Utah Supreme Court: Right of Self-defense Outweighs Employer-mandated ‘De-escalation Policies'

<img src="http://media.breitbart.com/media/2015/09/Walmart-employee-Douglas-C.-Piz... align="right" width="200">On September 18 the Utah Supreme Court ruled that under circumstances where retreat is not possible, business policies requiring employees to disengage or withdraw when under duress cannot be used as grounds for firing an employee who takes action to protect his or her life.

The decision came in a case revolving around a 2011 incident in which “six workers were fired after they fought with a shoplifter who pulled a gun on them inside the Layton Wal-Mart.”

According to Fox 13, when Walmart defended their actions, Utah Supreme Court Justice Christine Durham asked if employers should be able to fire employees “for refusing to take a bullet for the company?”

The court ultimately ruled that, “Utah law reflects a policy favoring the right of self-defense, and that policy is of sufficient magnitude to qualify as a substantial public policy exception to the at-will employment doctrine, but only under the narrow circumstances where an employee cannot withdraw and faces imminent serious bodily injury.”

Read more at http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/09/19/utah-supreme-court-ri...