What Happens When Domestic Violence Comes to Work

Domestic or intimate partner violence is not a “personal” problem that stays at home. When domestic violence leaves home, it often becomes workplace violence.

A former partner (nearly always a male) may not know where his ex-partner lives, but chances are he knows where she works or where her kids to go school.  He shows up at those places – most often armed and dangerous.  When this happens, of course, the assaulted worker is by the stress of the incident and the repercussions can have significant effects on the mental health, and ultimately the productivity at work, of everyone involved.

In the last decade, nearly 33% of women killed in U.S. workplaces were killed by a current or former intimate partner and 44% of American employees have experienced at least one incident or effect from domestic violence in the workplace.*

·         The cost to society of intimate partner violence, rape, and stalking exceeds $8.3 billion annually inclusive of health care costs and lost productivity

·         14% of all homicides in the US are committed by current or former intimate partners,

·         Over 70% of the victims being female and disproportionately women of color.

Luckily Melissa got the help she needed.  Here is another story, which unfortunately reflects the reality for many survivors of domestic violence:

In 2013, a teacher in San Diego was fired from her job simply because she is a victim of domestic violence. Earlier this year her abusive ex-husband appeared in the school parking lot to confront the victim. He was arrested and subsequently incarcerated, but several months later the school decided the victim’s mere presence created a “risk” that he would reappear, and fired her.

Many employers remain unprepared to address domestic violence in the workplace, lacking formal policies to address workplace incidents and as a result, when incidents do occur, a first reaction may be to penalize the victim because it seems like the easiest way to address the problem.  

The people who most need support and healing are told that they are the problem.  The loss of a job thanks to abuse can end up cutting off a lifeline to end that abuse. Three-quarters of women report staying with their abuser longer because of economic reasons.

Although we can’t stop all workplace assaults, there are several things that can be done to prevent domestic-based threats from coming to work. As an employer:

1. Understand and educate your workforce about this phenomenon.  Ignorance is not bliss.

2. Have an open-door, confidential process where employees can share personal matters that may impact the workplace – especially if they fear for their safety.

3. To do this, you’ll need a policy on how these reports will be acted upon. Every organization should have overall workplace violence policy.  Click here to see FCR’s workplace violence policy.

4. Control access to your facility. It should not be easy for an angry spouse or strangers to stroll into your building unnoticed, especially once the potential for violence is disclosed by your employee.

As an employee, if your organization does not have workplace violence policies in place, start the conversation!  Speaking up could make all the difference for your colleagues one day.

*19 Scarey Domestic Violence in the Workplace Statistics May 26, 2017 by Brandon Gaille