Working to End Domestic Violence: American Workplaces Respond to an Epidemic

Changing the Face of American Business

Over the past two decades, the American workplace has changed dramatically. Until fairly recently, it has been a place that focused almost exclusively on "getting the job done," where workers were expected to leave their problems and personal lives at home - or risked losing their jobs.

More and more, employers today recognize that personal, "real life" problems affect job performance, and job performance affects the bottom line. Because of this change, employers now routinely offer employees a full spectrum of assistance programs to help them deal with issues such as drug addiction, family problems and AIDS - finding that doing so is ultimately more cost-effective than leaving employees to solve these problems on their own. Increasingly, employers across the U.S. are addressing domestic violence by implementing programs and policies that respond to and help prevent abuse and treat it as a preventable health problem and bottom-line business issue.

Domestic Violence: Today, It's a Workplace Issue

Domestic violence affects the workplace.

One in three American women report that they have been physically abused by a husband or boyfriend at some point in their lives ⁱ
Sixty-six percent of Fortune 1000 senior executives surveyed say they believe their company's financial performance would benefit from addressing domestic violence among their employees. Forty-seven percent say domestic violence has a harmful effect on the company's productivity, and 44% say that it increases health care costs. ⁱⁱ
Domestic violence results in hundreds of millions of dollars in health care costs in the U.S., much of which is paid for by employer benefits. ⁱⁱⁱ
American employees miss 175,000 days per year of paid work due to domestic violence. ^iv

Agenda for the Future: Model Workplace Practices

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.

Model practices for companies of the future include:

Manager Training: Trainings for managers - about how to recognize the signs of domestic violence in their staff and how to discuss the workplace policies around the issue - can raise awareness and increase sensitivity.

Security Security can play a critical role in protecting an employee at work. Employees can provide security personnel with a photograph of a batterer in case he comes to the workplace. Additional best practices include: special training in domestic violence, 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 (EAPs) or other counseling services can provide their employees with therapists trained to counsel on domestic violence. Companies without EAPs can maintain lists of resources in the community that specialize in domestic violence.

Leave and Benefit Policies: Employers can accommodate employees' needs for flexibility in their schedules by not penalizing them 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.

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.

Disciplining Abusers: Companies can have policies in place that discipline abusive employees who are violent at work, including those who use workplace phones, faxes or email 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.

American Workplaces Respond

Most battered women are working women. Employers across the U.S. are implementing policies that educate and support victims of domestic violence. In addition to pro-active personnel policies and employee support services, some American companies and unions are going the extra mile to fight domestic violence. Examples of leadership in responding to domestic violence include:

Verizon Wireless - Verizon Wireless embraces a philosophy of commitment to the community and to the workplace. Through its HopeLine® program, the company focuses primarily on putting wireless products and services to work to combat domestic violence. The company understands that domestic violence is an epidemic that devastates neighbors, friends and co-workers. As such, it dedicates its resources to both the prevention of domestic violence and the life rebuilding process.

One-third of American women report abuse at some point in their lives. Domestic violence can affect anyone, anytime and often permeates the workplace. Among Verizon Wireless' priorities is raising awareness and ensuring the safety of victims while at work. These efforts include: policies that establish a culture of awareness and assistance internally, employee volunteerism, executive leadership, and company commitment to external organizations. Verizon Wireless also works to inspire businesses throughout the nation to join the fight against domestic violence.

Blue Shield of California - Blue Shield of California's "Domestic Violence Initiative" includes many components, and carries the theme to "take the message to business." Partnering with local programs such as the YWCA and domestic violence shelters, Blue Shield of California has provided in-business domestic violence prevention sessions across the state. The company has produced workplace organizing kits and a video, "Thirty Seconds at a Time," on domestic violence and the workplace response. Blue Shield is highly visible in supporting local shelters, from co-sponsoring a march and resource fair to supporting employees who serve on shelters' boards of directors. Blue Shield of California has also reached out to the medical community, developing interventions to support physicians in their efforts to screen and treat victims of domestic violence.
Additionally, The FVPF's National Workplace Resource Center on Domestic Violence and Blue Shield of California have joined together on a ground-breaking new domestic violence education program, funded by the Global Corporate Citizenship Initiative of The Hitachi Foundation. The program will develop domestic violence curricula and train trainers in California and nine other states.

The Limited Inc. - Each Limited, Inc. associate is provided with domestic violence resource information in the annually distributed associate handbook, and training sessions have been conducted for all of the company's human resource managers and executives. Recently the Limited conducted forums on domestic violence and its impact on the workplace for human resource executives in the greater Columbus and Albuquerque areas. The Limited, Inc. also created the Columbus Family Violence Coalition, comprised of social service agencies, local justice professionals including judges and the city attorney, as well as representatives from nearby hospitals, foundations and The United Way. The coalition works to achieve collective and collaborative effort in the area of family and workplace violence.

