Assault, Battery, and Violence in the Workplace

ASSAULT, BATTERY, AND VIOLENCE IN THE WORKPLACE

Violence is breaking out everywhere. We are living in a clear and present danger on grounds that employers vow an environment free from harm and assure safety to all its employees. With staggering statistics, employer and employees aren't aware of the assaults, battery, and violence that commonly associated between employees and co-workers until it's too late. When violence is handled poorly within an organization, it can cost employers heavily in terms of wasted management, turnover, lawsuits, and some cases severe violence.

According to the Webster's New World Law Dictionary (2010), a demonstration of an unlawful intent by one person to inflict immediate injury on the person of another then present; an intentional attempt by a person, by force or violence, to do an injury to the person of another; an attempt to commit a battery, or any threatening gesture showing in itself or by words accompanying it an immediate intention, coupled with the present ability, to commit a battery. An act, other than the mere speaking of words, which directly or indirectly is the legal cause of putting another in apprehension of an immediate and harmful or offensive contact, rendering the actor civilly liable, if he intends thereby to inflict a harmful or offensive contact upon the other or a third person or to put the other or a third person in apprehension thereof, and the act is not consented to by the other, or otherwise privileged.

A battery is an act which, directly or indirectly, is the legal cause of a harmful contact with another's person; such act makes the actor liable to the other, if the act is done with the intention of bringing about a harmful or offensive contact or an imminent apprehension thereof to the other or a third person, and the contact is not consented to by the other or the other's consent thereto is procured by fraud or duress, and the contact is not otherwise privileged. According to National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health [NIOSH] (2010), workplace violence is simply any physical assault, threatening behavior, or verbal abuse occurring in the workplace.

Workplace is defined as any place where an employee is engaged in ordinary work for the employee's employer, any area where an employee is making a delivery for the employer, any location where an employee is providing a service under the employer's direction, and any mode transportation where employee is traveling in the course of business (2003).

The Virginia law code states that when a "simple" assault and battery occurs, the criminal will be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. But when a person intentionally picks out another person because of his "race, religious conviction, color, or national origin," the penalty will be a minimum term of six (6) months and thirty (30) days in prison (Cornell University Law School. Legal Information Institute, n.d).

To know what is considered unacceptable behavior there has to be accountability when examining the different areas of assault. One form of assault is, "Assault with a Deadly or Dangerous Weapon." A deadly weapon is considered to be anything that deadly to a person's life. The court views something as simple as a sock could be used as a deadly weapon when if it is placed in a person's mouth and forces them to choke or cause other fatal wounds. When a criminal is charged with this crime, the penalty received from the court is considered to be a felony therefore leaving the criminal with a minimum sentence of a year in jail.

Another form of assault is sexual assault, according to article from the Sarah Lawrence College (2010); a sexual assault has been committed when an individual engages in sexual activity without the explicit consent of the other individual involved. Just crying assault is not enough. Sexual assault is any touching of a sexual or other intimate part of a person for the purpose of gratifying sexual desire of either party. This includes coerced touching of the actor by the victim as well as the touching of the victim by the actor, whether directly or through clothing.

Sexual assault includes any forced act against one's will where sex is the weapon. This can include, but is not limited to:

* Sexual Battery: the unwanted touching of an intimate part of another person for the purpose of arousal by the actor

* Sodomy: forced anal intercourse

* Oral Copulation: forced oral-genital contact

* Rape by a Foreign Object: forced penetration by a foreign object including digits (fingers and toes)

* Rape: penile-vaginal intercourse against a person's will and without consent

DISCUSSION:

An employer is responsible for every "tangible employment action" (hiring, firing, promotion or its absence, wage-setting, and the like) plus any other discriminatory term or condition of employment that the employer fails to take reasonable care to prevent or redress. When a supervisor causes the objectionable conduct, proof of reasonable care (and reasonable complaint by the employee) is an affirmative defense; otherwise the plaintiff bears the burden of showing that the employer knew of the problem (usually though not always this requires the employee to show that a complaint was made) and that the employer did not act reasonably to equalize working conditions once it had knowledge.

In Yunker v. Honeywell, Inc., (496 N.W.2d 419 (Minn.Ct. App.1993) case, Randy Landin had been recently terminated for strangling an employee. The employee served five years in prison and was released and rehired by Honeywell. The HR professional who hired the employee hired him knowing he had been fired a prior incident of workplace violence. Once the employee was rehired he engaged in numerous instances of harassing and threatening behavior toward co-workers and became interested in a female co-worker, Kathleen Nesser. After repeatedly rejections from his romantic advances towards her, he shot and killed the woman. The family of the victim sued Honeywell claiming both negligent hiring and negligent retention. The issue here is whether not Honeywell had a duty to protect Kathleen Nesser? The employer became liable for the employee actions after they knowingly hired, retained, or supervised Randy Landin? The court rejected the negligent hiring because he was hired on as a janitor; this job had little to nothing to do with working with employees. However, the court ruled for the family for negligent retention claim because the employee had painted