Blog Post: EXAMPLE OF A TERMINATION GONE WRONG "PAY ATTENTION"

On June 20, 2008 a 27-year-old Tampa woman was arrested by police after she reacted "adversely" to her termination. The woman was allegedly employed by a medical office and was called in on Friday afternoon and was told she had been fired.

According to police reports, the woman initially refused to leave the medical office when she was asked to go and caused some "disruptions" within the office area. Finally the woman left -- but she took confidential patient files and sensitive financial/billing data with her.

According to the police, she dropped at least one of these sensitive files in the parking lot and left it blowing around the parking lot as she drove away. When police arrested her in her car, they found a number of files and the woman allegedly had 14 oxycodone pills in her purse and a broken hydrocodone pill. She also was charged with having a 12-inch knife in her possession.

This is a classic example of why terminations should be handled carefully. Fortunately the woman did not use the knife, in this case, but this is not that unusual even though the office manager, in this situation, said she was surprised by the woman's reaction.

She should not have been. Instead she should have been prepared. Terminations are among the highest risk actions that a company or office can take. The key is to understand the risks of workplace violence related to terminations and act accordingly.

BSSG has noted that theft from a workplace, upon termination, or immediately before is not unusual. Likewise, in our experience, it is not unusual for individuals who are terminated for cause - theft, poor performance, harassment, etc. to be involved with drugs. Depending on the illegal substance, that could also substantially increase the risks.

Workplace violence is not limited to physical violence with guns, knives or even fists. It can also result in theft and/or sabotage. In this case, the thefts could be embarrassing or costly because the woman could have compromised personal health information and financial information of patients/clients. Given that the medical office took no reasonable precautions to protect the information in what experts acknowledge is a high risk situation, the company would probably be liable.

You can avoid liabilities and protect your people by being prepared to deal with the risk of workplace violence, especially if you are planning terminations/layoffs, office closings or other disciplinary actions.