Keeping Your Staff Safe: Domestic Violence and Working From Home

Warning: This article discusses domestic violence

As an employer, maintaining a safe work environment is imperative. Unfortunately, with the context of COVID-19 and associated increase in domestic violence, working from home cannot be assumed to be safe. Here is what you can do as an employer.

In New Zealand, we recognise that domestic violence is a significant issue that has been exacerbated by COVID-19. This pandemic has restricted movement, forced family members and partners to spend more time together in private spaces (especially when working from home or through job loss), and has made accessibility to domestic violence services even more limited.

The New Zealand Ministry of Justice’s statistics on family violence suggest that the pressures associated with the pandemic may have increased the risk and severity of domestic violence.

• It is essential for employers to be aware of the potential for domestic violence to impact their employees, especially during such challenging times.

As an employer, you may be wondering what this has to do with you. Aside from providing financial security for victims of domestic violence, having a physical workplace provides a social network of support and a neutral public place where staff can be safe.

Your duty to provide a safe workplace does not stop when staff are working from home. And it means more than ensuring staff have a good internet connection.

The Link Between Work And Home

First, let’s look at some examples of what it means when an injury occurs ‘in the course of employment.’ In New Zealand, the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 requires employers to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers, and that others are not put at risk by the work of the business or undertaking. This includes when employees are working from home.

It is acknowledged that the boundaries between work and home have shifted, and employers must consider the safety of the home as a workplace.

What Are Your Legal Obligations As An Employer?

Employees in New Zealand have the right:

• to take family violence leave
• to take personal leave
• to request flexible working arrangements if they are experiencing family violence

Confidentiality

Employers have a legal responsibility to keep information about domestic violence confidential. This is part of keeping an employee experiencing violence safe. The only exception is when an employer must disclose this information to prevent someone from being harmed.

There are multiple barriers to disclosing violence and, if an employer is not taking confidentiality seriously, this could prevent staff from asking that their workplace needs are met.

Flexible Working Arrangements

Flexible working arrangements can mean different working hours, different work duties, or different work locations. It’s something to think about: flexible working arrangements have, in pre-COVID times, implied working from home, whereas now you might want to also consider offering the opposite to provide a safe space.

What Practical Steps Can Employers Take?

So, we know that ensuring a safe work environment is still the employer’s duty even when staff are working from home. Understandably, this might seem hard. After all, you’ve probably never even been to the place you are trying to ensure is safe, and may have little to no knowledge of whether your employee feels safe at home.

It’s also important not to be intrusive of a staff member’s privacy, and demand to know details about their home life that they may not be willing to share. Allowing flexibility, allowing some staff to work from the office, and disclosing this to staff becomes even more important.

We recommend you check out Employment New Zealand’s resources on how to manage family and domestic violence in the workplace.

Employers should aim to have open and secure communication with staff, act in a non-judgemental manner, and ask the staff member what they can do to practically help. It is important employers let their staff know what their rights are, and how workplaces can help. You might want to let staff know about their rights by including this in your workplace policy and procedures, and sending around these updates to staff.

If a staff member opens up to you about domestic violence, you may want to direct them to some professional resources, such as:

• Women’s Refuge
• Shine
• Are You Ok?

As an employer, you can also find more practical information on what you can do including courses from a range of organisations such as Employment New Zealand, Shakti, or White Ribbon New Zealand.

The Takeaway

You may not have realised your workplace could have been one of the few safe spaces staff could go to on a regular basis, or that you were able to implement flexible policies at work to assist staff experiencing domestic violence.

There are multiple opportunities open to you, as an employer, to take into account the very real risk of domestic violence to better protect your staff. It’s important to utilise all the great resources available for workplaces to sensitively approach this topic.

Lastly, making sure your staff are aware of their rights, and your duty to keep their information confidential, can create a better workplace culture. If you need help updating your workplace policies and procedures, or understanding your rights, feel free to reach out to us to chat with an employment lawyer on 0800 002 184 or [email protected].

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