November 3, 2011

 

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Question

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Ken

My neighborhood outside my central station has gone down hill and it is common for muggings and shootings. When my employees are outside the building they are not allowed to be punched in on the clock. I wanted to give the night operators wireless panic buttons in case an issue occurred walking from their car into the central station. This will be a freebie to my employees as a company perk so they feel safe walking into the building late at night.

Do I need a contract with my employee ? Am I creating a legal issue where if an employee is mugged and help does not come fast enough and they are injured that I might get sued ?

Is the best idea to forget the panic buttons so as not to open a legal window between my employees and my central station business ?

Steve

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Answer

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Curious question, and the way you phrase it, influences the answer. You are providing the panic button "so they feel safe" and you want to know what happens if "help doesn't come fast enough". Well, what do you think happens when you provide an expectation and that expectation is not met? To what extent do you intend your employees to actually be protected? Why are you bothering to provide this "freebie"?

The answer is that if you provide a protective device which you believe will be relied upon by your employee or anyone else to provide a level of protection, then you should have a contract that spells out exactly what, why and under what terms you are providing your device. In other words, you need to disclaim any "preventative" protection and you need to limit liability. You can easily address this device in the Employment Contract, which you should be using.

You raise another interesting issue. What is your relationship with your employee before they enter upon your property or enter the building? To what extend are you required to provide reasonable protection against criminal acts to your employees before they report to work? Certainly an employee injured on the job is going to be covered by Workers Comp and cannot sue you. However, if your employee is commuting, coming or going, off your property, they are not covered by Workers Comp. But they are covered by Workers Comp once they get to work, and enter your premises. So before they get to your parking lot or building, if you provide a protection device and they use it expecting protection then they, like anyone else, can sue you if they are not barred by Workers Comp.

Owners of real property have a duty to provide reasonable protection for those lawfully on their premises. If you own the building in one entity and your employees work for another entity, they can sue the property owner for failing to provide security, under some circumstances. This is the case for residential buildings, and I don't see why it would not apply to commercial buildings. But that rule applies to injury on the property, not adjoining property. That would include your parking lot and building. I doubt that you, as employer, are responsible for criminal acts committed against your employees before they get to work. If they go out to smoke and leave the property, hang on the sidewalk, they are on their own. If you want to provide a panic button then consider them same as a subscriber. You don't have to collect any money for the device; their continued employment is sufficient consideration and even voluntary gestures on your part will create a duty to act reasonably.

Yes, they will need a contract.