Thursday, December 29, 2005
Workplace Violence Rears Its Ugly Head Again
From the Detriot Free Press:
Authorities could only speculate that 22-year-old Jamal Samuels was deeply troubled -- reportedly mentally ill -- when he shot his mother, his niece and a coworker before turning the gun on himself in another coworker's driveway.
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After he fled his mother's home in her champagne-colored 2003 GMC Envoy, police said he drove to the UPS plant in Livonia, where he waited for a coworker. Samuels had shown up for work at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday but was sent home within an hour with other part-timers who weren't needed.Kelton (Lamarr) Kidd II, who police said was a work buddy of Samuels, ended his 2:30 a.m. shift late, clocking out about 3 a.m. Kidd's family said he had phoned his girlfriend to say he was on his way home.
He never arrived.
Instead, Samuels ambushed him, police said, shooting Kidd multiple times in the Wal-Mart parking lot where he had parked his vehicle.
A coworker in the same parking lot said he heard the gunshots about 3:10 a.m. He saw a body on the ground and said he watched as Samuels fired three or four shots. Samuels turned Kidd's body over and kicked him, said the coworker, who asked not to be identified because he was new on the job.
There's no indication that UPS had any idea this part-time employee was mentally ill, had these violent
tendencies, or that he would carry out these violence acts at work.
Should employers be required to conduct mental health testing of all prospective employees and would such testing make any difference in any event? Probably not.
The whole thing is just senseless.
PS
https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/laborprof_blog/2005/12/workplace_viole.html
Comments
Chris:
See 42 U.S.C. 12112(d) on medical examinations and inquiries.
Pre-employment, medical testing is permitted under the ADA as long as it is done uniformly for all employees in the same category, the medical records are kept separate and are kept confidential, and only after a conditional job offer is already on the table. 12112(d)(3).
After employment has commenced, medical exams are not permitted unless such an examination is shown to be job-related and consistent with business necessity. Also, an employer may offer voluntary medical examinations to its employees as part of an employee health program available to all employees at the work site. 12112(d)(4)(A),(B).
Paul
Posted by: Paul | Dec 30, 2005 3:09:16 PM
Wouldn't conducting such testing open a company up to ADA lawsuits??
Posted by: Chris | Dec 30, 2005 7:12:09 AM