My fondest dream was to wake up to a clear presidential election winner. As of 6 a.m. Eastern time on November 4, it was clear that wasn’t happening. It would take days.
Days of indecision means days of mounting pressure. My Twitter and Facebook feeds are getting increasingly stressed out, with both sides convinced the other side is cheating. When a result does come out, are some people going to blow?
Retailers in major cities expect election violence and have boarded up their storefronts. And just whom are they expecting to be violent? Well, people.
Who are these people? Some of them are rabble-rousers who will use any excuse to be horrible, but some of them may be your employees. Yes, your employees. And you will have to deal with whatever fallout comes through that. Here’s what you need to know.
To keep reading, click here: Working When Election Tensions Are Still High
While I agree with these recommendations in general, I do think that the likelihood of wide-scale violence is small. But, of course, it’s better to err on the side of caution. I agree that the first priority is to protect the employees. Part of that includes giving them the benefit of the doubt if they are charged with a crime, such as unlawful assembly/rioting, etc. As we have all seen in recent months, sometimes protests against police use of excessive force have been met by police — at least, arguably — using excessive force. The most recent example was a group of people marching from their church to go vote who were met with tear gas and other extreme overreactions. Most of the people arrested in these scenarios are never actually charged with a crime, much less convicted. And, until convicted, all enjoy the presumption of innocence. Therefore, if employees are arrested — or even charged — with unlawful behavior, I suggest that management needs to carefully analyze each situation, on a case-by-case basis, to determine whether the charged employees can safely return to the workplace, without posing an unreasonable threat to their coworkers.
I agree. Violence at the polls was minimal or non existent so hopefully violence as announcements are finalized is similarly low.
Agreed. If your employee is charged with murder, then suspend and/or fire.
But if someone is arrested for resisting arrest? or for violating a curfew that never should have been imposed in the first place?
Maybe that person was just protesting peacefully, as is our right as Americans. And it is our moral obligation as human beings to protest injustice.
https://wisconsin101.home.blog/2020/10/17/i-will-not-shut-up/