Human Resource Blog

Holding employee against their will

Can a manager hold an employee in a room behind locked close doors, and not let them out per their request? What would be the proper way to handle this if it happens?

No, we cannot recommend that any manager act in this way and as an employer, you need to prevent it. In most states this would be false imprisonment, which is a felony. The manager can certainly ask an employee not to leave, or fire an employee who leaves without permission. But physically preventing the employee from leaving would be a crime. Any employee who finds herself in this situation should just stand up and walk out of the room. (If the manager touches her in any way to try to prevent her from leaving, that would be assualt.)

If the employee reported this to the police, the manager would likely be arrested. Threatening an employee with bodily harm is also illegal.

OSHA standards require that employees be allowed to use the restroom when nature calls, so if the employee indicates that she is going to the restroom and the employer forbids it, that is an OSHA violation as well.

Every employer and HR person should take steps to prevent this type of behavior in the workplace.