This morning I attended a short seminar hosted by the Moore Norman Technology Center. The title was "Guns in the Workplace." Last month I received an email advertising the event. I figured we were in the process of finalizing our Employee Manual for the company (No there is no policy prohibiting weapons), I might as well get more information.
There were three guest speakers. Attorney, OCPD Officer, and an HR Consultant. My opinions of each: Attorney doesn't specialize in the OKSDA. You could tell his knowlege was fresh and not all that deeply engrained. OCPD Officer, while straight foward with his points. He was given a CD to go read from the power point. He had background input which was good but not anything more than you would get in an SDA class. The HR professional focused mainly on protecting the company with violence policies and ensuring proper hiring procedures.
Now I have a unique position in my reasons to attend this event. First, I'm a policy writer for my company, I want as much information as I can get. Second, I have a Carry Permit, How as an employee am I impacted? Third, I recently received my license to teach the SDA class. What new legal information can I include in my presentation?
Outside of the statute(S) that went into effect or were ammended in November of 2013. I didn't learn anything new. I guess that is good to know considering as an instructor I should have a solid knowledge of the subject matter.
The biggest problem I saw was a lack of education. there were people there that had absolutely no exposure to the OKSDA. I shared the conversation I had with our Office Manager about talking to customers about carrying a gun into our office. After about 10 minutes she had a completely different viewpoint on how to approach the situation.
For those of you that have employers that are looking at or have recently changed policy to prohibit weapons on the property. I have just a few pieces of advice. First and foremost. The business owner has the right to allow or prohibit both customers and employees from carrying a weapon on the property. Please accept that as fact and keep that in mind. Second, opinions can be changed. We have seen it with companies that threw up "NO WEAPONS" signs on Nov 1, 2012 and in short time replaced them with signs that referenced no Open Carry but acceptance of Concealed Carry.
If you are unfortunate enough to work for a company that has recently implemented a weapons policy you can work on getting it changed. Its all a matter of education. Educating the decision makers about the law. Specifically protections provided to the employer under the law. Some bosses are still under the assumption that not having a policy prohibiting weapons is leaving the door open to them getting sued by an employee or customer should someone get shot. This could be the only reason for the policy. Wouldn't it make sense to ask the question to see if there is room to educate and possibly influence the reversal of a policy.
Please keep in mind that the approach you take greatly influences your success. I recently had a discussion with an HR consultant with the payroll company we are using. She has been in this field for greater than 15 years. She was convinced that we had to have a policy prohibiting weapons. When I told her no we don't and no we won't she got a bit defensive. Instead of starting an arguement over the topic I clarified a few points for her on the law. I also emailed her sections of the OKSDA regarding Businesses. It took a couple of weeks for her to let me know. But she came back thanking me for the information. She had formed her opinion off of a bad assumption.
In the end. If the boss says the policy stands. You have to make your own decision. Just keep in mind that opinions can be changed. Some opinions are formed off of bad information or a lack there of. Proper education of the facts (in a nonagressive maner), can go along way in seeing a change.
There were three guest speakers. Attorney, OCPD Officer, and an HR Consultant. My opinions of each: Attorney doesn't specialize in the OKSDA. You could tell his knowlege was fresh and not all that deeply engrained. OCPD Officer, while straight foward with his points. He was given a CD to go read from the power point. He had background input which was good but not anything more than you would get in an SDA class. The HR professional focused mainly on protecting the company with violence policies and ensuring proper hiring procedures.
Now I have a unique position in my reasons to attend this event. First, I'm a policy writer for my company, I want as much information as I can get. Second, I have a Carry Permit, How as an employee am I impacted? Third, I recently received my license to teach the SDA class. What new legal information can I include in my presentation?
Outside of the statute(S) that went into effect or were ammended in November of 2013. I didn't learn anything new. I guess that is good to know considering as an instructor I should have a solid knowledge of the subject matter.
The biggest problem I saw was a lack of education. there were people there that had absolutely no exposure to the OKSDA. I shared the conversation I had with our Office Manager about talking to customers about carrying a gun into our office. After about 10 minutes she had a completely different viewpoint on how to approach the situation.
For those of you that have employers that are looking at or have recently changed policy to prohibit weapons on the property. I have just a few pieces of advice. First and foremost. The business owner has the right to allow or prohibit both customers and employees from carrying a weapon on the property. Please accept that as fact and keep that in mind. Second, opinions can be changed. We have seen it with companies that threw up "NO WEAPONS" signs on Nov 1, 2012 and in short time replaced them with signs that referenced no Open Carry but acceptance of Concealed Carry.
If you are unfortunate enough to work for a company that has recently implemented a weapons policy you can work on getting it changed. Its all a matter of education. Educating the decision makers about the law. Specifically protections provided to the employer under the law. Some bosses are still under the assumption that not having a policy prohibiting weapons is leaving the door open to them getting sued by an employee or customer should someone get shot. This could be the only reason for the policy. Wouldn't it make sense to ask the question to see if there is room to educate and possibly influence the reversal of a policy.
Please keep in mind that the approach you take greatly influences your success. I recently had a discussion with an HR consultant with the payroll company we are using. She has been in this field for greater than 15 years. She was convinced that we had to have a policy prohibiting weapons. When I told her no we don't and no we won't she got a bit defensive. Instead of starting an arguement over the topic I clarified a few points for her on the law. I also emailed her sections of the OKSDA regarding Businesses. It took a couple of weeks for her to let me know. But she came back thanking me for the information. She had formed her opinion off of a bad assumption.
In the end. If the boss says the policy stands. You have to make your own decision. Just keep in mind that opinions can be changed. Some opinions are formed off of bad information or a lack there of. Proper education of the facts (in a nonagressive maner), can go along way in seeing a change.
