Please help--20+ year employee terminated for 'workplace violence.' Is there a lawsuit here? (job, company)

[wutitiz]

A friend and co-worker of mine was terminated after over 20 years at the same company. I'll call him employee A. He threw a box at another co-worker who I'll call employee B. The box weighed about 1-2 lbs., and hit employee B in the head. It was all caught on video. There was no injury.

Employee A has been with the company for over 20 years, and has no history of violent or disruptive behavior. Employee B has a long history of disruptive behavior, and several of his co-workers have actually filed complaints against him with HR and management, but little or nothing was done to curtail his behavior. Employee B had been antagonizing A over the course of a week or so, including derogatory language (which B admitted to), and finally A became unglued and threw the box.

A was terminated, B was not disciplined, but sent to some form of counseling. We are a union shop, and the union has decided not to fight the termination, due to the video evidence. Does A have a lawsuit for wrongful dismissal?

[randomlikeme]

No.

[joe from dayton]

Not at all.

[aliss2]

For what?

Employee A could be criminally prosecuted for that. You don't get to claim it's not violent if an injury doesn't result. Doesn't matter if Employee B is the biggest ******* on this planet.

This sounds familiar, unless box-head assaults are common this month. Your "friend"?

[jaypee]

Typical company policy for workplace violence is immediate suspension and termination after an investigation.
Of course, A can sue the company for whatever reason he wants. I'm not sure how he plans to prove this is "wrongful termination" when he actually committed the violent act.

[Missingatlanta]

No case in my opinion. Employee A messed up.

[rdflk]

OP...
I don't care how much of an a$$ a coworker is, you can't let them push your buttons where YOU are the one who does something stupid like your friend did. Walk away, leave the work floor, take a break, walk straight to a manager.

How is it even remotely possible that throwing a box that hits someone in the head defenseable?
So employee B is the jerk -- and employee A gets fired.

When you feel your temper getting the better of you, and you're about to do something STUPID -- remind yourself that NO a$$hole is worth losing YOUR job over.

I know sometimes that's easier said than done. Because Lrd knows people can push you to the point of snapping...BUT you can't....you just can't get physical. Physical violence is the one thing that WILL get your fired....and with no recourse.

THE ONLY SLIGHT chance he might have a case for severance or a settlement is ....if he can PROVE....he had told company management employee B had harassed and threatened him and the company continued to allow a hostile environment to the point where worker A feared for his personal safety, and had to defend himself. Can the video support that. Did worker B make a move toward worker A, in a physically threatening manner? If all jerk/worker B did was VERBALLY abuse worker A...vebal abuse isn't enough. Sorry.

[AV8n]

Employee A should file a grievance with the union. Throwing the box was surely not in his job description.

[BirdieBelle]

Originally Posted by aliss2

For what?

Employee A could be criminally prosecuted for that. You don't get to claim it's not violent if an injury doesn't result. Doesn't matter if Employee B is the biggest ******* on this planet.

This sounds familiar, unless box-head assaults are common this month. Your "friend"?

It's similar to this thread:

//www.city-data.com/forum/work-...workplace.html

[fishbrains]

Acould file a lawsuit, because anybody can at any time for any hairbrained reason.

But. A was incredibly, horribly, inconceivably wrong. And the incident was caught on video. Termination was justified.

What B did is not the issue at all.