CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. - Charlottetown city council has approved a new policy to protect its employees who experience domestic violence.
“The policy was created to provide guidelines and procedures to be followed in the event that domestic violence occurs in the workplace, so it applies to all the city employees,’’ said Coun. Terry MacLeod, chairman of the human resources (HR) committee.
The Domestic Violence Policy and Safety Plan not only takes in physical violence but also encompasses psychological, sexual, financial and spiritual abuse.
The policy is broken into a number of components such as risk assessment, to see whether the situation could spill over into the workplace, and reporting the actual issue.
“We’re emphasizing that people come forward, go to your manager (and) go to the HR department,’’ MacLeod said.
Information would be another important component of the policy. Employees would be asked to provide a detailed safety plan, so the person would sit with HR officials and fill out a form.
“Then we get into who the aggressor is and the pattern of behaviour and what risk would occur. It’s kept very confidential,” MacLeod said.
Employees could receive three weeks paid leave or more, depending on how much time is required to recover. Each case would be relevant on its own.
“You don’t understand unless you’re going through it yourself just how much time it takes a person to recover or deal with (domestic violence),” MacLeod said. “People might have to move out of their home (or) they might need to go to a shelter.’’
City employees will also receive training on how to recognize if a co-worker might be the victim of some form of domestic violence.
“No one really knows you besides a co-worker,’’ MacLeod said. “You notice things aren’t right (with your co-worker). An assessment of the environment needs to be looked at so employees will be taught through a course how to recognize this type of thing. If you do see it, don’t feel uncomfortable, here are the avenues you would go through.’’
Criminal record checks will also be required of any new employees and employees changing positions by their own choosing. If the city initiates an employee move, the city would pay for the criminal record check.
“Overall, it’s an unfortunate thing we have to deal with in life but at least the city recognizes that it is a problem in the workforce and we’re dealing with it.’’
