Domestic Violence in the Workplace

Definition

Domestic Violence in the Workplace is any physical assault, threatening behavior, or verbal abuse occurring in the work setting. Examples of workplace violence include:

• Threats or obscene phone calls
• Intimidation
• Harassment of any nature (i.e. being followed; being verbally harassed).

UNC Health Care Domestic Violence Team

The UNC Health Care Domestic Violence Team is composed of Employee Relations, Hospital Police and The Beacon Program. Each department provides expertise that will help employees and their supervisor cope with situations of domestic violence in the workplace.  It is hospital policy that all employees are required to report to their supervisor if they have a current Domestic Violence Protective Order.

This will trigger a Domestic Violence Team meeting with the employee and supervisor. All efforts are made to keep the employee’s situation confidential unless the risk level is high enough that it would be unsafe not to inform the employee’s coworkers. The team assesses the risk to the employee and the institution and makes recommendations for the employee to follow.

The employee or supervisor may contact any of these departments if they have questions or concerns with any other situations of domestic violence in the workplace.  These departments will gladly provide advice.

Are you a UNC Health Care manager? See this powerpoint presentation on your responsibilities and how to contact the Domestic Violence Team.

Beacon Program Services

• Evaluation
• Counseling
• Support
• Information on legal issues, how abuse affects a woman, how other women deal with violence
• Referrals to health care providers
• Referrals to community agencies
• Follow-up sessions
• How to handle problems after you leave the relationship

Signs of Domestic Violence in the Workplace

• Changes in behavior and work performance.
• Increased or unexplained absences or arriving late.
• Harassing phone calls from the abuser.
• Bruises or injuries that are unexplained or come with explanations that just do not add up

Impact of abusers on the workplace

• Making physical or sexual assaults or threats against the woman, children, or her co-workers; threats of suicide; threats to take the children or destroy property.
• Making her account for every minute of the day (i.e. abuser may follow her or make frequent phone calls to monitor her whereabouts).
• Canceling her appointments with her health care provider or sabotaging her attempts to attend appointments by not providing childcare or transportation.
• Controlling her use of sick/vacation time (i.e. abuser may have her explain the sick/vacation time she used as reported on her pay stub).
• Making her late for work or sabotaging her performance (i.e. abuser may keep her up all night, destroy her professional clothes, sabotage childcare arrangements, or undermine her training/advancement so she would risk getting fired).
• Isolating her from co-workers, friends, and family so that she had no support system other than the abuser.