By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
Domestic violence costs U.S. employers billions of dollars each year in lost productivity, health care costs and absenteeism.
Victims of intimate partner violence lose a total of 8 million days of paid work each year, and the cost of intimate partner violence exceeds $8.3 billion per year, according to a study published in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology.
Statistically it is likely that a person who is being abused is working with you.
Related: Read about how a woman escaped her abuser and fled to Kansas
A 2005 national telephone survey by the Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence found 21 percent of full-time employed adults were victims of domestic violence and 64 percent of them indicated their work performance was significantly impacted.
In this survey, 40 percent of the respondents who were being abused said they lost productivity because of harassment by their partner at work.
Options, a non-profit group that works with survivors of domestic violence, is trying to educate the business public about what employers can do to help survivors of violence and what legal obligations they have to their employees.
Kelsey Hogan, Options shelter services coordinator, said OSHA requires employers to provide safe environments for their employees.
Between 2003 and 2008, 142 women were murdered in their workplace by their abusers.
She suggested all businesses have a policy in place on how to deal with domestic violence. This can include information about spotting signs of abuse and what supervisors, human relations coordinators and co-workers should do to respond.
Examples of these policies include sections on what to do if you have an abuser working for you.
Under Kansas law, employers are required to allow survivors of sexual assault or domestic violence up to eight days off work for the following:
• Obtaining or trying to obtain a restraining order for the survivor or his or her children
• Seeking medical care for injuries resulting from domestic violence or sexual assault
• Obtaining services from a domestic violence or rape crisis program
• Appearing in court proceeding related to domestic violence or sexual assault.
Employers are barred from discriminating or firing an employee for taking this leave.
A survivor may use paid leave if he or she has it available or unpaid leave if it is not.
Domestic violence and sexual assault survivors are not obligated to tell their employers that they have been abused or assaulted.
However, if they wish to take time off under Kansas law, they may be asked to submit documentation of the following:
• Police report
• Court order
• Documentation the survivor is receiving treatment from a medical provider or counselor because of domestic violence or sexual assault.
• Documentation from a domestic violence or sexual assault advocate stating the survivor is reeking service.
Survivors should give notice to employers in advance if they have to be absent because of domestic violence or sexual assault. However, if a survivor is unable to give notice, he or she can still give the above documentation to the employer within 48 hours and still receive protection under the law.
Employers are required to keep information about such absences and the documentation confidential.
Unemployment benefits may be available to survivors if they can show they had to leave their jobs because the survivors, their spouses or their children were victims of domestic violence.
Hogan said she wants employers and co-workers to get involved. However, when Hays employers and human relations leaders were invited to a recent presentation on domestic violence in the workplace, no one showed up.
Hogan said a variety of signs may indicate a person is being abused and they are not all physical.
Seeing bruises or physical injuries is an obvious sign, but survivors may wear long sleeves even in the summer to cover injuries.
Other signs ay include:
• Missing a lot of work
• Tardiness
• Decrease in work quality
• Becoming isolated from co-workers
• Feeling forced to stick to a strict schedule
• Co-worker may seem anxious, upset or depressed.
• Co-worker may avoid people or not answer the door or phone
• Financial consequences could include not being allowed to handle his or her own money and overdrawn accounts, foreclosures, evictions or wage garnishments.
• Legal issues, including divorce, child custody or a child abuse investigations
If you believe someone is being abused, Hogan suggested being honest and direct.
“I would come right out and talk to someone,” she said. “If I saw someone at work with bruises, I would come out say, ‘Do you need help?”
She said she would take the person aside in a quite safe place.
Options suggests the following:
• Tell the person what you see
• Express concern without giving advice or judging
• Show support
• Refer to help
(Options has a 24-hour hotline at 1-800-794-4624)
Abusers and survivors can come from all walks of life, Hogan said.
“Just because someone is well-respected in the community that does not mean they may not be an abuser,” she said. “As human beings, we want to expect the best of people.”
Hogan said it is very important when a survivor comes forward they are believed.
“When a survivor comes forward, we have to make sure a door is not slammed in their face,” she said.
Options provides personal, medical, court, law enforcement, youth/child and parent/child advocacy, as well as crisis intervention, a safe shelter, counseling, support groups, community education and a 24-hour Helpline.
Many of Options services are designed to walk survivors through the medical and legal steps necessary to report an assault or to leave an abuser. Counseling helps survivors rebuild lives after leaving an abusive situation or recovering from an assault.
For more information about Options or to refer someone, call 785-625-4202. Options’ 24-hour hotline is 1-800-794-4624. No appointment is needed to seek Options’ services. The Hays office is located at 2716 Plaza Ave.
Options offers educational presentations for individual business and organization. The organization is also always in need of volunteers and donations. Information on any of the above can be obtained by calling the main administration line.