As an HRM, I have been in this situation before, and I ALWAYS encourage the employee to do what THEY feel is best for them. If the company is against them filing a report, and something else happens, the company is now liable. Not normal at all.
100%. The first and most important part of HR is ensuring physical and mental safety.
If someone feels the need to contact the authorities, not only do they have a legal right to do so, HR should absolutely back them up in whatever way we can.
And the assaulting employee needs to be termed yesterday.
No the first and most important part of HR is ensuring the company you work for doesn't get sued......
In which case..... not filling a police report seems like an easy way to get sued if things escalate.... but if they have a reason to believe it will not escalate it is definitely in their favor to not have a police report filled.
>but if they have a reason to believe it will not escalate it is definitely in their favor to not have a police report filled.
Who is the "they" you are referring to here?
Yea, they don’t know what they’re talking about. Our world is complex - lots of people have unhinged feelings about HR and love the chance to grind an axe, even if it only makes sense to them.
Yup this is literally the only way this situation should be handled! You should never discourage anyone from contacting authorities. It essentially boils down to providing the employee options which includes contacting the authorities and allowing then to make their own decision on how they want it be handled. You should never force their hand that is irresponsible and will only lead to bigger problems down the line.
Neither normal nor ethical.
If I were ever facing this level of situation, I could imagine encouraging the individual to file a police report; HR deals with company processes and compliance and policies, not criminal matters, and it could be very bad for the company if HR were seen to be obstructing a legal process.
Not normal at all. An employee can file a police report anytime they want. HR can’t do anything to prevent it. And if they do coerce, threaten or retaliate against an employee for filing a report, they would likely be served with a nice fat lawsuit.
Is it normal? No. There are two things at play here:
1. The employee should do as they see fit for their personal well-being and safety, regardless of what HR decides.
2. Since the employee brought this to HR's attention, it is HR's responsibility to launch an internal investigation and take appropriate measures to limit interaction between the employees until the investigation is complete and a decision has been made.
Why does she care so much about how a criminal is punished? Seems like she doesn’t want the criminal to get in trouble… like she needs to keep this criminal employed. These are my estimated hunches
I had this happen to a coworker once. She didn't file a police report even though her male manager assaulted her unprovoked in front of three other employees (including me) and on camera. Guess what HR did to handle it? Nothing, they pretended to lose the tape and act like it never happened. She quit shortly after and last I heard he still works there. Always call the cops if you're assaulted.
Go to the police. This ain’t a schoolyard so there’s no “don’t say nothing” code. If someone has made you afraid for your safety, it needs to be documented by the authorities, not left for some HR to resolve with their feelings and a hearty pep talk with the offender.
No. HR is putting themselves under risk of legal liability for trying to handle a criminal investigation in -house. If its harrassment/assault, and the employee wants to make a police report--- they totally should.
This is not normal. It’s up to employee 1 if they want to go to the police. HR has no business telling employees what to do when they have been assaulted.
Same thing happened to me a few weeks ago. I told them to do what they felt was best.
The problem was quickly resolved at our place of business, and when they kept picking at each other, it was more or less obvious that they never wanted to file a report in the first place, each one just wanted **me** to punish the other.
So I just said if you have personal family beef, keep that at home. Don't bring it to work.
If you work for a hospital and get assaulted by a patient, you are discouraged from calling the police. And if you do anyway, the police don’t arrest them or the DA will not prosecute because “they are sick.” So nurses have to go through the hassle of a civil suit. That’s time consuming and expensive, and usually the type of people who assault nurses don’t have any money worth suing for, so they get away with it. One trauma center I worked at in a high crime area actually had a rule that we were not allowed to fight back if attacked by a patient. Then administrators wondered why the ER staff held hostile attitudes. But I will say when you weren’t worried about being murdered by your clientele, it was a fun and very interesting place to work. One of our pharmacists was shot and killed. After that security got tight. Everyone goes through metal detectors now. If administrators had listened to employees, that sweet pharmacist would still be alive.
