Blake & Associates, Inc.

Domestic violence knows no geographical boundaries. It can occur at home, the shopping center, or while at work. Each location provides a similar, but somewhat different, prevention strategy. The business owner plays a vital role in domestic violence prevention that cannot be avoided or delegated to another entity or contractor. As the business owner or manager, YOU are responsible for the safety and security of your employees, customers and visitors.

There are two primary ways to approach the domestic violence problem that could occur at your business. One approach is similar to that of a Fram Oil Filter advertisement of many years ago–”Pay Me Now, or Pay Me Later.” Translated into 21st Century language, it means that you can pay up front to protect against a problem or ignore the problem and pay a much greater price at a later time to correct the initial and subsequent problems created by your failure to take preventive action. The second approach is to take proactive measures to prevent a problem and avoid the resulting high costs of turning your back on an obvious potentially costly issue. A penny saved is not necessarily a penny earned!

Domestic Violence–A Workplace Issue

Five Ways to Fight Domestic Violence

1. Know What Domestic Violence Is
2. Develop A Safety Plan.
3. Call 911.
4. Exercise Your Legal Rights
5. Get Help For The Family So That The Violence Will Stop

Domestic violence is a liability issue as well as a financial issue. Employers are more concerned about violence in the workplace than they were 20 years ago. Media accounts of workplace shootings, often related to domestic violence, are becoming everyday news. The increase in negligent security litigation cases illustrates the potential financial loss when someone is injured at work.

Normally, employees injured in the course of their employment are limited to the workers’ compensation system to recover for injuries and lost wages. A lawsuit may not be initiated based on the employer’s negligence, even if the injuries are caused by an assault. Exception to the workers’ compensation bar may exist in some states for claims of gross negligence or intentional misconduct by the employer. Gross negligence is often described as a failure to exercise almost any care or, in the face of a responsibility, a conscious disregard for one’s duty to comply with certain standards. It is equivalent to conscious disregard for even minimally accepted practices.1

Domestic violence in the workplace can give rise to potentially costly legal issues. The lethality of domestic violence often increases when the batterer discovers the victim has moved to another residence. Because of laws enacted to protect victims of domestic violence, locating the victim is extremely difficult. For numerous reasons, the victim cannot or will not change employment, leading to the only location where the assailant can locate and harm her/him.

“Legally, employers are required by federal OSHA and state laws to provide a safe environment for all employees. If an employer is put on notice that domestic violence exists and the threats are affecting an employee at the workplace, the employer must act on that knowledge. If one chooses not to act, an enormous liability exists to the corporation”

Patricia Howze,
Vice President and Senior Legal Counsel
Wells Fargo and Company2

In addition to the premises liability, negligent security and OSHA statutes, other federal or state laws may apply. For example:

• Family and medical leave laws may require employers to grant leave to employees who are coping with domestic violence situations.
• Victim assistance laws may prohibit employers from taking adverse job actions against victims who disclose their situation or who take time off from their jobs to attend court appearances.
• Under certain circumstances, acts of violence may constitute a form of sexual harassment, which may violate federal or state anti-discrimination laws. This is true if the abusive partner creates a hostile environment at the workplace, and the company knowingly fails to take reasonable corrective action, such as informing security personnel of the problem and instructing Security to take appropriate steps.3

Domestic violence is an important business issue that cannot be ignored. The adverse effects of this problem relate to a vital core of corporate interests–employee relations, public perception, productivity, costs, safety, and liability.

Management Responsibilities For A Safe Workplace

Management has addressed the workplace domestic violence problem in many different ways. Some have truly recognized the problem and the need for a programmed approach to it solutions. Others have sent a mixed message to both the abused and the batterer.

A 2001 Massachusetts study of a limited number of offenders identified some conflicts in management response to domestic violence. Among the findings were:

• Most abusers used company phones, e-mail, and vehicles in order to perpetrate domestic violence.
• Most abusers used paid work time in order to attend court for matters relating to their perpetration of domestic violence.
• Most employers expressed support for the abuser, but few expressed concern for the victim.
• 10% of employers posted bail for abusers or granted them paid leaves of absence for court dates related to domestic violence.4

The findings in the Massachusetts study demonstrate that some employers have a twisted approach to preventing domestic violence in the workplace. Their actions send a contradictory message to the abused and abuser alike. In effect, through expressions of support and by posting bail, they are saying they support the abuser’s actions.

Prevention of workplace domestic violence requires a consistent and coordinated response from all organizational levels. Executive management must set the tone for the overall program through the development of strategies to accomplish program objectives. They must demand strict compliance by all staff members. Management involvement is best expressed through periodic communications from the highest executive level. These communications should, as a minimum, include relevant policies personally signed by the senior executive, compulsory attendance by all executives, managers, supervisors, and other staff members at periodic training and retraining sessions, and comments on related topics in newsletters and other in-house publications.

