{"id":117366,"date":"2026-06-18T10:39:47","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T15:39:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=117366"},"modified":"2026-06-18T10:39:47","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T15:39:47","slug":"117366","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=117366","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

The Right to Fight Back: Colorado Supreme Court Rules Private Employers Can\u2019t Fire Workers for Self-Defense<\/a><\/p>\n

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The Brief:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Colorado Supreme Court ruled that private employers cannot terminate at-will employees for exercising their right to self-defense against imminent bodily harm. This decision, arising from a convenience store incident, establishes that corporate policies cannot override an individual\u2019s fundamental legal privilege to protect their own life while working.<\/p>\n

This ruling creates a specific public policy exception to at-will employment. While businesses can still enforce protocols against escalating non-violent thefts, they are prohibited from firing workers for lawful and necessary self-defense. This shifts the legal balance between corporate liability policies and individual safety rights.<\/p>\n

DENVER, CO \u2014<\/strong>\u00a0A legal battlefield that has spent six years winding through the federal and state court systems has culminated in a massive paradigm shift for worker safety and the Second Amendment community.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Writing for the 5-2 majority, State Supreme Court\u00a0Justice Maria E. Berkenkotter<\/strong>\u00a0dismantled the long-standing corporate assumption that at-will employment agreements allow businesses to force complete submission from employees facing violent workplace crimes.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe employment relationship should not be used to strip workers of the ordinary legal privileges every person possesses,\u201d Berkenkotter declared in the historic June 15 opinion. \u201cThe right to self-defense has never been cabined by role or location\u2026 Rather, the right follows the employee from home to work and back and everywhere in between.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Origin: Trapped Behind the Register<\/h2>\n

The legal dominoes began falling in October 2020 at a Circle K convenience store in Westminster, Colorado. Cashier\u00a0Mary Ann Moreno<\/strong>\u00a0was cornered behind the counter when an individual wielding two hunting knives demanded free merchandise.<\/p>\n

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Moreno, feeling physically trapped and facing a lethal disparity of force, actively resisted the attacker, making physical contact with him to disrupt the ambush. While the encounter ended without serious injury to Moreno, Circle K corporate management reviewed the security footage and determined she had violated their strict corporate \u201cDon\u2019t Chase or Confront\u201d policy<\/strong>. They promptly terminated her employment.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Moreno launched a wrongful termination lawsuit in federal court, arguing that firing an individual for defending their life violated Colorado\u2019s public policy. Recognizing that this was uncharted legal terrain, U.S. District Court Judge Nina Y. Wang utilized a process called \u201ccertification,\u201d pausing the federal trial to ask Colorado\u2019s highest court to definitively clarify if state law protects a worker\u2019s right to fight back.<\/p>\n

The Corporate Backlash and Dissent<\/h2>\n

The ruling was met with sharp resistance from both corporate defense counsels and the bench\u2019s minority.\u00a0Chief Justice Monica M. M\u00e1rquez<\/strong>\u00a0penned a blistering dissent, joined by Justice William W. Hood III, warning that the court was overstepping by forcing private entities to absorb the liabilities of employees who violate company protocols.<\/p>\n

M\u00e1rquez argued that the decision would \u201ctie employers\u2019 hands and ultimately undermine workplace safety,\u201d fearing it would prevent corporations from enforcing de-escalation strategies designed to protect human life over property. Circle K\u2019s defense attorney, Thomas W. Carroll, echoed these concerns during oral arguments, stating, \u201cWe don\u2019t need people jumping from behind the counter to stop someone from stealing a six-pack of beer.\u201d<\/p>\n

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However, the majority clarified that its holding is narrow: it does not decide whether Moreno\u2019s specific actions constituted self-defense, nor does it override an employer\u2019s right to fire a worker who carelessly escalates a non-violent theft. Instead, it draws a bright constitutional line: if an employee\u2019s actions are found by a jury to be a lawful and necessary<\/em>\u00a0exercise of self-defense against imminent bodily harm, a company cannot legally weaponize an internal policy to fire them.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The Broad Implications for the 2A Community<\/h2>\n

This victory addresses an immense tactical and legal vulnerability that millions of defensive carriers and workers navigate daily. For decades, standard corporate policy across retail, hospitality, and corporate America has demanded total compliance during an active threat, effectively forcing workers to trade their physical survival for their economic survival.<\/p>\n

By recognizing self-defense as a deeply rooted public policy exception to at-will employment, the Colorado Supreme Court has delivered a powerful blueprint that gun rights advocates can now deploy in parallel court battles across the nation.<\/p>\n

Safety Tip:<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0While this ruling represents an extraordinary legal shield for employees in Colorado, workers nationwide must understand the critical tactical distinction between\u00a0Defending Your Life<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Defending Corporate Property<\/strong>. Circle K\u2019s counsel argued that they want employees to disengage, which is actually a sound tactical principle when an actor is merely shoplifting items. Your\u00a0firearm<\/a>\u00a0or physical force should never be deployed to protect an employer\u2019s cash drawer or merchandise\u2014retail items are insured, your life is not. However, if a criminal element closes the distance, traps you behind a counter, or deploys a deadly weapon (like the hunting knives in this case), de-escalation is no longer an option. In that fraction of a second, your priority must transition instantly from compliance to overwhelming counter-pressure. Know your state\u2019s specific statutes regarding the \u201cDuty to Retreat\u201d in commercial settings, and ensure your defensive tool is staged where it can be rapidly accessed if an attacker breaches your workplace perimeter<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Right to Fight Back: Colorado Supreme Court Rules Private Employers Can\u2019t Fire Workers for Self-Defense The Brief: The Colorado Supreme Court ruled that private employers cannot terminate at-will employees for exercising their right to self-defense against imminent bodily harm. This decision, arising from a convenience store incident, establishes that corporate policies cannot override an … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,23,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business","category-courts","category-rkba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=117366"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117366\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":117367,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117366\/revisions\/117367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=117366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=117366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=117366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}