I am not the original poster. This is a repost.

Originally posted by u/stabbedandfired 4 years ago on r/legaladvice.

light editing for readability.

Disgruntled ex employee came back to work a week ago and stabbed me. I am being fired because of it. [Sept 7 2017]

https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/6yqfr9/tx_disgruntled_ex_employee_came_back_to_work_a/

I just now got out of the hospital. Last Monday, I had an old employee we let go on Friday come in. Now this is not unusual as people generally forgot things when they leave. I asked him what he was doing here.

He said he needed to talk to me about what happened. This guy was let go for budget reasons. Simple as that. We cut 5 employees and he unfortunately made the cut.

I informed him that there was no real reason why he was let go. Just a business decision and that we would have glowing letters of recommendation for him, will not interfere with unemployment, and will actually give good references for everyone who called.

This point he claims its bullshit and gets hostile. I try to calm him down as does many other workers nearby. His friend tried to say he would take him to lunch and pay. Basically everyone knew he needed to leave at this point.

He seemed to calm down, but then pulled out a pocket knife and stabbed me in the stomach. I did not even realize I had been stabbed yet as I saw the knife and reacted. I grabbed his arm and held it firmly. The adrenaline was running through me so much I did not realize I had been stabbed yet until I saw the blood. I started to panic and punched him with my free hand in the jaw a few times. I guess one of them hit home as he dropped to the ground.

I sat down in on the ground holding the knife in me as I knew it was probably the only thing keeping me from bleeding out. The other workers that were there held him down until the police arrived. The ambulance took me and I went in for surgery.

Today I receive a phone call that I do not have to return to work. I told my boss that I would be ready for light duty on Monday. He said that my health was not what he meant. One of the HR guys saw me punch the fired worker a few times and said that my face was like "A vicious animal." Exact words.

I told my boss that this was to be expected when fight or flight kicks in. He agreed with me and said that he wished he did not have to do this. But that everyone who got physical with the former employee will probably be let go pending a review by legal.

This will make me lose my insurance. I am worried about continuing medical issues. The stab wound is still infected, but I have been given both pills and a cream for this.

I am mainly worried about losing the job. Is there any kind of suit I can bring up if I am fired for this? I know you can sue someone for anything you want, I am asking about suits that would have a reasonable chance of winning given a good lawyer.

Also is it legal for my job to fire me and the guys who helped over this? The guy was only out for maybe half a minute so he was still a danger. It took the police 12 minutes to show up. Hello the ambulance was forced to wait outside for 5 minutes until the police showed up to secure the situation. This guy had plenty of time to harm other people. How can a job just up and fire everyone like this? I'm guessing yes because Texas, but is this even legal?

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Update. Stabbed at work and fired for my troubles. [Oct 08 2017]

https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/752o34/update_stabbed_at_work_and_fired_for_my_troubles/

So before I give the Update, I wanted to say a few things.

First I am not some Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai, Taekwondo, Krav Maga, or Patrick Swayze Roadhouse style bar bouncer. I am not a veteran who obtained my sick martial arts skills in the streets of Mosul. What happened was simply adrenaline and a decent amount of martial arts training I received when I was a kid kicking in. Although I do occasionally work out at the gym at my work so I am stronger than your average network admin. Also for those calling bullshit in the PMs saying that a punch to the jaw will not knock you out, well I have a small lesson. A well placed punch to the jaw can cause minor to major brain trauma as the act of your brain shaking about in your head can overload the nervous system making you lose consciousness. Your muscles instantly relax and you fall to the ground with no memory of the last few seconds.

In other words go watch some UFC...

Second. To the people in the thread and in my PMs, I did not punch him in retaliation for stabbing me. His knife was still inside me and his hand was on the knife when I punched him in pure fear. More like 100 percent pure terror.

So on to the update. The company I worked for is a wholly owned subsidiary. This will be important later. The CEO of my company was unwilling to hear my side of it no matter how many times I tried to approach him. The best response I got was when his secretary gave me the line of "trusting the decisions of HR." Several emails and 2 phone calls got the same response from him and his assistant each and every time. Because of the fact that no one at the office is willing to even hear my side, I decided to go to a lawyer that was recommended through a friend. Friend contacted a lawyer he used in the past who referred me to someone he trusts. Upon hearing my story the lawyer was very eager to take my case on contingency. As an added bonus, he decided to represent the other three guys who helped out that day as well.

The lawyer decided to name the parent company in the suit along side our former employer. His reasoning is that the parent company would have reviewed all corporate policies that the subsidiary has and that they would have had final say on the policies and procedure. This would have inevitably included the zero tolerance workplace violence clause that caused us to be terminated.