The supervisor with daily contact with employees is the key ingredient in any domestic violence prevention program. They should be aware of daily performance levels and actions of their subordinates, thus giving them a vital insight into potential problems. This is the “know your employees” element of the supervisory role.

There must be a degree of confidence that allows the domestic violence victim to confide in the supervisor and allow actions to be taken to reduce the risks of injury or harassment. Upon initial identification of a potential problem, additional company resources should be marshaled to expeditiously and confidentially address the problem: the security representative for physical protection, and human resources to provide counseling and, when available, participation in the Employee Assistance Program.

Developing A Domestic Violence Safety Plan

Developing an appropriate safety response requires a two-pronged approach: development of a comprehensive plan by management and providing potential victims with an insight into actions they can take for self-protection.

There are certain critical elements to developing a clear and comprehensive plan. Employers should profile their workplace risks, determine what preventative measures are in effect, and identify what additional resources are needed. Mark Braverman, a workplace violence consultant, advocates avoiding “off the shelf” violence prevention plans. A clerk in a bank faces different dangers than a computer programmer in an office or a nurse in an emergency department. A viable safety plan can best be developed by assigning the project to a committee with company-wide representation, including unions, labor relations, safety, security, medical, legal, human resources, and top management.5

It is a good idea for women facing violence to create a safety plan, both for home and for work. These are some suggestions provided by the Family Violence Prevention Fund:

• Talk with someone at your workplace you trust, such as your supervisor, human resources manager or employee assistance counselor.
• Notify Security of your safety concerns. Provide a picture of the abuser and a copy of protective orders to Security, supervisors, and reception area staff.
• Have your calls screened, transfer harassing calls to Security, or remove your name and number from automated phone directories.
• Review the safety of your parking arrangements. Have Security escort you to your car, and obtain a parking space near the building entrance.
• Ask co-workers to call the police if the abuser threatens or harasses you at work.
• Ask for flexible or alternate hours.
• Ask to relocate your work space to a more secure area.
• Review the safety of your child care arrangements. Give a picture of your abuser and a copy of the protective order to the day care provider. If necessary, consider selecting a new day care site.

Where there is a formal security force, it is vitally important that they be properly trained for their critical role of preventing domestic violence. Unfortunately, many proprietary and contract security forces do not have the appropriate level of training. Proper training requires a formalized program as well as strict enforcement of pertinent security policies and procedures.

The security representative should conduct a review of security measures to ensure that they adequately protect potential victims of abuse. The measures for the victim’s protection identified above, should be incorporated into the overall safety plan. Additionally, enforcement of property and building access policies, review of parking lot lighting adequacy, and security officer response should be evaluated. The temporary installation of a duress alarm at the employees workstation is another measure to be considered.

Other security measures that should be considered include:

• Ask these questions:
  • Could a stalker talk a security officer or receptionist 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?”
• Victims should be moved to a location where they do not sit with their back to a door, lobby, or street-level window.
• There should be barriers, i.e., desks, dividers, walls, furniture, between the victim and entrances that an abuser 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 justify this action and the victim wants to be relocated.
• Document each report of domestic violence in the workplace. All incident reports should be treated as sensitive company documents with limited distribution
  • All reports of threatening or harassing behavior should be evaluated by competent personnel to determine the extent of the risk to the individual and the organization. The opinion of the victim must be included in this assessment, as she/he is most likely the one person who best knows the thinking and tactics of the abuser.
  • Support the prosecution of the offender. This helps prevent further incidents from occurring at work, and it shows support for victims and their families.6

Summary

The development of a viable domestic violence safety plan for the workplace requires vigorous management involvement and direction, the assistance of the victim, interaction with Security to identify and enforce appropriate preventive measures, supervisory assistance to identify potential problems and support victims, and aggressive action by all staff members to deter the abuser.

Prior planning with interdisciplinary input is an absolute necessity. Events can occur so rapidly that, without a planned approach, chaos will reign and there will be a greater potential for injury to the victim and innocent bystanders.

Fail in this endeavor and the business will suffer numerous direct and indirect costs, including very costly litigation. “Pay Me Now, or Pay Me Later” should be the key decision factor!
1 Workplace Violence and Employer Liability, www.liabilityconsultants.com, Liability Consultants, Inc., Sudbury, MA
2 Workplace Policies and Programs, www.endabuse.org, Family Violence Prevention Fund, San Francisco, CA 2002
3 Get the Facts–Domestic Violence and the Workplace, www.endabuse.org, Family Violence Prevention Fund, San Francisco, CA 2002
4 How Employees Who Batter Affect the Workplace, Employers Against Domestic Violence, Boston, MA, 2001
5 When Violence Comes to Work, National Safety Council, Orlando Chapter, Orlando, FL, 2001
6 Workplace Policies and Programs, www.endabuse.org, Family Violence Prevention Fund, San Francisco, CA 2002