Legal Question in Criminal Law in Virginia

Re: Basketball Assault

The law permits you to respond with proportionate force in order to defend yourself from attack.

This proportionate responding must ordinaily occur

while the attack is in progress and not after it has ceased.

If as in your example you struck someone after his attack had ceased this would not be an allowable self defense response under most applicable laws.

As to your last question, in Virginia an employer

can discharge an employee for almost any reason the employer chooses as long as the reason doesn't violate federal antidiscrimination laws

or a very narrow state public policy exception(Bowman).