Private Lives, Workplace Problem: Preventing Domestic Violence at Work

When an intern for Liz Claiborne, Inc., the women’s clothing manufacturer headquartered in New York City, was being harassed by an ex-boyfriend, the company security department immediately intervened. She was provided with daily escorts to her train station, and she was told to call the company’s dispatch center each evening to confirm that she arrived home safely. Security also contacted her local police department, which stopped the boyfriend from harassing her any further.

Liz Claiborne is an exemplary company that is proactive in the fight against domestic violence in the workplace. With domestic violence victims increasingly protected under antidiscrimination laws, all employers should be taking notes and beefing up their domestic violence prevention policies and controls.

Protecting Domestic Violence Victims and the Workplace

Here are some basic security measures that your company may wish to take to safeguard your employees against domestic violence incidents:

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• Encourage employees to notify their supervisors of outstanding restraining orders.
• Provide photos of the batterer to security personnel.
• Create a buddy or escort system to walk employees to and from the parking lot.
• Consider offering nearby parking spots for threatened employees.
• Provide a portable alarm that the employee can activate if confronted by the attacker at work.
• Consider purchasing surveillance equipment, such as closed-circuit television cameras.
• Provide counseling services or a hot line, and make information resources available to the employee.
• Make sure procedures limiting access to the worksite, such as requiring ID cards, are stringently enforced.
• Transfer threatened employees from frontline customer service areas to back offices or even to other worksites or cities.
• You can seek a restraining order on behalf of an employee who either has suffered violence at work or has been threatened. You can also obtain a protective order that applies to the workplace itself.

Join us on Friday, March 27, and our presenter Bill Gage, a former U.S. Secret Service agent, will show you how to identify 5 critical components for increasing the chances of surviving an active assailant incident. Register Now!

If you learn that a dangerous situation might be developing, take additional precautions. These could include further limiting access to work areas, hiring additional security guards, changing locks and alarm codes, relocating the affected employee, and providing parking lot escorts for all workers.

Domestic violence is not the only type of violence that could threaten your workplace. Learn how to reduce your risk of all types of violence at Safety.BLR.com®.