Where there’s smoke, there’s a threat of fire

You have an obligation to maintain a safe workplace and must have a ready answer if workplace violence becomes an issue. A workplace violence restraining order (WVRO) is an important asset in your legal toolkit—effective and straightforward to obtain. But how do you differentiate between a stupid, empty comment and a true threat of violence? What kind of evidence do you need to show? The following case answers some of  those questions.

Criteria for a workplace violence restraining order

California has a statute that allows employers to fairly quickly and simply protect employees who have been threatened with workplace violence, through a WVRO. According to the statute, “Any employer, whose employee has suffered unlawful violence or a credible threat of violence from any individual, that can reasonably be construed to be carried out or to have been carried out at the workplace, may seek a temporary restraining order and an order after hearing on behalf of the employee and, at the discretion of the court, any number of other employees at the workplace, and, if appropriate, other employees at other workplaces of the employer.”

A “credible threat of violence” is a knowing and willful statement or course of conduct that would place a reasonable person in fear for his or her safety, or the safety of his or her immediate family, and that serves no legitimate purpose. A court may not issue an order prohibiting speech or other activities that are protected constitutionally or by any other provision of law.