On Wednesday, April 24, 2024, Kara Maciel, Rachel Conn, and Dan Deacon presented a webinar discussing Tips and Strategies for Preventing and Responding to Workplace Violence Incidents.

Workplace violence has been a focus for both the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) for several years, as it continues to be one of the leading causes of occupational injuries in the country every year. While OSHA has no specific standard for workplace violence, the OSH Act’s General Duty Clause requires employers to provide a workplace free from recognized serious hazards, and OSHA has instituted enforcement actions under its General Duty Clause after incidents of workplace violence. OSHA has also initiated a rulemaking to address workplace violence in specific industries.

California has taken the lead in implementing the first workplace violence rule in the country for general industry, requiring nearly all California employers (unless they fall under one of the limited exemptions) to establish, implement, and maintain an “effective” written workplace violence prevention plan, investigate every incident workplace violence (broadly defined), create and maintain violent incident logs, conduct annual employee and supervisor training, and abide by additional recordkeeping requirements. This general industry rule follows the Cal/OSHA regulation on Workplace Violence Prevention in Health Care.

The EEOC has also prioritized ways to effectively prevent and address workplace violence, particularly in the form of workplace harassment. And outside of OSHA and the EEOC, employers can also be held liable for workplace violence through other claims such as negligent hiring and supervision.

Participants in this webinar learned:

• • What constitutes workplace violence
  • EEOC and OSHA enforcement priorities
  • Legal risks associated with workplace violence
  • Updates on federal OSHA workplace violence rulemaking
  • California’s New Workplace Violence law

We are pleased to share these links to a copy of the slides and a recording of the webinar.

This was the 3rd webinar event in Conn Maciel Carey LLP’s 2024 Labor and Employment Webinar Series.

If you would like register for the entire Labor and Employment webinar series, click here to send us an email request, and we will register you.  If you missed any of our past webinars in our annual Labor and Employment Webinar Series, view our Labor and Employment Webinar Library to access all of our webinar recordings. Also, click here to subscribe to our YouTube channel and get an email notification when new recordings become available.