Being a Good Samaritan comes naturally to some people. Others have to work at it, but either way, going out of your way to help others is still considered a virtue, not a crime. However, when unselfishly helping someone leads to getting fired, it’s no surprise that we find more and more people turning away when others are in need—or in peril.

One illustration of punishing a Good Samaritan is in a recent story by Jim Schoettler of the Times-Union in Jacksonville, Florida. Seems a 24-year old man named Colin Bruley was fired from his job at the apartment complex where he lives, and where he also worked as a leasing agent.  

According to the story, Bruley was dozing off a little after 1:30 am when he heard one of the tenants screaming that she’d just been shot. 

Now before I continue, please put yourself in his shoes (or slippers, given the time of the incident):         

- You work for the apartment complex.

- It’s coming up on 2:00 am, and one of your tenants starts screaming she’s just been shot.

- You could call the police, but most shootings last a few seconds. It would be several minutes before the police arrived, at best.

- If you ignore the incident, you’re setting the stage for people to say your company doesn’t care about its tenants [not to mention your conscience might eat at you for eternity if the woman died because you did nothing]. 

- You’re the leasing agent for this property — a poor reputation for both you and the company will certainly affect your job.

- A fast response will show that the company cares about the safety of the people who lease from them [not to mention the very real possibility that you may have an inclination to help others].

- We’re talking ‘gun shot’ here, so going into a situation unarmed where someone has just shot another person makes about as much sense as a soup sandwich. You grab your own weapon.

- As you near the scene, your adrenaline is increasing.  A thousand thoughts are racing through your head. You want to help, but you don’t want to get shot yourself. At the same time, you don’t want to have to shoot someone else.

- You arrive on the scene to find a tenant bleeding profusely. Adrenaline is still doing its thing. You tend to the woman.

- After its over, you’re covered with blood, your adrenaline is still going, and since there’s nothing more that can be done, you choose to let your supervisor sleep and notify her in the morning, which you do.

Bruley’s employer was Village Green Cos, one of the largest property rental companies in America. Their response?  Bruley was fired for violating several items in the company handbook.

- Brandishing a weapon
- Not reporting the incident right away to his supervisor

Regardless of where one stands on gun laws, looking at the situation objectively and based on what we can read about the event, Bruley acted with courage, honor, and moral character.

In my opinion, the leadership at Village Green Cos was spineless to punish this guy for acting in such a manner. Publicly, they may say they were simply adhering to company policy, but privately their rationale for terminating him is about as thin as the paper the company handbook is printed on. It doesn’t take an Einstein to realize they were protecting themselves from any resulting lawsuit, getting blasted in the media by a vocal few, or some other corporate phobia.

This has been a lengthy illustration, but its main point is echoing across the country in companies of all shapes and sizes: Leadership failing to find a backbone, and terminating employees who are genuinely trying to help others and represent their company well at the same time.

These reactionary punishments and terminations have a growing number people shaking the dust off their feet whenever they have a choice to help someone else. “Not my problem,” they say, as they ignore the situation. “No sense being punished for doing a good deed.” 

What are your thoughts on this?  Mine are this: May the Good Samaritan never vanish from the workplace, despite the growing number of spineless leaders.

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Filed in Work, Business, Opinion, Management, Leadership, Columns, Workplace, Corporate Culture, Retention