On the Merril Lynch / Bank of America Southside campus a financial advisor brought a gun to work. The gun was spotted by another employee and HR was informed. The man with the gun was escorted off of the campus with no issue.
Supposedly, the person who carried the gun has a permit and because Bank of America does not have an explicit "no guns on campus" policy the man who carried the gun will be returning to work this coming week AND the employees who feel uncomfortable with this resolution are being asked to stay home. BOA will not be adding extra layers of security and the man with the gun will not be undergoing any sort of evaluation to ensure he is not a legit threat.
The man would have returned sooner but because of the avalanche of calls to corporate HR they postponed his return. Bank of America claims, as does the gun carrier, that this was a misunderstanding and since BOA does not have a no gun policy they can't take any actions against the man with the gun.
My unnamed source initially shrugged this off as a "We live in Jacksonville. I expect everyone to have at least two guns on them at all times" but while he/she thought about it more it became an issue of cultural acceptability and glossing over potentially real threats by the corporate office.
The subtext of this situation is the man with the gun is not necessarily known to carry a gun, what compelled him to "out of the blue" bring a gun on campus?
Is BOA being lackadaisical? Asking employees to stay home so that the one that created situation can come back to work?
Why are guns in a work environment okay? If someone came to work with a machete or even a large switch blade I think culturally we would be more inclined to think it is, at minimum, inappropriate.
Is it childish to see this sort of acceptance of guns in a work environment as unacceptable? And, are the employees of BOA over-zealous in their expectations for BOA to provide more protections for their employees than a simple "it was a misunderstanding" resolution?
Quote from: TheCat on January 29, 2016, 02:20:29 PM
On the Merril Lynch / Bank of America Southside campus a financial advisor brought a gun to work. The gun was spotted by another employee and HR was informed. The man with the gun was escorted off of the campus with no issue.
Supposedly, the person who carried the gun has a permit and because Bank of America does not have an explicit "no guns on campus" policy the man who carried the gun will be returning to work this coming week AND the employees who feel uncomfortable with this resolution are being asked to stay home. BOA will not be adding extra layers of security and the man with the gun will not be undergoing any sort of evaluation to ensure he is not a legit threat.
The man would have returned sooner but because of the avalanche of calls to corporate HR they postponed his return. Bank of America claims, as does the gun carrier, that this was a misunderstanding and since BOA does not have a no gun policy they can't take any actions against the man with the gun.
My unnamed source initially shrugged this off as a "We live in Jacksonville. I expect everyone to have at least two guns on them at all times" but while he/she thought about it more it became an issue of cultural acceptability and glossing over potentially real threats by the corporate office.
The subtext of this situation is the man with the gun is not necessarily known to carry a gun, what compelled him to "out of the blue" bring a gun on campus?
Is BOA being lackadaisical? Asking employees to stay home so that the one that created situation can come back to work?
Why are guns in a work environment okay? If someone came to work with a machete or even a large switch blade I think culturally we would be more inclined to think it is, at minimum, inappropriate.
Is it childish to see this sort of acceptance of guns in a work environment as unacceptable? And, are the employees of BOA over-zealous in their expectations for BOA to provide more protections for their employees than a simple "it was a misunderstanding" resolution?
I don't think that's the pretext. In fact, I think that's assuming the worst possible as opposed to the more likely scenario. Perhaps he ALWAYS carries a gun on him, someone noticed it this one time, and they reported it. That's the whole point of
concealed carry. People who have permits to carry do so in a manner that people in their surroundings won't see their weapon (as is required), and said people won't have a nervous breakdown.
There will likely be an issue with is license, as there should be. If you carry a weapon with a concealed permit and don't adequately conceal it (part of it is showing or the outline of the gun sticks out of your shirt/pints), you can lose your license. That whole requirement is to prevent this.
The guy sounds like a massive douchebag.
But as long as he is returning to work without the gun, I can't say I see a major problem. I am surprised about this guy's lack of judgment and I am also surprised there is nothing that forbids weapons on site.
I worked there for about 4 years and don't remember anyone telling me not to bring a gun to work. But I would've assumed that was written in the employee handbook somewhere. No one really reads that stuff.
We need some more information on this. Where was the gun? In his car, or did he bring it into the office? Bringing a gun in your car is legal in Florida. Bringing it into the office is obviously different, and potentially much scarier, and the company and/or landlord can easily make a no guns policy.
And how did the gun get spotted? If they saw in the car then again, it's not a legal issue. Florida does have concealed carry, with permit, but obviously it can be very scary for other people if someone has a gun. And as Dubya says, part of the deal is that no one is supposed to see the gun.
What kind of a gun was it? Someone with their hunting rifle locked up safe in their car is a lot different than someone entering a building with a visible handgun.
Finally, if the guy didn't just have it in the car, but had it (apparently incompletely) concealed on his person, is he bringing it back with him when he comes back to work? If not, it sounds like the problem has taken care of itself. If so, it sounds like the employees should talk to HR about the company's gun policy.
The gun was brought to work. An employee saw it and reported it to HR. I don't know what type of gun. I assume it is a handgun.
I don't think the guy was brandishing his gun. It sounds like he didn't do a good job of concealing it...
I thought employers could bar guns in cars as long as the gun owner didn't have a concealed weapons permit.
This happened last week.
If the problem was that he brought the gun inside, BOA (or the building) could easily establish a no guns policy. They could also just ask him not to do it again because it's obviously distressing to other employees. Assuming this was a poorly-concealed concealed weapon, he may be in trouble for the gun getting spotted, but the bosses may not want to press the issue. But if he's coming back and not bringing the gun, it sounds like the problem's solved.
Quote from: Tacachale on January 29, 2016, 03:33:04 PM
If the problem was that he brought the gun inside, BOA (or the building) could easily establish a no guns policy. They could also just ask him not to do it again because it's obviously distressing to other employees. Assuming this was a poorly-concealed concealed weapon, he may be in trouble for the gun getting spotted, but the bosses may not want to press the issue. But if he's coming back and not bringing the gun, it sounds like the problem's solved.
That's what I think. I don't know why anyone would have an issue with him coming back to work if he's unarmed. Unless, of course, we're not hearing the whole story (like maybe he wore it to intimidate someone and played dumb when confronted).
QuoteUnless, of course, we're not hearing the whole story (like maybe he wore it to intimidate someone and played dumb when confronted).
From what I gather some are speculating this.
Quote from: Adam White on January 29, 2016, 03:18:16 PM
I thought employers could bar guns in cars as long as the gun owner didn't have a concealed weapons permit.
That is incorrect. An employer cannot bar a gun while the gun is in the automobile of an employee. Even if the car is an employer's parking garage.
The fact that annual performance reviews are currently underway at BAC might be the reason people are jittery.
With the employment climate most definitely on the negative side due to all the layoffs nationally, people may be thinking of a postal moment in the making.
Quote from: camarocane on January 29, 2016, 03:53:56 PM
Quote from: Adam White on January 29, 2016, 03:18:16 PM
I thought employers could bar guns in cars as long as the gun owner didn't have a concealed weapons permit.
That is incorrect. An employer cannot bar a gun while the gun is in the automobile of an employee. Even if the car is an employer's parking garage.
Stuff like this makes me happy I moved away.