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Work Place DV |
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Click Here for Victim Safety Plan
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Legal Momentum (www.legalmomentum.org) VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
Recently-enacted state laws can help victims of domestic or sexual violence maintain the economic security they need to address the violence in their lives. For example, more than half of the states now explicitly provide unemployment insurance benefits to victims of domestic violence who have left a job because of the violence. Several states require employers to provide victims time off from work to address the violence. Others provide defenses to individuals who are subject to eviction proceedings based on violence against them or their having sought emergency services. A handful of states specifically prohibit discrimination against victims in their general employment or housing discrimination laws. These fact sheets track state laws and proposed legislation. We update them frequently. If you know of additional laws or legislation that should be included, please contact us at erhsa@legalmomentum.org or 212-925-6635. You may also contact us if you have questions about how to bring a claim under one of these laws.
Housing Discrimination (PDF file, last updated January, 2005)
Model Domestic Violence Workplace Policy Recognizing that responding to domestic violence is "good business," companies increasingly are implementing policies that help employees who are facing domestic violence. By working to mitigate the economic, legal and productivity risks related to domestic violence, businesses create a workplace that is safer for victims. Beneficial practices for companies include:
Supervisor/Manager Training: Train managers and supervisors to recognize and respond appropriately to the signs of domestic violence in their staff. Educate managers and supervisors to discuss the workplace policies that apply to the issue in a confidential manner.
Security: Security can play a critical role in protecting an employee at work. Companies can provide special training in domestic violence for security personnel. Employees can provide security personnel with a copy of their protection order and photograph of a batterer in case he comes to the workplace. There are other steps security can take like relocating an employee to a safer workspace, installing a panic button or other security device at an employee's workstation, escorts to parked cars, installing extra lighting in the parking lot, and priority parking near the building for employees who fear an attack at work.
Counseling and Referrals: Companies with Employee Assistance Programs (EAP's) or other counseling services can provide their employees with therapists trained to counsel victims of domestic violence. Companies without EAP's can maintain lists of resources in the community that specialize in domestic violence.
Leave and Benefit Policies: Implement leave and benefit policies that address the special needs of employees' who are victims of domestic violence. For example, employers can accommodate employees' needs for flexibility in their schedules if they need to attend court proceedings, meet with a counselor or relocate to a shelter.
Education: Employee training, brown bag seminars, newsletter articles, and brochures on domestic violence are all ways that an employer can create an environment where it is safe to talk about domestic violence. Make victim safety information available in private places such as restrooms or in paycheck envelopes.
Financial Support: Employers can conduct drives to collect clothes, toys, furniture, or money for a local domestic violence program or shelter. Financial support can also include having an emergency fund for employees in crisis situations.
Discipline Abusers: Companies can have policies in place that discipline abusive employees who are violent at work, including those who use workplace phones, faxes or e-mail to harass their intimate partners.
Compliance Issues: Some federal, state and local anti-discrimination, family and medical leave, and disability laws may mandate certain actions and policies on the part of the employer. Prompt and proper compliance and reasonable accommodations can reduce the risk of employer liability for harm that may come to an employee from domestic violence.
Employment Policy: Develop an employment policy in support of a safe and fair workplace, free of domestic violence, which is supportive and responsive to the particular needs of employees who are victims of this crime.
Workplace Safety Plan
If you are in a violent relationship, one of the most important steps you can take is to make a safety plan at work.
At work, you may want to:
Sample Newsletter Article
Work to End Domestic Violence Day -- October 1
The violence began within the first week of Karen's marriage, when her husband pressed his hands against her mouth and nose, attempting to smother her. After this incident, her husband became violent almost nightly, often for no apparent reason. He controlled his violence, directing it to hidden areas of her body so the injuries would not be visible to co-workers and friends.
Karen was lucky. She got out of her dangerous marriage, with the help and support of friends, family, and her co-workers and supervisors. Her job gave her time off from work while she was in a shelter. When she came back to work, her company security staff kept a photograph of her husband on hand in case he violated a restraining order and came to her workplace. They also were present in the parking lot when she walked to her car at the end of the day. "When I finally left," Karen says, "the response I received from my office was one of incredible support. I want to stress how terribly important the role was that my co-workers played. It had a great impact on me."
Domestic violence is a workplace issue. This October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and October I is Work to End Domestic Violence Day. [Name of company/organization] is joining employers across the country to help work to end domestic violence.
Did you know that 66 percent of Fortune I 000 senior executives surveyed say they believe their company's financial performance would benefit from addressing the issues of domestic violence among their employees? Or that almost four million women in the United States are physically abused by their husbands or boyfriends every year? No one deserves to be abused, and [name of company / organization] is taking steps to help.
You can take part in our efforts to put a stop to domestic violence. This month, you can [list activities your company is undertaking. Sample activities include]:
· contact our Employee Assistance Program if you are in a violent relationship and need help
· attend a lunchtime brown bag seminar on domestic violence, on [date, time and location]
· participate in our fundraising drive to help local shelters. Contact [drive coordinator] for details
· take one of the bumper stickers, buttons, or stickers on display in [location] to let the rest of the community know there's no excuse for domestic violence
If you are in an abusive relationship, this company has resources that can help. Contact your EAP representative for confidential advice. We also offer flexible work schedules for counseling and court appearances, and specially trained security if you feel at risk on the job. Talk to your supervisor or 14R rep for details.
There are also resources in the community staffed with people who want to help you. Call the Nebraska Statewide Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault Crisis Line at I800-876-6238 for referrals to people nearby who can help keep you safe.
For more information about talking to women about domestic violence, or speaking out in the community and workplace, call Domestic Violence Coordinating Council of Greater Omaha at 398-9928.
Violence at Work --Increasing-Workplace-Safety
· Fact: 94% of corporate security directors rank domestic violence as a high security problem at their company. · Fact: 71 % of human resources and security personnel surveyed had an incident of domestic violence occurring on company property. Twenty years ago, violence in the workplace was virtually unheard of Saclly, today newspapers carry stories every day of shootings and assaults at work, often at the hands of batterers who follow their victims to the one place they know they can find them. Security policies and personnel can help. If your workplace does not have a formal security department, designate someone to be responsible for the essential security functions described in this handout.
· How well trained are your officers (including contract security officers) and your employees with respect to workplace violence?
· Examine access to your workplace: Could a stalker talk a security officer into granting building access by claiming, for example, that he was there to have lunch with his wife? Do employees inside the building open the door to strangers who have "forgotten their IDs"? Do you have round-the-clock security, or could someone gain access to the building after hours?
· The physical layout of the worksite can make a victim more vulnerable to violence. Victims who are being actively harassed, stalked, or threatened should never sit with their backs to a door, lobby or street-level window. There should be barriers (desks, dividers, walls, furniture) between the victim and entrances that a perpetrator might use to enter the workplace. Such barriers provide cover and may give the victim a chance to escape via a predetermined route. Victims should be moved to alternate worksites if possible, even to worksites out of state, if the threat level is sufficient to posse justify this action and the victim wants to be relocated.
· Assisting an employee to develop a workplace and personal safety plan can reduce the risk of a violent situation on the job for a victim of domestic violence, as well as for co-workers.
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