Wal-Mart Wrongfully Terminated Employees Who Fought Off Customer Assaults

Wal-Mart policy requires employees to avoid violent confrontations and call law enforcement. At one Utah store, two employees were fired after they pried a knife out of the hands of a woman caught shoplifting who threatened to stab them if they didn’t let her go. At another store, three employees stopped a man who was walking out with a computer. Spotting a gun on him, they pinned him to a wall and took away his weapon.

Last week, Utah’s Supreme Court ruled they were wrongfully discharged. The opinion said: “Although we acknowledge that Wal-Mart‘s interest in regulating its workforce is important, we conclude that there is a clear and substantial public policy in Utah favoring the right of self-defense for three reasons. First, the right of self-defense is enshrined in Utah statutes, the Utah Constitution, and our common law decisions. Second, a policy favoring the right protects human life and deters crime, conferring substantial benefits on the public. And third, the public policy supporting the right of self-defense outweighs an employer‘s countervailing interests in circumstances where an employee reasonably believes that force is necessary to defend against an imminent threat of serious bodily injury and the employee has no opportunity to withdraw.”  The decision is here.