Well the parent company, a company with many public contracts for city and state police in the area I might add, was not too happy to hear about what had happened. The event was apparently downplayed when it was reported to the parent company. They told the parent company something along the lines of "A scuffle broke out in the office. As a result one of the employees was seriously injured. All employees involved will be terminated and Law enforcement are handling the criminal aspect." Paraphrasing but that was the gist of it.

Upon hearing about the truth of the matter, they were VERY quick to set up a meeting with us. This is a company that is in the self defense and security business. Not to be confused with people in the firearm business. They do not sell firearms, but do provide armor, non lethal options, and have security subsidiaries for police, security firms, and private citizens.

Given the nature of their business, they know full well the damage that negative press could do if word got out that one of their subsidiaries fired a guy who fought for his life. This was the PR nightmare that gave us the edge in the negotiations. The subsidiary I worked for is not in the self defense business. They are a security monitoring firm that only handles corporate contracts so they were not worried about that kind of press like the parent company was. Upon hearing the full details of what went down that day, the parent company went into panic mode.

The three guys who held down my attacker wont be getting their old jobs back, but they were offered jobs doing the same thing at parent company's facility 12 miles away. They will also be compensated for lost wages at time and a half their normal pay rate for the time they were out of work. Parent company pretty much directed our old company to comply with this offer and our old company cut them a check. Since parent company has better benefits and better pay, this was a slam dunk victory for those three. Cherry on top for them is this means a closer drive for all of them. This offer was contingent on the three guys not going after either company for monetary compensation outside of what was offered, and the signing of a non disclosure agreement. With the NDA and a signed contract guaranteeing employment for at least a year, barring obvious reason to fire people, it would have been stupid of them not to take it.

For me it was a little more complicated. They are very willing to offer me the same thing, but there are complications from infections that occurred from the stabbing as I developed MRSA in the wound. Fortunately it remains localized in my wound and has not spread to my blood stream, however if it progresses any worse than it currently is, my doctor thinks it may be prudent to cut out the infection. It is being watched very carefully and I spend probably 2 days out of the week in the hospital having the wound drained. In the meantime I have been offered the job, plus the ability to be paid while I work from home. This would allow me to get on their excellent coverage plan. (they only have a 1k deductible for single person)

My lawyer basically told me that this was the best possible deal I could get without going to trial. He explained that the parent company can take the hit on the publicity and survive, but that since all they have to do is offer me a job and get the old company to pay me for the time I was out of work, why not? Minor expense to them and they do not have to worry about bad publicity. I took the deal they offered and signed a non disclosure agreement.

So TL:DR of that one is that the each of us were offered compensation for lost wages and offered better paying jobs at the parent company. Far as I know our former job is paying the lawyer fees. We did not pay a dime for his services.

As for the guy who stabbed me? I was very pissed off to learn he was offered a plea deal. His charges were reduced from attempted murder to aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Since he was a model citizen before his knife wielding episode, and since this was a crime of passion, he was offered a mere 1 year in prison and a year of probation plus a 10k fine. I am told that there is the possibility that he can have his record expunged and that he can be out in as little as six months. I know that he has not appeared before the judge yet to take this plea deal. They were waiting to see if I would die as the charge would obviously change from agg assault to murder 2. Once they found out that I was stable and that the MRSA was not life threatening, they set a court date for the 12th. I will be there.

Because of the fact that a lawsuit against him right now would be a lawsuit against his wife and child, I decided not to do anything on that front. Going after him would be a cash grab and would only hurt two people who had nothing to do with what happened that day. So I see no reason to sue him.

Also before it is asked, yes I am taking extreme measures to deal with my MRSA. I have paid a company to come in and clean my house 4 times so far, I am taking my medications on time every time, and I am following doctor instructions for cleaning and replacing bandages. It is getting better, but my doctor thinks I will be dealing with this all the way until after Valentine's day.

Relevant Comment from the BoLA thread:

• Commenters speculate on what would happen if the company find out about OOP's Legal Advice posts: OOP: So apparently this sub is a thing. No I did not break the NDA as there is enough obfuscation that you will all be looking in the wrong place. Also the name of this company is not one that YOU would be purchasing from. They sell consumer end products through subsidiaries. The primary company only deals with large commercial and public contracts. Also I fudged the details a bit about the actual role of the company. Same ballpark but different league.

Reminder: I am not the original poster. This is a repost.

Originally posted by u/stabbedandfired 4 years ago on r/legaladvice.