The Colorado Supreme Court just reminded employers of something they should never have forgotten: the right to self-defense is a fundamental human right, not a workplace privilege that can be revoked by corporate policy. A company handbook does not outrank your right to stay alive. This ruling sends a message far beyond Colorado: lawful self-defense doesn’t end when you punch a time clock.
The Colorado Supreme Court recognized on Monday that there is a right to self-defense in the workplace for which employers may not terminate workers so long as they lawfully exercise that right.
The court’s majority in the 5-2 decision cautioned that its holding was narrow, but that the history and importance of self-defense meant the right does not disappear “simply because a person enters the workplace.”
“The employment relationship should not be used to strip workers of the ordinary legal privileges every person possesses. The right to self-defense has never been cabined by role or location,” wrote Justice Maria E. Berkenkotter in the June 15 opinion. “It is a unique, essential, and inalienable right that exists for workers, students, retirees, and the unemployed alike. It allows people to protect themselves in their homes, schools, houses of worship, and workplaces under very specifically defined circumstances.”
Chief Justice Monica M. Márquez dissented, disagreeing that private employers must recognize the right to self-defense. She also questioned whether the right was job-related.
“Although the majority acknowledges that rights conferred by the constitution constrain only state action, its reasoning means that after today, a private employer may not lawfully terminate an at-will employee for conduct related to the exercise of any inalienable constitutional right — even if the employee’s conduct plainly violates the employer’s policies,” Márquez wrote for herself and Justice William W. Hood III.
By Michael Karlik
