Domestic Violence and the Workplace

Domestic violence happens with such frequency that it’s very likely a business owner will employ a victim, offender or both at some time. The cost to employers can be great when you consider a victim’s potential need for increased medical care and time off for court dates.

In fact, the Centers for Disease Control estimates that domestic violence costs American employers between $3 billion to $5 billion in productivity every year. Victims of domestic violence also incur an estimated $1,775 in annual medical costs, according to the CDC.

DA Sullivan and Mary Kociela

Meanwhile, a majority of perpetrators of domestic violence report using workplace resources to threaten their victims, contact their victims’ workplaces and also report having difficulties working, according to a study by Employers Against Domestic Violence, a Massachusetts-based non-profit group linking employers and domestic violence experts.

Understanding the related safety and legal issues can ease the burden on supervisors and human resource staff and help to create a safe work environment.

In the videos on this page, District Attorney Sullivan and NWDA Director of Domestic Violence and Adult Sexual Assault Programs Mary Kociela are the first speakers at a May 2014 conference in Northampton addressing how employers can prepare and protect employees and businesses from the high human and economic tolls that domestic violence takes on both victims' and abusers' workplaces.

Kate Van Cort French and Yoko Kato

In the second video, Kate Van Cort French talks about her personal experience of Domestic Violence Homicide Impacts on the Workplace, and in the last two videos, Attorney Courtney Cahill presents on Employers Responding to Domestic Violence, Parts 1 and 2.

Attorney Courtney Cahill: Employers Responding to DomesticViolence (Part 1)

Attorney Courtney Cahill: Employers Responding to Domestic Violence (Part 2)

Click the following links for accompanying materials: The Cost of Domestic Violence in the Workplace Fact Sheet, Gov. Deval Patrick's 2007 Executive Order Regarding Domestic Violence and the Workplace and Domestic Violence and the Workplace: Best Practices.

For more information, contact Katie Rosewarne