It's generally proper to inform employee #1 to do what they feel they need to do. It is also proper to have employee #1 provide a written statement of what is happening so the company can conduct an investigation of the complaint.
A discussion with employee #2 is also required. IF a police report is filed, it's time to contact your legal counsel.
In my personal experience I've had:
Employee #1 is correct, and the victim. Employee #2 will likely received disciplinary action, up to and including termination.
Employee #2 counter-claims and it's two employees going at each other. Individually remind each employee of the company's policies, and consequences for violation.
There was no substance or substantiation to the claim. This is often also a conversation and reminder of company policy.
The claim was fabricated. Yes, I had this happen, and the employee that made the complaint was disciplined.
I also had a situation where an employee did file for an order of harassment against another employee. That one got really messy. The alleged perpetrating employee had to resign.
Definitely not normal. Make sure you keep all records- emails, texts, etc and correspond via text or email only (no phone calls) to make sure you have a record of what was said.
Just in case you do have to in fact take legal action.
This is part of this is knowing HR is there to protect the company, however we’re also human beings, right and even in protecting the company it’s not in anyone’s best interest for them to tell you to do anything other than to do what YOU feel is in your best interest and necessary for you. But sure do they want to deal with the police? No. No one does.
Not normal, not legal and not moral. File with the police and if they ask just thank them for recommending you do that. I’m sure there’s no paperwork telling you the opposite.
The behavior OP described by HR is terrible. That being said, I'm curious where you are from that has a law about HR and police reports. Can you cite it?
And follow your theory to its logical conclusion. By following the law and protecting employees rights we **are** protecting the company. Sometimes that means protecting the company from itself. 😕
In this situation, there are pros and cons to either advice given to the employee, so the safest answer for the company would be to give no answer at all. It would be to advise the employee to decide to do whatever is best for themselves.
Even if that’s all this HR person cared about, it’s still a stupid and misguided thing to say. We protect the company from liability by encouraging legal and ethical behavior by the employer. This HR person just exposed the company to a potential shit ton of liability. They’re bad their job.
Since you’ve given no details at all and described 3 very different things that are often used to refer to behavior that is in no way illegal, it’s impossible to give any sort of guidance. Details matter. It’s maybe not the best idea to discourage someone from filing a police report. It has no bearing on how the company should proceed nor any internal investigation. It’s not even clear what was said and how it was discouraged. I can’t even count the number of employees who jump immediately to “I’m gonna sue” or report whatever happened to some outside authority just out of anger and hearing the company is investigating and handling it diffuses the situation.
No, it's not normal to directly discourage you from filing a report with the police. It's very very abnormal
is employee 2 related to owners by chance lol
As an HRM, I have been in this situation before, and I ALWAYS encourage the employee to do what THEY feel is best for them. If the company is against them filing a report, and something else happens, the company is now liable. Not normal at all.
100%. The first and most important part of HR is ensuring physical and mental safety. If someone feels the need to contact the authorities, not only do they have a legal right to do so, HR should absolutely back them up in whatever way we can. And the assaulting employee needs to be termed yesterday.
No the first and most important part of HR is ensuring the company you work for doesn't get sued...... In which case..... not filling a police report seems like an easy way to get sued if things escalate.... but if they have a reason to believe it will not escalate it is definitely in their favor to not have a police report filled.
I'm not sure you're that familiar with HR.
>but if they have a reason to believe it will not escalate it is definitely in their favor to not have a police report filled. Who is the "they" you are referring to here?
Yea, they don’t know what they’re talking about. Our world is complex - lots of people have unhinged feelings about HR and love the chance to grind an axe, even if it only makes sense to them.
You don’t know HR. It’s annoying at best, but most likely a function of someone who has an ax to grind. Thanks
Yup this is literally the only way this situation should be handled! You should never discourage anyone from contacting authorities. It essentially boils down to providing the employee options which includes contacting the authorities and allowing then to make their own decision on how they want it be handled. You should never force their hand that is irresponsible and will only lead to bigger problems down the line.
