Addressing workplace violence
When an employee’s safety in the workplace is jeopardized by someone within or outside of the workplace, an employer may seek a workplace violence restraining order.
California law requires employers to provide “safe and healthful” workplaces for theiremployees. When an employee’s safety in the workplace is jeopardized by someone within or outside of the workplace, an employer may seek a workplace violence restraining order (WVRO).
WVRO statute
Under Code of Civil Procedure section 527.8, any employer “whose employee has suffered harassment, unlawful violence, or a credible threat of violence from any individual (employee or nonemployee), that can reasonably be construed to be carried out or to have been carried out at the workplace” may seek a restraining order, effective for up to three years, to protect the targeted employee, and potentially other employees, from the offending individual.
The employer must convince a judge by “clear and convincing evidence” that the defendant engaged in the offending conduct and should be ordered to refrain from further offending conduct. A person subject to a WVRO may not have or purchase a firearm or ammunition while the protective order is in effect and must relinquish any firearms they have.
Click here to read the full article written by SCMV Shareholder Dan Eaton and published in The San Diego Union-Tribune.