Rookie Mistake

Did you see the story on TV about Nathaniel Brown, or did you read it in the newspaper?  He was the janitor from Ohio State who shot and killed his supervisor, injured another man and then killed himself – all over a “bad job evaluation.”  You can read the Associated Press’ article here.

Workplace violence unfortunately does happen, and in some cases, there is little (or nothing) that could have been done to prevent it.  But in this case, Ohio State royally screwed up.  They let this guy know in advance that he was going to be terminated.  That’s a rookie mistake….

HR 101 tells you that you never discipline an employee at the “company’s convenience.”  And you sure as heck don’t let an employee know that they’re being terminated, until you’re literally sitting down to do it.  How the University responds to this one should be pretty interesting…

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