges, and as an employer it's essential that you cooperate. You should not find out that a criminal case is being pursued be reading the local newspaper.
If any employee is caught with a weapon on the premises, call the police immediately. They may have the legal right to carry a firearm or a hunting knife, but you should have a policy prohibiting these items at work.
A weapon at work could be a sign of potential workplace violence that you want law enforcement professionals to handle. There is some room for discretion here: an employee spent the weekend at the lake and forgot to take a fishing fillet knife out of their backpack, for example. But in general this is a situation when you are always better off erring on side of caution.
2. Harassment
Sexual harassment violates employment laws, but the all too common inappropriate jokes and comments are not cause to contact the local precinct.
A credible report of a sexual assault of any kind, however, is reason to contact the police. The child sex abuse scandal at Penn State University is an illustration of the importance of this reporting. I say "credible" because a basic investigation may identify a story that does not make sense.
I faced this situation when an employee claimed they had been raped by a fellow staff member. None of the stated dates, times, and locations made any sense. Both employees were not on the premises and details kept changing. We did involve security from the onset and encouraged the employee to report any potential crime to police.
Harassment that takes the form of threatening letters, emails, or phone calls requires prompt reporting. Police can assist in an investigation, make recommendations, or simply say they were informed of the situation and could not yet identify that a crime was committed.
In one case I know of when an employee spurned repeated amorous but disturbing emails from a former staff member, he insinuated that he knew where she and her kids lived. The employer contacted local law enforcement who helped identify steps to take to protect employees. Employers should take the same steps when any employee is threatened.
In another case, an employee's husband called her boss and threatened bodily harm against him, and a senior manager, for a perceived affair. The management called police and notified on-site security to ensure that the jealous husband was not allowed on the premises.
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- How to Use Your Local Newspaper to Market Your Business
- How to Avoid a Carjacking: Guidelines for Staying Safe
- Organized Crime: A ‘Hostile Takeover’ Hits Business Hard
3. Theft
Employee theft is one of those situations when a small business owner will need to weigh the amount of the loss against the impact of prosecution.
An example: After he was terminated, a manager returned to tell me that we would find the safe short $200 when it was opened. He said, "You're not going to go to the police about $200 are you?" I assured him we would not. There was no reason to increase the anger level in a departing employee.
In another situation, a tenant relocating from an office building asked the IT director of a neighboring company to help move some equipment. When thousands of dollars of hardware went missing and the IT director was the only person with access to the items, the tenant called the police and an investigation resulted in an arrest.
Employee misconduct: Should you call the police?
If you are faced with any of these workplace scenarios, take a deep breath, review all the available facts, and get some sound advice before making the decision whether or not to make that call to the police.
