Resources for legal counsel in a time of rising workplace violence

The past few years have seen an uptick in the incidents of workplace violence. This is evident in more than 2 million workplace violence incidents, coming at an approximate cost of $36 billion annually, and a rise in workplace homicides, as reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employers at all levels have an increased interest in both preventing and responding to workplace violence.

The increase in workplace violence has led to myriad concerns for employers and a focus on workplace violence prevention by means of policies, procedures and training. You can provide resources to help attorneys review definitions and programs while providing insight on zero tolerance approaches and more.

Workplace violence prevention trends

As employers review their current policies and procedures, a number of important considerations are top of mind. Employers consider the definitions of what one may traditionally think of as workplace violence—incidents of active shooters—and the many other forms of workplace violence. And they consider all reasonable possibilities while ensuring that a plan is in place to both prevent these incidents and respond to them as effectively as possible.

Liability for employers in these incidents has been evidenced by numerous lawsuits. The duties of employers and employees can be found at 29 U.S.C. § 654. Employers must also take into consideration numerous other laws that can impact their obligations—and utilize all appropriate techniques to provide a safe workplace for their employees.

Staying current with legal news and journals

The Lexis Advance® service offers a unique collection of legal industry current awareness resources including must-read content from Law360®, ALM® publications such as The American Lawyer®, The National Law Journal®, and New York Law Journal®, and much more.

To find analysis and updates on workplace violence:

1. From the Lexis Advance home screen, navigate to the Labor & Employment Practice Center by choosing Browse > Practice Centers > By Practice Area or Industry > Labor & Employment. Here’s a direct link to that practice center.
   
    
2. To search across all sources, in the Red Search Box on the Labor & Employment Practice Center, search title (workplace violence).
   
    
3. Filter for secondary sources on the left-hand side.
   
   Here are three of the secondary sources you can easily find:
     •   Emerging issues—March 4, 2018, Strategies for Creating/Implementing a Zero-Tolerance Workplace Violence Policy
     •   Littler Mendelson’s The National Employer, Chapter 30.syn, “Violence in the Workplace”
     •   Labor and Employment Law, Chapter 215.syn, “Violence in the Workplace”
    
4. To review news results, click the pull-down menu on the left and select News. You can then filter for publication type and specific publication, and also sort results by newest.
   
   Using this method, you can find news articles like these:
     •    “Workplace Violence, Security & Safety,” Professional Safety, August 1, 2018
     •   “If Workplace Violence Training Is Worth Doing, Do It Right,” Law360 article, September 12, 2017

Analyzing workplace violence legal issues

LexisNexis is the exclusive provider of numerous Matthew Bender® Labor & Employment titles, including Labor and Employment Law. In addition to benefiting from such authoritative treatises via the Lexis Advance service, you can also access practical guidance and analysis specific to labor & employment by using the Lexis Practice Advisor® solution.*

Lexis Practice Advisor helps you efficiently find nuanced legal know-how provided by experienced attorney authors, including an extensive overview of the topic, as well as drafting tips for policies and a sample policy.

When you are signed in to Lexis Advance, you can access tools in your Lexis Practice Advisor subscription by using this menu:

From within Lexis Practice Advisor, you can navigate by practice area …

And run a search.

Or access materials by task within a practice area.

It’s also easy to access information by content type.

Now you can also access Lexis Practice Advisor materials by industry.

Here are a few examples of Lexis Practice Advisor content:
  •   Workplace Violence: Key Legal Issues, Prevention, and Response by Elizabeth Harlan, Astrachan Gunst Thomas, P.C., Reviewed August 8, 2018
  •   Workplace Violence Policies: Key Drafting Tips by Joseph Domenick Guarino, DLA Piper, Reviewed April 23, 2018
  •   OSH Act Compliance, Employee Health, and Workplace Security State Practice Notes Chart, Reviewed August 21, 2018

More details

Please consider sharing this information with others on your team. For more details and research assistance, please contact your LexisNexis® account representative.

*Lexis Practice Advisor access requires a subscription in addition to Lexis Advance.

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