Polaroid Corporation - Polaroid offers support groups and lunchtime seminars to educate employees on the issue, and has implemented personnel policies - including flexible work hours, short-term paid leaves and long-term unpaid leaves - to accommodate employees who need time off to seek safety, attend court appearances or find new housing. The company also donates to shelters, and trains law enforcement professionals on domestic violence injury documentation.

Liz Claiborne, Inc. - Liz Claiborne's "Women's Work" program includes employee outreach, local awareness campaigns in targeted communities, and national outreach. Local campaigns have included billboard and radio public service announcements in San Francisco, Boston and Miami. Nationally, the company has sought to raise awareness about domestic violence through projects such as a television public service announcement series targeting men that featured college football players, and a radio PSA series featuring high-profile male recording artists.

Marshalls, Inc. - Marshalls, Inc. created the Marshalls Domestic Peace Prize, a fund to which employees may donate during the annual giving campaign, which periodically awards $10,000 grants to innovative programs working to prevent domestic violence.

Acme Materials and Construction - Employees of this Spokane, Washington-based construction company, with a mostly-male staff, adopted "graduates" of a transitional program for battered women and their children, giving each family toys, clothes, household items, and gift certificates for food every Christmas.

Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo - "Mintz Levin," a large law firm with offices in Boston and Washington, DC, provides all employees with information, training and free legal assistance when needed, on domestic violence issues. They also provide pro bono legal assistance to battered women.

American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME) - AFSCME has conducted trainings for all of its members nationwide. In addition, its District Council 37 in New York City has gone even further, offering comprehensive services to its union members living with domestic abuse, including both legal and social work service benefits. The social work staff provides crisis intervention, counseling, housing relocation, and mediation on domestic violence job-related issues.

The Federal Government Responds: Violence Against Women Act 1999

Like the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) that was signed into law in 1994, VAWA '99 is a comprehensive package that contains many provisions aimed at stopping violence against women, with several that address domestic violence in the workplace. VAWA '99, H.R. 357, in the House of Representatives, has 169 co-sponsors.

Key workplace components in the House version include:

A federally funded national clearinghouse on domestic violence as it affects the workplace;
The Battered Women's Employment Protection Act: This bill would expand the Family and Medical Leave Act to allow unpaid time off to employees needing leave for domestic violence-related court appearances, counseling, relocation to a woman's shelter, and more. The bill also makes it possible for a woman to obtain unemployment benefits if she leaves her job due to domestic violence - for example, if she needs to leave the area or go into hiding;
The Victim's Employment Rights Act: This bill protects an employee from workplace discrimination based on the employee's status as a domestic violence, stalking or rape victim;
The Workplace Violence Prevention Tax Credit, a bill that offers employers a tax credit for money spent on domestic violence prevention at work, including increased lighting or other security measures, education of employees and more;
A grants program to non-profits and states to provide domestic violence training to individuals likely to come into contact with victims of domestic violence - for example, justice system professionals, individuals administering Federal and State benefits programs, campus personnel, religious professionals and health care professionals.

The Senate version of the bill, S. 51, referred to as the Violence Against Women Act II, or VAWA II, was introduced by Senator Joseph Biden (D-DE) on January 19, 1999 and now has 43 cosponsors. While S. 51 includes numerous provisions to end violence against women, the primary workplace provision included in the bill is the national clearinghouse on domestic violence.

In addition to S.51, Senators Paul Wellstone (D-MN), Patty Murray (D-WA), and Charles Schumer (D-NY) joined forces to introduce the Battered Women's Economic Security and Safety Act on May 18, 1999. The Battered Women's Economic Security and Safety Act, or BWESSA, S. 1069, is a comprehensive package of legislative proposals designed to address the needs of victims of domestic violence in the areas of housing, insurance discrimination, access to legal advocacy, protections for immigrant women, and women participating in Social Security Act programs, and in the workplace. Combined, S. 51 and S. 1069 include the majority of the proposals in H.R. 357, the House version of VAWA '99.

For more information about the workplace response to domestic violence, contact Jeffrey Betcher, Family Violence Prevention Fund, (415) 252-8900 or Lisa Lederer at (202) 371-1999.

ⁱ Domestic Violence Advertising Campaign Tracking Survey (Wave IV) conducted for The Advertising Council and the Family Violence Prevention Fund, July-October, 1996.
ⁱⁱ Roper Starch Worldwide study for Liz Claiborne, Inc., 1994.
ⁱⁱⁱ Pennsylvania Blue Shield Institute, Social Problems and Rising Health Care Costs in Pennsylvania, 1992, pp. 3-5.
^iv Family Violence, Richard Gelles, Sage Publications, Newbury Park, 1987, p.13.

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