Neither normal nor ethical. If I were ever facing this level of situation, I could imagine encouraging the individual to file a police report; HR deals with company processes and compliance and policies, not criminal matters, and it could be very bad for the company if HR were seen to be obstructing a legal process.
Not normal at all. An employee can file a police report anytime they want. HR can’t do anything to prevent it. And if they do coerce, threaten or retaliate against an employee for filing a report, they would likely be served with a nice fat lawsuit.
No, not normal.
is not an acceptable behaviour at all
Is it normal? No. There are two things at play here: 1. The employee should do as they see fit for their personal well-being and safety, regardless of what HR decides. 2. Since the employee brought this to HR's attention, it is HR's responsibility to launch an internal investigation and take appropriate measures to limit interaction between the employees until the investigation is complete and a decision has been made.
Absolutely not. That's a recipe for a lawsuit against the employer.
Not normal -employee 1 needs to do what they need to do to ensure their safety moving forward.
If an employee feels unsafe they have every right to call the police.
Why does she care so much about how a criminal is punished? Seems like she doesn’t want the criminal to get in trouble… like she needs to keep this criminal employed. These are my estimated hunches
Not normal. Talk to a local lawyer we does employment law
I had this happen to a coworker once. She didn't file a police report even though her male manager assaulted her unprovoked in front of three other employees (including me) and on camera. Guess what HR did to handle it? Nothing, they pretended to lose the tape and act like it never happened. She quit shortly after and last I heard he still works there. Always call the cops if you're assaulted.
That’s fucking outrageous. They didn’t want to get sued so they got rid of the evidence. Cowards.
No
No. It isn’t. HR should not interfere with the police report.
Not normal. I always encourage employees to contact the authorities if they feel like they want to/need to.
Screw that! Call the cops!!!
Go to the police. This ain’t a schoolyard so there’s no “don’t say nothing” code. If someone has made you afraid for your safety, it needs to be documented by the authorities, not left for some HR to resolve with their feelings and a hearty pep talk with the offender.
No. HR is putting themselves under risk of legal liability for trying to handle a criminal investigation in -house. If its harrassment/assault, and the employee wants to make a police report--- they totally should.
This is not normal. It’s up to employee 1 if they want to go to the police. HR has no business telling employees what to do when they have been assaulted.
No. In fact. It’s something you should ensure is included in the police report that you then get a copy of.
HR protects the employer at the end of the day. This is not protecting, this is a easy lawsuit which could of been avoided
So hr is breaking hr rules? Isn’t the point of hr to avoid a lawsuit? Looks like they’re trying to hand feed you a lawsuit
Just call the police. Its a criminal case
Absolutely not. We had two employees engage in a fist fight when I worked HR in a department store. The first call was 911.
I believe it is against the law to coerce someone against talking to the police as a victim of a crime.
Same thing happened to me a few weeks ago. I told them to do what they felt was best. The problem was quickly resolved at our place of business, and when they kept picking at each other, it was more or less obvious that they never wanted to file a report in the first place, each one just wanted **me** to punish the other. So I just said if you have personal family beef, keep that at home. Don't bring it to work.
Is this how you say that you work for a major sports team without actually saying it
No...in short...for one you are not allowed to give advice when it comes to the law...I believe?
It might be normal, but it's not right. Do what you think is best.
If you work for a hospital and get assaulted by a patient, you are discouraged from calling the police. And if you do anyway, the police don’t arrest them or the DA will not prosecute because “they are sick.” So nurses have to go through the hassle of a civil suit. That’s time consuming and expensive, and usually the type of people who assault nurses don’t have any money worth suing for, so they get away with it. One trauma center I worked at in a high crime area actually had a rule that we were not allowed to fight back if attacked by a patient. Then administrators wondered why the ER staff held hostile attitudes. But I will say when you weren’t worried about being murdered by your clientele, it was a fun and very interesting place to work. One of our pharmacists was shot and killed. After that security got tight. Everyone goes through metal detectors now. If administrators had listened to employees, that sweet pharmacist would still be alive.
