Consultant to this Program

Meagan lives with her boyfriend, Jake, and their infant daughter. Meagan is late to work more than she is on time recently. She used to drive, but now Jake drops her off and takes her home. Employees have seen them arguing in the car before Meagan gets out to come into work. The receptionist reports that Jake calls Meagan several times a day and is angry when she doesn’t take the call. Meagan’s performance is deteriorating. She has no more time off left for the year and has made numerous trips to the doctor. Even though it is summer, she has been wearing high-necked and long-sleeved shirts.

Domestic Violence is a Widespread Problem

While in casual conversation, we tend to talk about “work issues” and “home challenges” as separate topics; the truth is that what happens at work often gets taken home for a family to deal with, and what happens in the home follows an employee into the workplace. A dysfunctional or abusive home situation for an employee inevitably affects the workplace. No workplace is immune.

There are some disheartening statistics to consider: Over one million people report a violent assault by an intimate partner every year in this country. (U.S. Dept. of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2000). At least one million women and 371,000 men are victims of stalking each year. Stalkers often follow the victim to the workplace. (U.S. Dept. of Justice, National Institute of Justice, Full Report of the Prevalence, Incidence and Consequences of Violence Against Women, 2000) The U.S. Department of Labor reports that domestic violence incidents make up 27 percent of all violent workplace incidents. In fact, homicide by domestic partners is the most frequent manner in which women are fatally injured in the workplace.

The violence can involve current or former spouses, boyfriends or girlfriends, including same-sex relationships. Domestic violence has no economic, racial, ethnic, religious, or age limits, either.

Workplace Domestic Violence Can Mean Employer Liability

Employers who fail to protect employees from violence in the workplace can be found liable. Lawsuits based on inadequate workplace security yield verdicts averaging $1.2 million. (Perry, P., Assault in the Workplace, Law, May, 1994, pg. 41).

In a 1994 Texas case, La Rose v. State Mutual Life Assurance Co., No. 9322684 (Tex., Harris County 214th Jud. Dist. Ct. Dec. 5, 1994, Francesia La Rose’s violent boyfriend called her supervisor and demanded she be fired. When the supervisor said he would not do that, the boyfriend said he had no choice but to come to the office and kill her. The next day, he walked in to Francesia’s 4^th floor office and shot her to death. Francesia’s family sued her employer for failing to adequately protect her. They obtained nearly one million dollars in settlement.

Francesia’s employer had knowledge that she was being abused as well as knowledge of a direct threat. With that knowledge, the jury found the employer had a duty to protect Francesia when she was at work and failed to do so adequately. Although company security guards had a picture of the boyfriend, the jury’s verdict indicates the guards should have kept him off the premises and locked Francesia’s office.

The Impact on Health Care Costs and Productivity

In our scenario, Meagan has used up all her time off and often visits her doctor. Abused women often suffer from depression and poor health. In 2003, the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services reported that the direct medical and mental health care services for domestic violence victims cost nearly $4.1 million annually. A recent survey reported by EDK Associates found that 56 percent of employees in domestic violence situations were late for work “at least five times per month, 28 percent had to leave work early at least five times per month, and 54 percent missed at least three full days of work per month.”

Meagan’s performance and productivity has dropped significantly. It doesn’t take much imagination to understand that people who are abused have difficulty attending work, concentrating when they are there, or even keeping their job. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that the annual cost of lost production attributable to domestic violence is over 727 million dollars—nearly 8 million paid workdays lost. (U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, March, 2003—Costs of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in the United Stated, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

In the next article in the topic series, we will focus upon what employers can do to address the problem of domestic violence before it enters the workplace.