health & safety
In the past, it was an accepted attitude that domestic violence
was a personal problem. What happened in the privacy of one’s
home, behind closed doors, was to remain there. In fact, it used
to be widely frowned upon to discuss personal issues at work,
bring feelings or emotions related to personal problems into the
workplace or take time away from the workplace to deal with per-sonal
or family-related issues.
However, thanks to the advent of movements such as
#MeToo and #TimesUp, issues of domestic and sex-ual
violence are being brought to the forefront
of popular conversation. Despite these
movements bringing mass attention to
issues surrounding harassment and
violence, domestic violence is still
rarely discussed; it still seems to
be taboo. For employers, the cul-ture
of secrecy surrounding
domestic violence is problem-atic
because employers have
responsibilities if domestic
violence has the potential to
cause harm in the workplace.
WHAT IS DOMESTIC ABUSE?
Domestic abuse is defined as a pattern or behaviour used by one
person to gain power or control over another person with whom
they have or had an intimate relationship of some sort. Domestic
violence is when the abuse is violent in nature. In 2016, Ontario
passed Bill 132, which expanded the definitions included in its
violence and harassment legislation. However, domestic abuse
was left undefined, although the new bill did outline spe-cific
employer obligations to protect workers who
are victims of domestic abuse. In fact, many
jurisdictions in Canada fail to have proper
definitions and legislation in place to
ensure that victims of domestic abuse
receive the same protections as vic-tims
of workplace harassment,
violence or sexual harassment.
Domestic violence typically
brings to mind images of het-erosexual
marriage unions;
however, domestic abuse per-petrators
can be anyone, in any
Is Domestic Abuse
a Workplace Issue?
IT IS AN EMPLOYER’S RESPONSIBILITY TO ENSURE THE
SAFETY OF ALL STAFF MEMBERS AT WORK
By Jenn Miller
zmiter / 123RF Stock Photo
HRPROFESSIONALNOW.CA ❚ JUNE 2018 ❚ 33
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