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 injunction on behalf of the employee and, at the discretion of the court, any number of other employees at the workplace, and, if appropriate, otheremployees at other workplaces of the employer.

The tragic loss of innocent lives in Connecticut brings to mind the issue of workplace safety. No one ants to worry about going to work with fear in their heart that a co worker, boyfriend (or girlfriend) of a co worker, or other third party with a grievance might inflict violence in the workplace says employment lawyer in San Diego, Stephen Danz. Regardless of how quickly our nation gets serious about controlling weapons such as semi-automaticrifles, high-powered handguns, etc., we need to know that right now, in the US, there are just about 350 million weapons. One for every man, woman and child in this country. How many employers have hadlock-down drills? Fire drills we get all the time. But what about the fear of a dangerous individual? Some may recall the law firm in SanFrancisco, California which was visited by a deranged former client who killed numerous staffers.

      California has enacted a workplace violence restraining order, which very few employers are aware of. Unfortunately, our experience has been that employers will act immediately to end the employment of anyone who has a "problem" with a domestic partner, where that partner might reasonably be suspected of bringing danger to the workplace. As a first step, before the knee-jerk reaction (oh, by the way, its not uncommon for the terminated employee to be falsely accused of bad performance in order to justify their termination), employers might consider a restraining order. I've taken the liberty of re-printing the California Civil Code Section covering the issue.

CAL. CCP. CODE § 527.8 : California Code - Section 527.8

(a)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 injunction on behalf of the employee and, at the discretion of the court, any number of other employees at the workplace, and, if appropriate, otheremployees at other workplaces of the employer.

(b)For the purposes of this section:

(1)"Unlawful violence" is any assault or battery, or stalking as prohibited in Section 646.9 of the Penal Code, but shall not include lawful acts of self-defense or defense of others.

(2)"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 thatserves no legitimate purpose.

(3)"Course of conduct" is a pattern of conduct composed of a series of acts over a period of time, however short, evidencing a continuity of purpose, including following or stalking an employee to or from the place of work; entering the workplace; following an employee during hours of employment; making telephone calls to an employee; or sending correspondence to an employee by any means, including, but not limited to, the use of the public or private mails, interoffice mail, fax, or computer e-mail.