Isaac Murillo, the accounting manager at Precision Excavation was a hunter and gun collector. He and Kevin Carstens, an accountant who had worked for Precision for 5 months liked to talk about guns and occasionally bring guns from their collections to work to show each other. On September 1, Kevin Carstens was bragging that he had just received a concealed gun permit to Gloria Horner, an administrative assistant in the accounting department. Gloria asked Kevin if he had one with him. Kevin replied “No,” and Gloria turned around in her chair and resumed working. Seconds later, Gloria felt something touch the hair on the back of her head. When she turned around, Kevin was laughing and holding a small gun. “I lied!” he chuckled and put the gun in his waistband and walked back to his desk. A very upset Gloria reported the incident to Isaac Murillo, the accounting manager, who apologized and said he would take care of it, reminding her that there was not a policy against having a weapon at Precision. The next day, Isaac told Gloria that Kevin Carstens had been warned about his behavior with the gun and wouldn’t bring guns to work again. 

On the evening of October 10, Kevin Carstens was arrested at the home of his ex‐wife for threatening her with a loaded gun. The next morning, Maxwell Bauer, the HR manager at Precision asked Isaac Murillo, the accounting manager if he had any problems with Kevin in the past. Isaac said no, making no mention of the incident with Gloria. Maxwell , the HR manager explained that he was going to fire Kevin anyway. 

A few minutes later, Gloria Horner appeared in the HR office and asked Maxwell if he knew that Isaac Murillo and Kevin Carstens had a mutual interest in guns. When he said no, Gloria went on to explain how Kevin had made her uncomfortable on September 1st by brandishing his gun in her presence. 

Maxwell Bauer was furious that Isaac Murillo had not told him about the September 1st incident. He then called Isaac to his office and angrily chastised him for facilitating the “workplace gun show” and for not reporting the incident or disciplinary action to HR. Maxwell quickly created and distributed a “No Weapons” policy to all employees, stating: 

To ensure that Precision Excavation maintains a workplace safe and free of violence for all employees, the possession or use of dangerous weapons on company property is strictly prohibited. A license to carry the weapon does not supersede company policy. Any employee violating this policy will be subject to prompt disciplinary action, up to and including termination. All company employees are subject to this provision, including contract and temporary employees, visitors and customers on company property including all contract work sites, company owned vehicles and equipment, and parking lots under the company’s ownership or control.

On November 22, Gloria Horner again appeared in Maxwell Bauer’s HR office, visibly upset. “Would you please transfer me to another department? Ever since I told you about the guns at work, my boss Isaac has made me the scapegoat for anything that doesn’t go his way. He’s piling on the busy work and cutting my hours. It’s affecting my home life and I just can’t take it anymore. On top of that, he still talks about guns all the time and it really upsets me. Just today, I heard him talking to Harold Silva about deer season starting. Harold said he was taking the afternoon off to hunt and had his shotgun and coveralls in his truck in the parking lot.” 

Maxwell Bauer told Gloria to take the afternoon off with pay, and he would sort it all out before she came to work in the morning. Gloria gratefully accepted the offer and left. Maxwell Bauer was left to determine a course of action for Isaac Murillo, the accounting manager that he blamed for the whole gun mess and Harold Silva, a popular project manager with 25 years at the company who was in violation of the “No Weapons” policy because he had a shotgun in company parking lot.

Questions: 

1. Prepare a disciplinary report for Isaac Murillo that explains a description and date of the problem(s), statement of policy, rule, or practice that was violated and type of warning or consequence being taken. Explain your choices.

2. What should Maxwell Bauer, HR manager do about Isaac’s treatment of Gloria? 

3. What factors need to be considered when deciding on a disciplinary action for Harold Silva?

4. Research: What can you find out about companies that do and do not allow employees to have guns or other weapons at work? What is their reasoning? What are the laws in your state? What is your opinion on the issue?