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June 28, 2024
Effective July 1, 2024, employers[1] in Idaho will be immune from civil damages for allowing or not prohibiting “the lawful carrying of a firearm on an employee’s person…on the employer’s business premises.” See Idaho Senate Bill No. 1275 enacted on March 25, 2024. This law expands Idaho Code § 5-341, which currently provides employers with civil immunity for allowing or not prohibiting the lawful storage of firearms by employees in their personal motor vehicles on the employer’s business premises.
The amended law provides:
No action shall lie or be maintained for civil damages in any court of this state against an employer where the claim arises out of the policy of an employer to either specifically allow or not prohibit the lawful carrying of a firearm on an employee’s person or storage of firearms by employees in their personal motor vehicles on the employer’s business premises.
Idaho Employers: Understand the protections that the amendment to Idaho Code § 5-341 affords to you. Also know that the law does not interfere with your right to ban employees from possessing or storing firearms on your business premises. Take this time to review your policies and update them, as necessary, to reflect your stance on firearm possession and storage on your business premises.
* Special thanks to our paralegal, Nicole Kime, for her contributions to this article.
The author of this article, Benjamin S. Levine, is a member of the Bars of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. This article is designed to provide one perspective regarding recent legal developments, and is not intended to serve as legal advice in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Idaho, or any other jurisdiction, nor does it establish an attorney-client relationship with any reader of the article where one does not exist. Always consult an attorney with specific legal issues.
[1] Title 5 (Proceedings in Civil Actions in Courts of Record) does not define the term “employer,” although “employer” is defined as “any person who has expressly or impliedly hired or contracted the services of another” in Title 72 (Worker’s Compensation and Related Laws) of the Idaho Code.
