Labor / Employment, Politics

A Company's Duty To Employees

What should employers do if they have a reasonable concern about the safety of their employees?

By  
on

If you ask cynical employees (and maybe even a few managers) in this modern era of employment, most would likely say that any duty in the employment sphere beyond a paycheck for hours worked goes one way. Employees have a duty of loyalty and often, if they are high enough on the food chain, fiduciary duties. But companies act, at least, like they have no duties to their workers other than the money they give and any benefit the worker is paying for as well.

But that’s not really true. I’ve been thinking about this topic today in light of the curious case of CNN being in Donald Trump’s cross hairs. I, like many normal Americans, thought that him tweeting a WWE attack on the network was bizarre (come on, wrestling isn’t even real!). Given that it’s silly season, CNN responded in turn with investigative journalism into the bizarre attack video, which uncovered a person with a very ridiculous and predictable background.

What CNN learned is that the creator of the video is a bigoted idiot. CNN chose not to reveal the identity of the individual seeking 15 minutes of fame, and this decision by CNN is getting all of the press because we are clearly in the twilight zone of governance here in the United States.

An angle to this story that I thought was more interesting is somehow this bizarre story ended with death threats to CNN reporters and editors. Because now this is an employment problem.

The Beauty of Not Knowing

My advice to employers is along the lines of “ignorance is bliss.” Domestic violence is a real problem in America, and often spills into the workplace. Workplace violence can erupt from workplace conflicts. But to stay above the fray, and to encourage employees to keep their domestic lives outside of the office, ignorance is often best for the employer. I regularly write policies that ask employees not to engage with corporate social media. I encourage policies asking employees to keep their personal lives as far as they can from work. Because knowledge of employee activities is not power.

But despite the best policy, people bring their whole selves to work, including the bad parts. People come to work angry and take it out on their co-workers. I will never forget a call I got about two employees fighting in front of the workplace. An all-out brawl just outside of the entrance to the business, in front of the parking lot. Unfortunately, the HR director witnessed it and had to do something about it. She would rather she had not. I felt the same way.

Sponsored

The more an employer knows, the more they are responsible for.

Right now, I wonder what CNN is doing with their newfound knowledge. Because opening the Pandora’s box on this reddit user exposed an ugly underbelly of hatred to the public, in a way that was very dangerous. For example, now there is a meme floating around about which CNN employees are Jewish. In a time when there are bomb threats to Jewish Community Centers, knowing this information is in the hands of unstable people implicates corporate responsibility.

Employer Duties

Unless you work in a warehouse making fireworks mixed with toxic gases, it is likely that where you work has been getting safer and safer by the year. This little-emphasized duty of employers (to provide a safe workplace) is often overlooked. For office workers, and most of the people at the CNN building, the biggest concern was carpal tunnel. Until our esteemed president, with the help of this bizarre political climate, changed the paradigm. Now people are getting death threats.

I understand the concern some have raised about the perceived “threat” in CNN’s article, but I feel that is straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel. If someone is putting out hateful and threatening speech, and that speech is being tweeted by the president of the United States, I don’t think that individual can expect to keep his or her identity a secret.

Sponsored

So what is an employer to do if they have a reasonable concern about the safety of the individuals who work for them?

  1. Do everything by the book. Meet all OSHA requirements. Follow industry standards. If other companies in your field have key-card limited access, have the same access. Go with the pack on these issues, unless federal regulations ask for me. Then go with the regulations.
  2. Act on what you know to be a legitimate concern. If you are CNN, right now, after kicking this hornets’ nest, the best steps are to increase security for your employees. CNN published the piece, and they are responsible. If employers pay for and encourage performance of duties by an employee that could predictably result in harm to that employee if precautions aren’t taken, precautions need to be taken.
  3. Discourage recklessness and identify dangerous situations quickly. This is advice we give employers who have employees around large, dangerous pieces of machinery, but in this current climate, this applies equally to news outlets, and likely a lot of other people too. Some things (news stories?) just seem triggering to people. While everyone wants pageviews, no one needs to die. Managers at a business must be trained to be on the lookout for risks (for CNN this risk is potentially triggering pieces), and managers must send concerns to the proper individuals within the organization, who will have to make a call regarding suitability.

Fortunately, most of us aren’t in an industry that regularly attracts death threats. Ironically, lawyers have a slightly elevated risk of violence than the average office worker. But I doubt most people covering a presidential news beat ever thought they would be receiving death threats for something so mundane. Regardless of your industry, you should at least think about the issue of workplace violence and the safety of your employees, beyond providing OSHA-compliant office spaces. It seems unlikely that this political climate will improve immediately, so employers should remember that they do in fact have this very important duty to employees: to keep them safe at work.

Ed. note: If you practice employment law or are interested in the field, Above the Law cordially invites you to a webinar this Thursday, July 13, which we are hosting with our friends at Lex Machina. It’s free of charge — and because it’s a webcast, you can listen from the comfort of your home or office — but please be sure to register. Thanks!

beth-robinsonBeth Robinson lives in Denver and is a business law attorney and employment law guru. She practices at Fortis Law Partners. You can reach her at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter at @HLSinDenver.

Topics

, , , , , , , , , ,