A previous coworker of mine was charged with aggravated assault last night after he had gotten into a fight with another female coworker(his girlfriend).
The coworker had worked in a position that reported to me at a previous company, and I'm still friends with many of the previous coworkers who work around this man on a day-to-day basis.
Should these coworkers be made aware of these chargers, and his management as well?
A previous coworker of mine was charged with aggravated assault last night after he had gotten into a fight with another female coworker(his girlfriend).
The key from this is charged with - unless you know all the details of the situation (and even then...) it doesn't make sense to begin gossip about this.
The coworker had worked in a position that reported to me at this previous company, and I'm still friends with many of the previous coworkers who work around this man on a day-to-day basis. Should they be made aware of these chargers, and his management as well?
If you aren't at the same company, it makes no sense for you to interfere.
An easy test is:
If your answer is, "yes, I believe there is a serious enough danger in them working together to tell a group of non-friends" then you should find a way to inform them (or at least the police). If not, then no, you really shouldn't.
Otherwise it's going to come across as spreading gossip - and rightly so.
It's not your responsibility to manage this guy nor his coworkers anymore, either, so keep this in mind.
While I would not necessarily suggest getting yourself involved directly, it may be wise to counsel the female coworker to bring it up to her management (and make better relationship decisions... but wrong Stack Exchange site for that...). They will be a lot more receptive to her saying, "my coworker assaulted me, what can be done?" than someone who no longer works there interfering.
Additionally, while you don't indicate how you know this information, I doubt it's going to remain private regardless of what you do.
If he's a previous co-worker and does not work in your company anymore, why is it any of concern to anybody currently working?
Do you keep tabs on all former employees and their personal lives? Best to mind your own business, this does not concern the workplace or anybody else beside the former coworker and his girlfriend.
One question is are you doing this because you feel there is a real concern that other people are at risk from this person, and you telling will prevent that? Or are you seeking revenge for him beating up your friend? The reason I'm asking is because it matters. If it's about revenge, punishment or simply "they should know", then it's basically just gossip. In this case, more like slander since the action is still only alleged. In my personal opinion, it's also not up to you to raise this in the workplace.
a) You don't work there any more
b) You were not the one that got beaten up.
If anyone should raise it, it should be your friend who was the victim of this. And even then, unless it happened at the actual workplace, it's really an issue to be handled by law enforcement and the justice system.
If it's truly a public safety concern of yours, then maybe you should rather be talking to the police and let them handle it.
Ask yourself what your boss would say if you said you wanted to do this on the companies dime, and what arguments you would use to convince him to pay you to convey this information to a manager at another company. If you think you have a good argument for that, then go ahead and do so.
That's from a business prospective, but really, this is fundamentally a personal decision -- you want to inform you friends. And for that, it's really no different no different from any other piece of news you might share with your friend.
From a career prospective, you should consider whether this looks like persecution, or malicious gossip, but if it's just updating people on what is happening in your shared circle, that should not be an issue.
Categorically No. Its not your business and its not your responsibility. Its between your employee, the police and the business.
The person should tell the business of the arrest, as it may impact on their work.
An arrest is a private issue until it enters the public domain of the courts and that person is convicted or not, until that point the law (uk) presumes innocence not guilt.
allegedlypreviousversuscurrentcoworker/subordinate would have a lot of bearing on the answers.