"Accidental" poisoning at work by co-worker

What is the name of your state? NY


I work in the Deli Dept of a rather large super-market chain in upstate NY. A couple of nights ago , one of my co-workers handed me a cup of water which tasted kind of funny. After taking a few sips, i realized something was wrong with the water. When I questioned said co-worker about the cup of water she handed me , she replied that it might have been contaminated with bleach. The night manager wrote up an accident report that same night , which now they refuse to provide me with a copy. The following day I went to the hospital because I kept having this burning sensation in my stomach and throat , they did a few tests and told me that i had some extensive irritation throughout my esophagus. The next day I visited the company's HMO who came up with the same results.

Now, the HMO said that they would file a police report about the incident but have heard nothing from them since my visit. However, after returning to work today , and seeing that said co-worker was scheduled along-side my shift, the manager informed that my hours would start getting cut back , so that when the store closes , I am not left alone with that person, who as far as i can tell suffered no repercussions for her "accident" actions.

I do not know what to do at this point, I personally have not involved the police , because I dunno if its the right thing to do. There has been some past friction between me and said co-worker , but I can't tell wether what happened was deliberate or an accident. Also, i neglected to mention this earlier, but when i asked her why the water tasted funny, she sniffed it , and then threw it out right away before anyone else has a chance to look at it, and I dunno if that was deliberate or not.


I just have no idea what to do, i mean i seem to be the one getting penalized for being the victim here, having my hours cut back, while she suffers no consequences for her actions.


I just dunno what to do here... should i file a police report, should i contact a lawyer, what?



thanks in advance for any replies.


-Dupuis2387

Holy cow! Why didn't you file a police report when this happened? What your co-worker did was nothing short of a crime!

...yeah, I just wasnt sure, i mean we used to be friends, but for past , like 5months, she's been a real psycho. But i think i do need to file a report, i mean its a week later and im still feeling the effects.


anyway, thanks for the 2cents.

The HMO can't file a police report about the incident on your behalf. If you want to press criminal charges, only you can do that.

I don't know why the employer hasn't disciplined this employee, athough it's possible they have. They have no obligation to tell you what action, if any, they took. From an employment law perspective, your employer hasn't done anything unlawful. Even if they had proof that she put bleach in the cup, they wouldn't be obligated to terminate her.

Given your accusations, it's not unreasonable on their part to ensure you are not working alone with this psycho co-worker. There may be more going on with her than you know about and the situation with her may be more complicated than you would know. Perhaps your employer is biding their time until they feel they have sufficient evidence of misconduct to terminate her.