The Virginia Beach Shooting: Are We Ignoring The Obvious?
The immediate reaction to the mass shooting of 12 municipal workers in Virginia Beach has been to focus on gun control.
Virginia Governor Ralph Northam announced Tuesday he will ask lawmakers to consider a package of gun-control legislation. He said the Virginia Beach shooting calls for “votes and laws, not thoughts and prayers.”
But something else may be at play in the rampage that should be acknowledged, if only in the interests of preventing future incidents.
We may never know why the 40-year-old Virginia Beach shooter took two semiautomatic handguns to the municipal building and killed 12 of his co-workers, including two supervisors. He died in a gun battle with police. But we know one thing. The shooting occurred at his workplace, and it is unlikely that this is a random coincidence.
The shooter had earlier emailed his supervisor a letter of resignation from his job as an engineer for the utilities department of the city of Virginia Beach. He said he was resigning for “personal reasons” and gave two weeks’ notice. Apparently, no one tried to talk him out of it.
Nothing could ever justify or condone the Virginia Beach shooter's actions, but it is worth examining what steps, if any, the city of Virginia Beach could have taken to avert the tragedy and whether it can take any steps to protect future employees from harm.
Workplace violence often appears to be a random act that has no logical cause but, upon closer inspection, underlying factors exist that may help to explain it. In some cases, the perpetrator showed signs of psychological distress that were ignored or unaddressed by the employer. Workplace conditions can inadvertently (or intentionally) foment conflict. Low staffing levels, for example, are known to cause extreme stress to overworked workers. Feelings of unfairness in work assignments and promotions provoke conflict. Heavy-handed management and ill treatment of workers cause alienation and bitterness.
Many employers today anticipate the possibility of violence in the workplace. Some employers create multidisciplinary teams to assess and mitigate potential threats. Some employers offer employee assistance plans or education and training programs.
Maybe Governor Northam should also call upon Virginia lawmakers to consider a package of worker protection legislation?
No Right To Dignity
For American workers, the workplace can be a mean, irrational place. This observation in no way excuses workplace violence but it may explain why it occurs.
Many U.S. workers labor for long hours for low pay. Wages adjusted for inflation have barely budged in a decade. And when the blush of youth fades, they can be essentially locked out of the workplace, and forced to choose between under-employment or unemployment for the rest of their lives.
Sadly, U.S. workers lack some key worker protections found in other developed countries. Consider that:
- Many industrialized countries recognize that workers have a basic human right to be treated with respect and dignity. For example, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union states that workers have the right to working conditions that respect their health, safety and dignity. Not so the United States.
- Every U.S. state is an employment “at-will” state. Workers without unions or contractual protection can be fired for any reason so long as it does not violate public policy or the law (i.e., whistleblowing, discrimination). This policy is premised on the false notion that both sides are equally free to discontinue the working relationship. In reality, it is far more difficult for workers to quit and find new jobs than it is for employers to find new workers.
- Unfairness has been effectively normalized for some U.S. workers. A recent survey by iHire, a Midwest talent search firm, found that 53% of self-described baby boomers have experienced age discrimination. The federal law prohibiting age discrimination in employment has been on the books for 50 years but it is almost unenforceable due to federal court rulings that the U.S. Congress has done nothing to “fix.”
- Unlike the United States, many developed countries regulate psychological violence (i.e., workplace bullying) in the workplace. There is overwhelming research that workplace bullying can result in severe mental and physical harm to targets.
- The sharp decline of unions in the U.S. has left a void. The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) says trade union density (union membership as a percentage of total employees) has fallen to 10% in the U.S., compared to 26% in Canada, 23% in the United Kingdom and 66.1 % in Sweden. Worker protections often are pioneered by unions.
- Stress is killing many American workers. The Centers for Disease Control says stress is the leading workplace health problem and a major occupational health risk, ranking above physical inactivity and obesity. Research shows that 40% of American workers report their job is “very or extremely stressful.”
Any episode of workplace violence, especially the extreme violence that occurred in Virginia Beach, should prompt an employer to immediately and reflectively examine what steps, if any, it could have taken to avert the violence and what steps it can take in the future to protect its workers.
It’s not enough to put a better lock on the door. The problem may be within.
![[thinking]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/010.gif "Thinking [thinking]")
