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Monday, Mar 18, 2024
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Workplace Domestic violence is no longer a private affair

For some women, the workplace is a haven , not because they are workaholics, but because they don’t want to go home for fear of being beaten.

While many employees remain reluctant to tell their bosses of their plight, employers who dismiss such problems as private may need to adjust their attitudes , not only because a new California law extends the workplace rights of workers who are victims of domestic violence, but also because such violence costs them money.

An existing state law already prohibits employers from terminating employees who take time off to get restraining orders against abusive partners.

The new law extends employees’ rights to seek medical care, psychological counseling, safety planning and to obtain services from a domestic violence program.

Gael Strack, assistant city attorney and head of the San Diego Domestic Violence Council, hopes Assembly Bill 2357 will help firms become aware of how domestic abuse affects workplace morale, productivity and the bottom line.

The bill was signed into law by Gov. Gray Davis in September and went into effect this January.

According to the American Institute on Domestic Violence, a nonprofit group that trains businesses on issues of domestic violence, the nation’s employers lose between $3 billion and $5 billion every year for increased medical costs associated with battered workers. Additionally, businesses lose $100 million in lost wages, sick leave and absenteeism, the nonprofit group in Lake Havasu City, Ariz., reported.


Policies In Place

Donna Norton, a workplace manager at the Family Violence Prevention Fund in Washington, D.C., said hundreds of businesses have already developed policies to deal with domestic abuse.

Strack hopes a new prevention and education partnership between the city of San Diego, Verizon Wireless, Motorola and the local Domestic Violence Council will encourage San Diego’s bosses to look at the issue more closely.

Next month, some 4,500 local businesses will receive information on domestic abuse and the opportunity to receive free lectures at the workplace.

Candi Freed, human resources manager at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in Balboa Park, said she invited Strack to help “create awareness of the signs of domestic violence.”

Typical signs of victims include being tardy, leaving work early and missing days.

Statistics also have proven that batterers frequently infiltrate businesses.


Violence In The Workplace

Partners and boyfriends commit 13,000 acts of violence against women in the workplace every year, the American Institute of Domestic Violence reported.

The acts range from harassing phone calls to death threats and the pointing of knives and guns , all of which are against the law, Strack said.

It is vital for businesses to realize they could be liable if they are aware of domestic violence incidents and do nothing about it, she said.

“It doesn’t matter where you are from, what your status of religion is, or how much money you make,” Strack said.

Sadly, the stigma attached to domestic abuse still deters women from seeking help, she said.

Out of the 20,181 reported incidences of domestic violence in San Diego in fiscal 1999, 128 victims died as a result of their injuries, the local council reported.

In 1993, more secretaries were slain on the job than police officers and bartenders combined, the American Institute on Domestic Violence said.

Yet, employers can do plenty to help victims, Strack said.

Companies can get restraining orders on behalf of the victim, alert security officers by providing them with a photo of the batterer, seat victims in another office space and provide them with a new phone number.

“If the corporate environment is supportive, victims will come forward,” Strack said.

The biggest fear of battered women is the loss of their job, because it’s the only place they can feel safe for a few hours, she said.

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