Sec. 2. Findings
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Congress finds the following: Violence against women has been reported to be the leading cause of physical injury to women. Such violence has a devastating impact on women’s physical and emotional health, financial security, and ability to maintain their jobs, and thus impacts interstate commerce. Victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking are particularly vulnerable to changes in employment, pay, and benefits, and as a result of their desperate need for economic stability, are in particular need of legal protection.
The Bureau of National Affairs has estimated that domestic violence costs United States employers between $3,000,000,000 and $5,000,000,000 annually in lost time and productivity, while other reports have estimated the cost at between $5,800,000,000 and $13,000,000,000 annually. United States medical costs for domestic violence have been estimated to be $31,000,000,000 per year. The medical cost associated with each incident of domestic violence ranges from $387 to $948, including costs of health care and mental health services.
Domestic violence crimes account for approximately 15 percent of total crime costs in the United States each year. According to the National Institute of Justice, crime costs an estimated $450,000,000,000 annually in medical expenses, lost earnings, social service costs, pain, suffering, and reduced quality of life for victims, which harms the Nation's productivity and drains the Nation's resources. Violent crime accounts for $426,000,000,000 per year of this amount. Rape exacts the highest costs per victim of any criminal offense, and accounts for $127,000,000,000 per year of the amount described in subparagraph (A).
Violent crime results in wage losses equivalent to 1 percent of all United States earnings, and causes 3 percent of the Nation's medical spending and 14 percent of the Nation's injury-related medical spending. Homicide is the leading cause of death for women on the job. Husbands, boyfriends, and ex-partners commit 15 percent of workplace homicides against women. According to a recent study by the National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, each year there are 5,300,000 non-fatal violent victimizations committed by intimate partners against women.
Female murder victims were substantially more likely than male murder victims to have been killed by an intimate partner. About 1/3 of female murder victims, and about 4 percent of male murder victims, were killed by an intimate partner. Forty-nine percent of senior executives recently surveyed said domestic violence has a harmful effect on their company's productivity, 47 percent said domestic violence negatively affects attendance, and 44 percent said domestic violence increases health care costs.
Seventy-eight percent of human resources professionals consider partner violence a workplace issue. However, more than 70 percent of United States workplaces have no formal program or policy that addresses workplace violence, let alone domestic violence. In fact, only 4 percent of employers provided training on domestic violence. Ninety-four percent of corporate security and safety directors at companies nationwide rank domestic violence as a high security concern. Women who have experienced domestic violence or dating violence are more likely than other women to be unemployed, to suffer from health problems that can affect employability and job performance, to report lower personal income, and to rely on welfare.
Studies indicate that one of the best predictors of whether a victim will be able to stay away from her abuser is her degree of economic independence. However, domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking often negatively impact a victim's ability to maintain employment. According to a 1998 report of the General Accounting Office, between 1/4 and ½ of domestic violence victims surveyed in 3 studies reported that they lost a job due, at least in part, to domestic violence.
Employees in the United States who have been victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking too often suffer adverse consequences in the workplace as a result of their victimization. Domestic violence also affects abusers’ ability to work. A recent study found that 48 percent of abusers reported having difficulty concentrating at work and 42 percent reported being late to work. Seventy-eight percent reported using their own company’s resources in connection with the abusive relationship.
Abusers frequently seek to exert financial control over their partners by actively interfering with their ability to work, including preventing their partners from going to work, harassing their partners at work, limiting the access of their partners to cash or transportation, and sabotaging the child care arrangements of their partners. Studies indicate that between 35 and 56 percent of employed battered women surveyed were harassed at work by their abusive partners. More than ½ of women receiving welfare have been victims of domestic violence as adults and between 1/4 and 1/3 of women receiving welfare reported being abused in the last year.
Victims of domestic violence also frequently miss work due to injuries, court dates, and safety concerns requiring legal protections. Victims of intimate partner violence lose 8,000,000 days of paid work each year, the equivalent of over 32,000 full-time jobs and 5,600,000 days of household productivity. Approximately 10,200,000 people have been stalked at some time in their lives. Four out of every 5 stalking victims are women. Stalkers harass and terrorize their victims by spying on the victims, standing outside their places of work or homes, making unwanted phone calls, sending or leaving unwanted letters or items, or vandalizing property.
More than 35 percent of stalking victims report losing time from work due to the stalking and 7 percent never return to work. The prevalence of sexual assault and other violence against women at work is also dramatic. About 36,500 individuals, 80 percent of whom are women, were raped or sexually assaulted in the workplace each year from 1993 through 1999. Half of all female victims of violent workplace crimes know their attackers. Nearly one out of 10 violent workplace incidents are committed by partners or spouses.
Women who work for State and local governments suffer a higher incidence of workplace assaults, including rapes, than women who work in the private sector. According to recent Government estimates, approximately 987,400 rapes occur annually in the United States, with 89 percent of the rapes perpetrated against female victims. Since 2001, rapes have actually increased by 4 percent. Sexual assault, whether occurring in or out of the workplace, can impair an employee's work performance, require time away from work, and undermine the employee's ability to maintain a job.
Almost 50 percent of sexual assault survivors lose their jobs or are forced to quit in the aftermath of the assaults. An estimated 24 to 30 percent of abused working women lose their jobs due to their abuse. Domestic and sexual violence victims have been subjected to discrimination by private and State employers, including discrimination motivated by sex and stereotypic notions about women. Domestic violence victims and third parties who help them have been subjected to discriminatory practices by life, disability, and property and casualty insurers and employers who self-insure employee benefits, who have denied or canceled coverage, rejected claims, and raised rates based on domestic violence.
Although some State legislatures have tried to address those practices, the scope of protection afforded by the laws adopted varies from State to State, with many failing to address the problem involved comprehensively. Moreover, Federal law prevents States from protecting the almost 40 percent of employees whose employers self-insure employee benefits. Only the States of Hawaii, Illinois, New York, and Oregon prohibit employment discrimination against all victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking.
Employees, including individuals participating in welfare-to-work programs, may need to take time during business hours to— obtain orders of protection; seek medical or legal assistance, counseling, or other services; or look for housing in order to escape from domestic violence. Only 11 States provide domestic violence victims with leave from work to go to court, to go to the doctor, or to take other steps to address the domestic violence in their lives. Only 36 States and the District of Columbia have laws that explicitly provide unemployment insurance to domestic violence victims in certain circumstances, and none of the laws explicitly cover victims of sexual assault or stalking.
Existing Federal law does not explicitly— authorize victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking to take leave from work to seek legal assistance and redress, counseling, or assistance with safety planning activities; address the eligibility of victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking for unemployment compensation; provide job protection to actual or perceived victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking; or prohibit insurers and employers who self-insure employee benefits from discriminating against domestic violence victims and those who help them in determining eligibility, rates charged, and standards for payment of claims; or prohibit insurers from disclosing information about abuse and the location of the victims through insurance databases and other means.