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Domestic Violence Entitlements: Safe at Home and at Work Tashina Orchiston Project Officer

Domestic Violence Entitlements: Safe at Home and at Work Tashina Orchiston Project Officer t.orchiston@unsw.edu.au. Domestic violence: a labour market issue? 2. Agenda for change: enterprise level and national workplace policy reform Challenges and strategies

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Domestic Violence Entitlements: Safe at Home and at Work Tashina Orchiston Project Officer

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  1. Domestic Violence Entitlements: Safe at Home and at Work Tashina Orchiston Project Officer t.orchiston@unsw.edu.au

  2. Domestic violence: a labour market issue? 2. Agenda for change: enterprise level and national workplace policy reform • Challenges and strategies • Progress to date and the next phase

  3. 1. Context

  4. Domestic violence is a workplace issue... • 2/3 Australian women who report violence by a current partner are in paid employment (ABS 2005, Personal Safety Survey) • 10% of employees in large US study reported some violence from a partner within the past 12 months (A O’Leary-Kelly, C Reeves & E Lean 2008, Coming into the light: intimate partner violence and its effects at work) • Most common form of DV experienced at work: abusive calls, emails (ABS 2005) • Occasionally workplace death, serious injury

  5. Domestic violence is a workplace issue... • Impacts: work performance, morale, productivity • Increased absenteeism? (CA Reeves, C Bates & A O’Leary-Kelly 2006 cf. JE Swanberg & TK Logan 2005) • Between ¼ and ½ of women with history of DV report losing a job, at least in part, due to DV (US Govt 1998) • Poverty trap: more likely to have disrupted work history, be in casual or part time work than women with no experience of DV (S Franzway, C Zufferey & D Chung 2007) • Affects children: parental job loss = relocation, changing schools

  6. Conclusion • Being in employment is a key pathway to leaving a violent relationship • Financial security = • Maintain home and standard of living • Avoid becoming trapped, financially dependent on abusive partner

  7. 2. Reform

  8. Workplace Rights & Entitlements Project • Partnerships • Entitlements • Safety plans • Training

  9. Changes to labour laws? • Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) • Paid leave • Right to request flexible working arrangements • Protection from discrimination • State and federal level, underpin Fair Work Act protections • National OHS harmonisation (2012) • Guidance material to recognise DV

  10. 3. Challenges

  11. Barriers to acting... • A personal matter • Too big, too hard • Resentment towards underperforming worker • Both partners in same workplace

  12. 4 . Progress

  13. Achievements so far • Public sector • 18 NSW state industrial awards now contain DV clauses • Private sector • TransGrid enterprise agreement • Adopted by ACTU Women’s Committee, National Labor Women’s Conference • International interest: • ILO, ITUC, Canada, US, New Zealand...

  14. The next chapter • Funding proposal for 2012: monitoring, evaluation and empirical research • Supporting organisations introducing the clauses with a particular focus on small business

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