It’s apples and oranges. The alleged legal offense is not (specifically) why the couple would be fired as a pair by a business owner, it’s the potential real world risk of a violent interaction at work because of their relationship dynamic if one or both of them stays.
Where I used to work a woman had an abusive boyfriend (not an employee) who somehow showed up. She called the police, not security. Management was extremely pissed.
If the clown gets convicted, the problem is solved. If she makes a complaint to her management, problem likely solved. But if she wants to continue the relationship and he is acquitted, what grounds are there for firing? (I know they can, but the legal system has spoken.) They could put them both on warning and can them if they bring their problems into the workplace, but what else happening at home would you fire people for?
Hope for him to go to the slammer. Best solution.
That’s my thought too. It’s a private matter from outside the workplace.
Considering that there have been instances where a domestic violence situation has caused the abuser to go on a shooting spree at the victim’s workplace, I think that even if you don’t care about the fact that this guy has allegedly tried to kill his girlfriend the other workers there have good reason to be afraid that there is a potentially violent person working there.
I might try approaching it from a workplace violence/safety perspective and try asking HR what measures are being taken to make sure that the workplace is safe from this guy if he decides to REALLY show her by bringing a gun to work and spraying the office with bullets.
The most “effective” measure (fair or not) would be to get rid of both of them.
It’s not effectve for the company to face a lawsuit - firing somene for being the victim of a non-work related crime would even make the lawyers of non-litigious countries like New Zealand salivate.
Not in an employment at will state. And she wouldn’t be fired for being a victim.
Well then, bad publicity. I was approached by a TV show, without having anywhere near that level of asshattery to endure.
Are there any studies that would show the prevelance of this kind of thing? I’m not in the States and this would be against legislated workplace practice here (firing someone for being the victim of crime). Are there any US based employment lawyers who could give us the facts about whether this commonly happens and why/why not?
Please not pchaos, thanks.
It’s important in this context to remember that, no matter what the common belief at the workplace about what happened, how well substantiated it is, and no matter that he was arrested for assault, he is still presumed innocent until he either pleads or is found guilty in a court of law. That’s not to be sanctimonious about what I agree probably happened from the account in the OP; it’s to note the liability of the company and its HR department in most civilized places – firing someone just because they were accused of a crime can be deemed actionable; it’s not sufficient grounds. (Not showing up for work because of being in jail, that’s a different story.)
As Oakie notes, in those states that Conserva-Newspeak calls “right to work” – which generally means the employer can fire the employee for almost any reason or no reason at all – this will not apply.
Side note: “Right-to-work” means you’re not forced to pay union dues if you’re not in the union but they still handle your labor negotiations. “At-will” means you can be fired for no real reason, and similarly leave a contract for similar lack of reason. To the best of my understanding, “at-will” employment is pretty much standard across the US, with some minor exceptions.
On your note that he is only accused of a crime and not yet convicted, it could well be that in some cases, both members of the couple are abusive towards each other. I know a woman who has physically attacked at least two male partners of hers, to the point where when she alleged that a then-current boyfriend had attacked her, we scoffed until we saw the newly-repaired door jamb in her apartment and her copy of the police report.