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"DOES DOMESTIC VIOLENCE TRANSLATE INTO POTENTIAL OFFICE DANGER? READ ON!

Dear Kathryn:

As office manager, my bosses trust me to hire the best and maintain a professional group of employees. We have never had an issue of violence here, however I've uncovered something that I feel needs strong action in order to protect my workplace environment. One of my drivers (this is a warehousing company) has been arrested more than once when police were called to his house for beating his girlfriend. While I've only seen him verbally assault co-workers, I've never seen him slap anyone around. He had a loud argument with another employee here a few weeks back that concerned us as it bordered on getting physical.

Awhile back, he and another employee were using our back field as a target practice range. We quickly put an end to that with a memo and warning that target practice wasn't permitted. While we are aware he keeps a gun in his car, we have never had an incident with him carrying his gun in the company truck. We didn't issue any policy about guns on the premises, but maybe we should have done that as a precaution. In reality, Kathryn, he's been very reliable and I need every good worker that I can get, but at the same time feel I'm wearing blinders if I do nothing.

My thought is that should something violent occur, I could have prevented it. At the same time, he's done nothing violent here, giving me any real cause to fire him. If something bad happens, I'm worried my company owner and myself will be in hot water as we were aware of a potentially explosive situation.

What are my obligations to my other employees? My company president thinks I should just fire him, but I'm wary of the consequences that could bring, given he's 52 and Afro-American. I feel this could be a time bomb employee, that with a little prodding, he'll explode.

SUE K., Manchester, CT

Dear Sue

Well, you're right to be nervous given the circumstances you've outlined. What you're really concerned about in the long run is what's referred to as "negligent retention of an employee." You stated yourself-you are aware of a potential danger with this employee and, so far, are keeping him anyway. Should something happen, it could be claimed that you risked customers and employee's safety. You've got a few choices and the key is you need to move quickly.

First, you could bring him in for a sit-down, telling him this is a formal, serious warning and that you will not tolerate any signs of aggression, arguments or any behavior other than total professionalism. You can refer back to the co-worker argument as being an example of what you won't tolerate and that such behavior will result in termination.

Second, you could terminate him, without explanation. If you terminate him and you don't terminate the other employee he had an argument with, and the co-worker isn't over 40 and Afro-American or other minority, Attorney Henry Zaccardi of Shipman & Goodwin tells me you could face a "discrimination termination" charge. This terminated employee could trot over to the CT Commissions on Human Rights, stating that he was unfairly terminated as he's over 40 and black. As you've mentioned he's otherwise had a good track record with the company, it's a possibility that he'd come to that conclusion.

Zaccardi advises that the key piece to a termination-for-cause is to have the termination happen as close to the time of the incident's occurrence as possible. While some employers do ruminate about the incident, wondering if they should put the employee on probation or terminate, the longer they wait the more potential consequences the employer faces.

One last word of advice-get written policies in place immediately regarding professional and expected workplace behavior. Don't forget to include that failing to adhere to these policies will result in termination.

Dear Kathryn:

We make it a standard practice in our company to get all of the correct addresses, home phones and cell phones for our employees. We currently have many employees that list one address, but where one actually sleeps is a guess! Out of our sixty employees, over fifteen now have refused to provide their cell phone numbers. We have had a few occasions where we have needed to reach our employees in various departments, and it's been frustrating to come up against this.

Isn't there some stipulation that as an employer, we can require that our employees provide cell numbers and correct and current addresses where they actually reside?

MARY S., West Haven, CT

Dear Mary:

Employees will say that they want to protect their privacy. Here's what the law says and doesn't say. Make it part of your personnel policy manual that current addresses be provided to personnel. I checked CT's Regulations, Section 31-60-12, and this regulation states that the employee must provide a current home address. There isn't any stipulation that the employee must provide phone numbers.

While you can ask the for the cell phone number, unless it's germane to their job that you be able to reach them at any time of day or night, there's no law that mandates they must provide that.

If you're that concerned you have an employee with a hostile or uncooperative attitude you can terminate them. The question is just how important that contact information is vs the good employee you may be giving up. Remember, there's no guarantee as to what you'll get with your replacement hire!