Don't Bring Your Guns to Town

Posted by Attorney Roger L. Pettit in Employer-Employee Relationship, Business Management / Comments

Beginning in November, Wisconsin citizens, if properly licensed, may carry concealed weapons.  There is no prohibition against carrying these weapons in the workplace.  However businesses have the unilateral right to decide for themselves whether or not to allow guns in their workplace with one exception – they cannot forbid employees from having guns in their automobiles in company parking lots.

Now is the time for employers to make decisions regarding the issue. Notices must be drafted and posted and handbooks must be amended.  If your business is covered by a collective bargaining agreement, the issue must be addressed with the bargaining representative(s). Even if your place of employment is not governed by a collective bargaining agreement it is wise to ask for input from your employees before making the final decision.

Businesses with customers and representatives,who regularly are on the premises, may be subject to different requirements, but those requirements must be clearly posted.

Doing nothing is really not an option.  As a recent article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel put it, “A business that does nothing will have effectively chosen to allow anyone who walks through door, including employees, customers and vendors, to carry a concealed weapon.”