Short answer: an off-duty domestic or personal threat is not automatically a Type 4 workplace-violence incident. If the person comes to the workplace or targets the employee while the employee is working, it becomes Type 4 and belongs in the violent incident log. You do not need to wait for that to happen: assess access, make a discreet safety plan, preserve the report, and consider a workplace-violence restraining order.
Record what the employee reports, the known conduct, and whether the person knows the worksite, schedule, vehicle, entrance, or coworkers. Preserve messages and court orders the employee chooses to share.
Agree on a contact person, a way to report new information, and what the employee wants front-desk or security staff to know. Consider temporary schedule, parking, entrance, or remote-work adjustments where workable.
Give reception or security only what they need to recognize and respond to the risk. Do not circulate the employee's private history as general workplace information.
If the conduct occurred away from work and did not target the employee while working, it may not yet be a Type 4 incident. Document the prevention response separately. If the conduct reaches the workplace or the employee at work, create the de-identified violent incident log entry.
California allows an employer to ask the court for a workplace-violence restraining order to protect an employee. Use the California Courts forms and get legal help if timing or facts are complicated.
Document any access-control, notification, escort, or emergency-response change. Train only the affected employees, using the minimum personal detail needed to carry out the plan.
Set a date to revisit the plan. Do not penalize the employee for reporting the concern or participating in prevention steps.
Keep the log de-identified. If the threat becomes a logged incident, the violent incident log should not include the employee's name, the threatening person's name, or other information that could identify either person.
The court forms and instructions for employers seeking workplace protection for an employee.
The state's descriptions of Type 4 violence and required prevention practices.
The law's definitions, anti-retaliation provisions, and incident-log requirements.