Workplace and Domestic Violence

Usually viewed as a private matter between two adults domestic violence in fact affects all areas of our communities, including the workplace. Employees home lives can affect their performance at work, particularly with an issue like domestic violence. Many abusers attempt to stalk, harass, threaten or injure victims at work. For the victim, actions like these can present barriers to getting and keeping a job and often result in reduced productivity and lost wages. For the employer and co-workers, it can result in increased medical costs, reduced productivity, absenteeism and heightened risks of violence to others.

Not only is domestic violence bad for people, Domestic Violence is bad for business. However, by choosing to proactively address this issue in the workplace, employers can:

• Enhance workplace safety
• Increase employee productivity and morale
• Decrease absenteeism and turnover
• Create a powerful, positive impact in the community
• Implement effective prevention and intervention strategies

A recent study in Maine found that 78% of surveyed perpetrators used workplace resources to express remorse or anger, check up on, pressure or threaten the victim.

Prevalence Of Domestic Violence

in the workplace In 2005, a national benchmark survey of 1200 employed adults (age 18 plus) by the Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence found that intimate partner violence has a wide and far-reaching effect on Americans working lives:

• 44% of employed adults surveyed personally experienced the effects of domestic violence
• 21% of respondents (men and women) identified themselves as victims of intimate partner violence
• 64% of victims of domestic violence indicated that their ability to work was affected by the violence.

American Bar Association Commison

Studies reported on in 2006 by the American Bar Association Commission on Domestic Violence reflect that:

• 30-53% of employed victims of domestic violence lose their jobs due at least in part to the abuse
• 78% reported being late to work as a result of domestic violence
• 47% reported being assaulted before work
• 67% said the perpetrator came to the workplace
• 96-98% of employed domestic violence victims experienced problems at work related to the abuse