50 STATE OVERVIEW: EMPLOYMENT PROTECTIONS OF DOMESTIC AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE

In recent years, many states have passed laws that provide victims of domestic violence (and in some cases, victims of sexual assault and stalking) employment protections. The chart on Legal Momentum’s site gives an overview of information contained in their state law guides. (It does not include information on pending bills, which can be found on the state law guides.) “Domestic violence-specific leave” laws provide time off to victims to take a range of steps to address the violence and generally provide that employers cannot discriminate or retaliate against employees for exercising these rights; “general anti-discrimination” have broader anti-discrimination protections than the leave bills, making it generally illegal to discriminate against employees because they are victims, and also often require employers to make reasonable accommodations for victims; “crime victim job protection” laws permit victims of crime, including domestic and sexual violence crimes, to miss work to attend criminal proceedings, at least when subpoenaed to testify; “unemployment insurance” laws provide that victims who leave a job because of domestic violence can receive benefits; “workplace restraining order” laws permit employers to obtain restraining orders to respond to incidents of workplace violence, and “workplace policy” laws require employers (most often state government employers) to adopt policies addressing domestic violence or state agencies to develop model workplace policies. The details of each state’s laws vary significantly.

For More Information Go To: http://www.legalmomentum.org/site/DocServer/employment50stateoverview.pdf?docID=319