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Domestic Abuse Victims

By Janice G. Inman
October 30, 2006

Battered women and men suffer not only at home, but often at their places of employment, where the stresses they are under may affect their work. These people might be prone to increased absenteeism due to emotional stress, injury or controlling domestic partners who do things like turn off the alarm clock, refuse at the last minute to watch the children or take the car when it's needed to get to the job. The abuser may also come to the workplace, or threaten to do so, requiring the employer to increase security, deal with ugly scenes, or worse. Consequently, it is not hard to see why a victim of domestic violence or emotional abuse is not going to be an employer's top choice to fill a position or get a promotion. However, even though the employment situation for victims of domestic abuse is not always optimum, there are some statutory and common-law protections available.

One law enacted in 2001 by the City of New York amending the City's Administrative Code gave workers within the City protection from the employment discrimination that too often flows from employer frustration at the spillover of domestic violence into the workplace. In addition, even if the victim of family violence is not employed in New York City, there are some state and federal protections that the family law attorney should be cognizant of.

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