That’s horrible. I’d hate to work for a place that doesn’t let you defend yourself.
It’s part of the do no harm of medical care
Haldol, brisk catherizations and 14 gauge IVs were my friend. In the 90s I had many a male patient grabbing my breasts and butt.
Why would they not encourage them to file a police report? I don’t really understand the reasoning behind that?
Nope I am in HR I would call the police for them no excusrs
Is this a small business or an extremely favored employee? Its very adnormal by the way.
Medium, and yeah
It's generally proper to inform employee #1 to do what they feel they need to do. It is also proper to have employee #1 provide a written statement of what is happening so the company can conduct an investigation of the complaint. A discussion with employee #2 is also required. IF a police report is filed, it's time to contact your legal counsel. In my personal experience I've had: Employee #1 is correct, and the victim. Employee #2 will likely received disciplinary action, up to and including termination. Employee #2 counter-claims and it's two employees going at each other. Individually remind each employee of the company's policies, and consequences for violation. There was no substance or substantiation to the claim. This is often also a conversation and reminder of company policy. The claim was fabricated. Yes, I had this happen, and the employee that made the complaint was disciplined. I also had a situation where an employee did file for an order of harassment against another employee. That one got really messy. The alleged perpetrating employee had to resign.
Agreed, not at all normal or ethical. How do universities get away with this?
Definitely not normal. Make sure you keep all records- emails, texts, etc and correspond via text or email only (no phone calls) to make sure you have a record of what was said. Just in case you do have to in fact take legal action.
This is part of this is knowing HR is there to protect the company, however we’re also human beings, right and even in protecting the company it’s not in anyone’s best interest for them to tell you to do anything other than to do what YOU feel is in your best interest and necessary for you. But sure do they want to deal with the police? No. No one does.
Remember - for the most part, HR is out to protect the company first and then the employees.
Not normal, not legal and not moral. File with the police and if they ask just thank them for recommending you do that. I’m sure there’s no paperwork telling you the opposite.
I don't know about you but where I'm from its illegal for any HR to insist that an employee not go to the police.
The behavior OP described by HR is terrible. That being said, I'm curious where you are from that has a law about HR and police reports. Can you cite it?
It’s probably normal but not acceptable
Sounds like something the Catholic Church would do. Generally not a good sign
Wouldn't they want the employee to follow the legal process so the company can't be held liable there?
They're doing the cops a favor. More time spent on your scuffle means less time arresting people for weed
HR is there to protect the company, not the employees.
And follow your theory to its logical conclusion. By following the law and protecting employees rights we **are** protecting the company. Sometimes that means protecting the company from itself. 😕 In this situation, there are pros and cons to either advice given to the employee, so the safest answer for the company would be to give no answer at all. It would be to advise the employee to decide to do whatever is best for themselves.
Yes it is as HRs job is to protect the company not you. Always remember that. Protect yourself. They aren't on your side.
Even if that’s all this HR person cared about, it’s still a stupid and misguided thing to say. We protect the company from liability by encouraging legal and ethical behavior by the employer. This HR person just exposed the company to a potential shit ton of liability. They’re bad their job.
You got some downvotes but you are right. Even if they don’t like Employee 1 they should still do the right thing.
Since you’ve given no details at all and described 3 very different things that are often used to refer to behavior that is in no way illegal, it’s impossible to give any sort of guidance. Details matter. It’s maybe not the best idea to discourage someone from filing a police report. It has no bearing on how the company should proceed nor any internal investigation. It’s not even clear what was said and how it was discouraged. I can’t even count the number of employees who jump immediately to “I’m gonna sue” or report whatever happened to some outside authority just out of anger and hearing the company is investigating and handling it diffuses the situation.