Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 18 October 2022
Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth
Organisation of Working Time (Domestic Violence Leave) Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed)
Dr. Nata Duvvury:
On the suite of other measures or reasonable accommodations, leave is one element, but there needs to be flexible working arrangements.
It has been tested in other legislation. New Zealand has flexible working arrangements. It is also articulated that if a woman experiencing domestic violence requests flexible working arrangements, the employer must try to facilitate this. Interestingly, this is also an element in many state-level policies in the United States. As Deputy Cairns knows, the US has no federal legislation on domestic violence. Everything in the US is under the Family and Medical Leave Act. At the state level, many states have specific domestic violence leave measures. They have articulated the importance of ensuring that flexible working arrangements are possible for a domestic violence survivor to request and that this request must be seriously considered by the employer.
Financial support is also important. This has been well-articulated in Vodafone's policy and by some of the businesses that have domestic violence leave policies. They have either given loans for accommodation or to meet the costs of moving. It can be a loan, a grant or any kind of financial assistance.
The third idea comes from the US. It involves employers supporting women to get safety orders to address harassment by the perpetrator at the workplace. We know that for a majority of women who experience domestic violence, the act of violence does not stop at the home. It travels to work and to the office. Employers have seen their employees be killed at the workplace. It has created a great concern. Employers can play a role in seeking protection orders for employees. It may involve support for the woman to seek an employment protection order or the employer reaching out to services to help the woman to get a protection order. Employers also need to interact with and have a vast referral network to other services. These are some of the accommodations.
I am sorry. What was Deputy Cairns's other question?