Short answer: California employees are protected from workplace violence and threats, whether the threat comes from a coworker, a supervisor, or someone from outside the company. A threat can be spoken, written, implied, physical, or psychological, and a comment played off as a joke can still count. Employers are required to have a workplace violence prevention plan, and when a true threat happens, they have a mandatory duty to investigate, take remedial action, and log the incident. The most important thing you can do is report the threat right away and create a paper trail, because your employer can’t protect you from something they don’t know about. Anti retaliation laws protect you from being fired for making that report.
Being threatened at work can shake your sense of safety in a place you have to show up every single day. Many employees who’ve been threatened are scared to return to work. Others keep going in but carry anxiety with them through every shift, worried the same thing will happen again or that the situation will get worse. Those feelings are real and understandable. Workplace violence can happen anywhere, whether you work in a law office, a barber shop, or a hospital, and no employer is immune. Understanding your rights can help you take the right steps to protect yourself and get out of a scary, harmful situation.
What Counts as a Threat at Work
Threats in the workplace come in many forms. They can be verbal or physical. They can be psychological. They can look like being followed, being physically attacked, or hearing comments that leave you feeling unsafe. A threat doesn’t need to be spoken out loud to count, either. Whether a threat is spoken, written, or implied, any type of threat should be taken seriously in the workplace.
One pattern our office sees often is a threat disguised as a joke. The person making the threatening comment plays the remark off as humor and brushes off any concern with something dismissive like “No, I didn’t mean that.” A threat that’s framed as a joke is still a threat, and you have every reason to take your own discomfort seriously.
Threats don’t only come from coworkers. Someone from outside the company can walk into your office, your workspace, or the restaurant where you work and threaten you. Employees who are threatened or physically attacked by an outsider are still protected under the law.
Why Reporting the Threat Is So Important
Many employees don’t realize that being threatened at work isn’t enough on its own. You need to report the threat and create a paper trail showing you made the report. Go to your manager, supervisor, boss, or HR, whoever you feel comfortable speaking with, and describe the incident in detail. Explain what happened, what you’re feeling, and what you’re going through so your employer truly understands why you see this conduct as a threat.
“An employer can’t protect you if they don’t know,” says attorney Nancyrose Hernandez.
Sometimes the person making the threats is a supervisor or someone in management. In that situation, find someone else to report to, whether that’s HR, the owner of the company, or the police. The goal is making sure someone with the power to act knows what’s happening so you’re protected.
Reporting right away gives you the best chance of stopping the conduct before it escalates. Many employees hesitate because they worry speaking up will only make things harder, and that fear makes sense.
“There’s no guarantee that reporting a threat isn’t going to make the situation worse,” Hernandez explains. “But what it will do is trigger the employer’s duty to launch an investigation and take remedial action to protect the employee who’s a victim of workplace violence.”
The biggest mistake an employee can make after being threatened is staying silent. An employer that doesn’t hear about a threat isn’t going to stop the conduct, and a threat at work can grow into something far more serious. California’s anti retaliation laws protect employees from being fired for reporting a threat, so you don’t have to choose between your safety and your job.
What Your Employer Is Required to Do
California employers are required to implement a workplace violence prevention plan and train their employees on that plan. When a true threat occurs, the employer must investigate, take remedial action, and record the threat or violence in a workplace violence log. Remedial action can include terminating the employee who’s making the threats. These requirements are mandatory, yet many employees don’t know they exist, and many employers don’t know about them or don’t follow them.
Unfortunately, our office often sees employers sweep threats under the rug. Most of the time, they don’t take enough remedial action and don’t log the incident at all. You can usually tell when your employer is brushing off your complaint. Warning signs include no investigation, no one following up with you after your report, and no real steps taken to keep you safe.
A subtle sign that your situation may be headed somewhere dangerous is when the threatening coworker keeps doing the same things after you’ve reported them. They’re still following you. They’re still engaging in the same banter. They may even talk about having a gun in their vehicle. This kind of conduct continues when an employer fails to take the complaint seriously and act promptly. When your company does nothing, you can seek outside help by calling the police, getting a restraining order, or speaking with an employment law attorney who can advise you on your next steps.
Protecting Yourself When You Don’t Feel Safe
Your safety always comes first. When you truly feel threatened and don’t feel safe at work, you should leave. Let your employer know you don’t feel safe or comfortable, and get out of that environment. Don’t wait for the situation to get worse before protecting yourself.
Before you leave, gather your documentation. Save text messages and emails, collect witness statements, and get a copy of your employer’s policies on workplace violence and harassment. Having this information in hand gives you a record of what happened and what your employer was supposed to do about the threat.
A Client Story: When Repeated Warnings Went Unheard
One workplace violence case our office handled involved a public employee who’d worked for a public entity for about 15 years. For much of that time, she had a good working relationship with the coworker who would later target her. The coworker was rude and verbally aggressive with many different employees, so there were early signs of trouble, but our client wasn’t the focus of that behavior at first.
Then something switched. The coworker began targeting our client, starting with dirty looks and glaring, then moving to cussing, then to shoulder checks. Her presence became so intimidating that our client didn’t want to be in the same room with her. Our client told her manager over and over again that this coworker was aggressive, that she was a threat, and that she was scared. Nobody did anything.
The conduct escalated from visual to verbal to physical. In the break room, the coworker knocked our client over and made her fall. Our client hurt her wrist and sustained a workplace injury, becoming a victim of assault and battery after repeatedly putting her employer on notice. She was overwhelmed with frustration. What frightened her most was that this coworker had talked about having a gun in her car and showed no remorse or concern that the employer would take action against her. Our client was so scared that she didn’t know whether she could ever return to work.
The employer didn’t know how to handle the situation. They believed both employees fell under protected characteristics or classes, and they were afraid of the aggressive coworker too. Their inaction allowed a real threat to cause real harm to our client.
Once our client had someone in her corner, she found the courage and strength to tell her employer she wouldn’t return until they could ensure her safety. Before that, she hadn’t felt she could stand up for herself on her own. She had already served in the military, and this job was her second career. She ultimately decided that retirement was in her best interest. Retirement wasn’t the path she originally wanted, but she has a plan for her future, and she knows she won’t have to go to work scared for her life again.
Her experience shows how quickly a threat can escalate into assault, battery, or something even worse. Reporting a threat early, and continuing to push for action, is one of the most important steps you can take to protect yourself.
For Nancyrose, these cases are personal. Someone close to her once worked for an employer where an employee who felt constantly harassed, bullied, and targeted left work one day, came back, and shot and killed the person who’d been bullying him. That worst case scenario is why she believes employees need to understand their rights and act on them. “Standing up to these types of cases means everything to me,” Hernandez says.
A threat at work can get worse, so report the conduct and try to stop it before it escalates into something horrific.
Disclaimer
This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Every situation is different. Consult with a qualified employment law attorney to discuss the details of your case.
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