When Does an Employee’s Domestic Violence Issue Become Your Company's Problem?

As a workplace domestic violence (DV) expert, one of the questions I hear most often from corporate security leaders is:

"When does an employee's personal DV situation become our business?"

My answer is always the same: The moment you know about it.

Not because employers are responsible for what happens in an employee's home. They aren't. But once an organization becomes aware that domestic violence may create a risk to employees, customers, contractors, or visitors, it is no longer just a personal matter. It becomes a workplace safety issue. 

If an employee reports threats, stalking, harassment, protection orders, unwanted visits, or fears that an abusive partner may come to work, the organization now has knowledge of a potential hazard. And when a hazard is known, or “reasonably foreseeable”, employers have both a legal and ethical obligation to take reasonable steps to protect their people. That's where many organizations get into trouble.

Too often, domestic violence is treated as a private issue between two individuals. Leaders may sympathize with the employee but hesitate to get involved because they don't want to intrude into someone's personal life, or “open a can of worms” for the organization, mistakenly believing that staying on the sidelines is safer than entering the fight. The problem is that in domestic violence, the fight rarely stays confined to the home. When an abusive partner starts calling the workplace, showing up unannounced, monitoring parking lots, threatening employees, violating protection orders, or stalking a victim during work hours, the risk has already crossed the threshold from personal to organizational.

And from both a safety and liability perspective, foreseeability matters.

The legal question is rarely whether an employer could predict the exact day, time, or method of an attack. The question is whether there were warning signs that would have led a reasonable person to recognize a potential danger and take action. In workplace violence cases, those warning signs often exist long before the violence occurs.

·      An employee discloses that their ex-partner has threatened to harm them

·      Coworkers report seeing the individual in the parking lot

·      Security receives repeated complaints about unwanted visits

·      A protection order is served

·      A supervisor learns that the employee is afraid for their safety at work

Each piece of information may seem insignificant on its own. Together, they can create a foreseeable risk that employers ignore at their own peril. 

The stakes are higher than many organizations realize. Nearly one-third of workplace violence is connected to domestic violence. And according to research on mass shootings, approximately 57% of mass shootings are connected to domestic violence through either the offender's history or the incident itself. The intended victim is rarely the only person at risk, with “corollary victims” (people other than the primary victim) killed in at least 20% in intimate partner homicides. Coworkers, receptionists, security personnel, managers, customers, and visitors can all find themselves in the path of violence that was never directed at them in the first place.

This is why domestic violence should never be viewed solely through the lens of employee wellness or HR. It is a workplace violence prevention issue. But beyond the legal considerations lies an even more important question:

What obligation do employers have to the people who come to work every day expecting a safe environment?

Most leaders would agree that if they knew a serious threat existed, they would want to do something about it. The challenge is creating a culture where those threats are identified early enough to act. Organizations that want to reduce both liability and human harm should focus on four priorities:

1) Cultivate an environment that encourages disclosure: Employees cannot report concerns if they fear embarrassment, stigma, retaliation, or career consequences. 

2) Develop clear policies: Employees and managers should understand how DV concerns are reported, assessed, and addressed.

3) Train supervisors, HR, security, and threat assessment teams: Warning signs are only useful if people know how to recognize them and respond appropriately.

4) Create response plans: Every organization should have a process for assessing risk, implementing safety measures, and supporting affected employees, before a crisis occurs.

The organizations most vulnerable to DV spillover are often not the ones experiencing the most DV. They are the ones experiencing it without knowing it. DV is not just a private matter. It is a recognized workplace hazard that affects safety, productivity, morale, retention, and organizational risk. The good news is that employers do not have to choose between respecting employee privacy and protecting their workforce. They can do both.

The first step is recognizing that the minute domestic violence enters the workplace, it becomes everybody's business.

For organizations seeking guidance on addressing domestic violence risks in the workplace, Presage Consulting and Training, LLC provides specialized, expert training and consulting for security, HR, and threat assessment teams. Learn more at www.presagetraining.com‍ ‍