Case Study #1 – Former Employee Threats and Harassment
A company had been receiving multiple threats via telephone from a former employee. By the time they hired Fredrickson Consulting, they had spent nearly $200k. They hired a round the clock security guard, installed key card only access to the premises, installed top level security systems in three executives’ homes. We met with them for one hour and before even beginning the risk assessment, we contacted three local police agencies and determined that the ex-employee was serving time in a county jail and was using the public pay phone to make the threats. We contacted the jail, and the perpetrator was no longer allowed to make outgoing calls. Our cost to client was less than $500.00.
Case Study #2 – Sexual Harassment and Threats
An HR Manager in Iowa attempted to talk with an employee regarding his unwanted advances toward a female employee. The employee became belligerent and defensive and refused to answer her questions. The HR Manager begins preliminary interviews with a select group of fellow employees and is horrified by what she hears.
- The HR manager spent four weeks doing these interviews in addition to her other work.
- Productivity on the manufacturing floor dropped by 20% due to the interviews, gossip, rumors, and idle chatter.
- The HR manager and plant manager counsel the employee. They make him sign a conditional work agreement requiring him to stop any sexual comments and to immediately stop any contact with female employee.
- The employee returns to the manufacturing floor and begins blaming everyone for putting him in this position and makes threats such as “you are going to get yours” and demonstrates to all that he is paranoid. He begins taking notes on what other people are doing, documenting break times, and with whom they are speaking. The other employees become fearful and productivity drops another 10%.
- The female employee begins receiving multiple e-mails with ramblings involving sexual statements, issues of broken relationships, and marriage. Her productivity drops by 50% and she begins using sick time to keep away from work.
- At this time we get the call and are en-route to investigate the case. Meanwhile the worried female employee had developed an ulcer that burst. While she is recovering in the hospital, the male employee delivers a threatening note in an envelope marked “DANGER” in the middle of the night. He actually placed the envelope on her stomach while she was sleeping.
- We successfully handled all aspects of the termination. However by the time we were called, company productivity had dropped by over 30%, one employee had used over 20 sick days, the HR Manager was over two weeks behind on her other duties and an emotional wreck, and tension at the workplace was at a volatile level with resulting verbal assaults and fights.
We investigated and thoroughly documented the entire case. Eight months later we receive a call from the attorney asking questions about this case, as the male employee had filed a wrongful termination claim. We sent a copy of all documentation to the lawyer, and the claim was dropped immediately. This saved the company approximately $100,000.