Workplace Violence

* On July 9 in the City of Industry, a postal worker walked up to his boss, pulled a gun from a paper bag and shot him dead, the latest incident in an alarming increase in workplace violence.

A U.S. Justice Department study found that 1 million violent crimes occur in American workplaces each year. That’s one out of every six violent crimes in America. Sixteen percent of all assaults, 8% of all rapes and 7% of all robberies happen on the job.

A University of California survey last fall found that job layoffs are one of the major causes of workplace violence. That study found that those who were laid off through no fault of their own, as opposed to those terminated for poor performance or other work problems, were especially likely to violently lash out.

Compounding the problem is that throughout the nation, legislatures, including California’s, are narrowing, if not outright eliminating, workers’ compensation benefits for psychiatric injuries incurred on, and related to, the job.

However, the state Legislature has an opportunity this current session to put a measure of sanity in the workplace. It could approve legislation (Senate Bill 666) authored by Sen. Milton Marks (D-San Francisco) that would create a civil remedy when an employee’s injury or death is proximately caused by a violent crime in the workplace where the employer failed to take reasonable precautions. Making our workplaces safer is achievable. It is a worthy goal and a moral imperative. And it is plain good business.

MICHAEL OZUROVICH, President

California Applicants’ Attorneys Assn.

Torrance