Guns at work: What you can and can’t stop employees from doing
February 10, 2009 by Jared BilskiPosted in: Communication tips, Government, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest news & views, Management issues
It seems reasonable to grant employers the power to tell staffers to leave their guns at home. But reasonable and legal aren’t exactly synonymous.
Most employers just assume that they have the right to ban people from bringing firearms anywhere near the workplace.
However, more and more states have legislation in place where employers can’t legally forbid employees from bringing guns to work, as long as they leave them in their cars.
This puts employers in a tricky place. Not complying with these laws could cost you — in both civil and/or criminal penalties. But by complying with these controversial laws, you could be knowingly putting your employees’ safety at risk.
Nine states (LA, AK, FL, GA, KS, KY, MN, MS and OK) currently have laws prohibiting employers from carrying out any policies that would bar workers from keeping a gun on the company parking lot. Moreover, many other states have proposed similar legislation.
But there are exemptions in some clearly defined situations. For example:
- You can prohibit employees from bringing guns to “any property where the possession of firearms is prohibited under state or federal law.”
- You can prohibit employees from storing guns in your workplace parking lot if the employee’s vehicle is owned or leased by your company. (This excludes employees who are required to “transport or store a firearm in the official discharge of their duties” — probably not too many of your Finance staffers.)
- You can prohibit employees from storing guns in your workplace parking lot, if the workplace has restricted or limited access (fence, gate, security station, etc.) and one of these conditions applies: (1) Your company has a temporary storage for unloaded firearms; and (2) your company has an alternative parking area that is “reasonably close to the main parking area” where employees can “transport or store firearms in locked, privately owned motor vehicles.”
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Tags: Alternative parking area, Gun laws, Guns at work laws, State legislation, Unloaded firearms
October 12th, 2009 at 10:23 am
Wow – your bias is clearly showing. The laws are controversial? On the contrary; telling employees they cannot have a firearm safely stored in their vehicle is what is controversial. And as for workplace violence; it’s not the law abiding citizens who store their weapon in their vehicle (because they choose not to leave home without a weapon) that you need to worry about – it’s the homicidal maniac that brings it in the building in his briefcase with bad intent.
October 12th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
Considering the quality of applicants one receives these days, it’s absolutely horrifying to think we would have to allow these people to carry a gun onto company property.When the economy started showing signs of declination, we had thought we would get some very good applicants with which to fill open positions. To our dismay, 1 out of every 3-4 applicants can’t even pass a simple background check. I had to terminate an employee in August for behavior. That evening when I got into my car to go home, I found my gas cap had been removed, and my check engine light was on. This went on for quite sometime. Then the supervisor who sat in on the termination with me called me a week ago and told me she had recieved an obscene phone call from whom she thought to be the terminated employee. 2 days later, I also received an obscene call and am quite positive it is the same individual. He is bi-polar and a very mean spirited person. Had he had access to a gun at the time of termination, heaven only knows what would have happened. AP is correct, it is not the law abiding citizens we have to worry about, but indeed the lunatics we have to deal with on a consistent basis.
November 30th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
Prohibiting firearms (as a rule) could be a comfort leave and an invitation for a lunitic to go wild. If firearms were allowed at the Ft Hood facility, the lone gunman would have either been taken down with minimal injuries or it wouldn’t have happened at all because the gunman would have known his fate going in. If there is a question whether the person you are about to rob has a gun, you might think twice – but heck, if you’re not allowed to carry, the criminals are free to do as they wish. Think!
May 31st, 2010 at 8:39 pm
Fire arms to and from work may help you protect yourself from that terminated psycho. I am neither, but I can say that if I was terminated wrongfully you would never see me there , if you had a gun. Then again, I need neither to bring wrath.