W. Barry Nixon guest-authored this Ask Rita in HR column; he is the Executive Director of the National Institute for Prevention of Workplace Violence in Orange County, California. Barry is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR), a trained mediator, Security Specialist, Trauma Response Specialist, and has consulted to Fortune 500 companies as well as numerous public entities. He has written three books on workplace violence including Background Screening and Investigations: Managing Risk in the Hiring Process from the HR and Security Perspective. On a lighter note, he enjoys spicy ethnic foods of all kinds and flavors, and recently rejoiced at finding good rifsttafel in California, an Indonesian rice dish he discovered while living in Holland.