Collective Bargaining - Domestic Violence Leave - Literature review Example

Part 2-Collective Bargaining: Domestic Violence Leave Student’s Name Institution Course Name & Number Date of Submission Part 2-Collective Bargaining: Domestic Violence Leave Issue Definition Domestic violence is a serious social problem that pervades the lives and compromises the health and safety of hundreds or thousands of people globally. Domestic violence occurs in many relationships, including married couples with children, formally married couples, couples who live or have lived together and even those in a dating relationship (Kernsmith, 2005). The term domestic violence refers to the use of coercive tactics that include physical, sexual, psychological, emotional and economic abuse perpetrated by one partner against the other with the objective of maintaining or gaining control over the victim. Australia is one of the societies with the highest prevalence of domestic violence. Data from Australia indicates that 1 in every 6 women and 1 in every 20 men have been victims of domestic violence committed by their partner since the age of 15 (Bishop, 2017). Data also indicate that at least one woman dies as a result of domestic violence in Australia every week. In 2015, 80 women were reported to have lost their lives from violence, 80% of the cases related to domestic violence. Trend analysis indicates that domestic violence prevalence has been on an upward trajectory over the last decades in Australia. In 1995, only 257 for every 100,000 cases of assault were reported in NSW and by 2014, the number had increased to 400 cases per every 100,000 people (Bishop, 2017). Similar trend is observed across Australian society, including Victoria where 70,906 cases of domestic violence were reported between 2013 and 2015, marking an increase of 8.8% compared to 2013/2014. However, the prevalence of domestic violence is believed to be higher in Australia than reported because there are hundreds of cases of domestic violence that happen but victims fail to report to the police. Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research reveals that many people fail to report domestic abuse for reasons such as fear or revenge or further abuse. This finding is supported by ABS Personal Safety Survey study that found that about 95% of men and 80% of women in abusive relationships do not contact the police to report domestic violence. Causes of Domestic Violence Payne and Wermeling (2009) state that violence indicate that violence against partners has several root causes, which include cultural, economic and social causes. Socio-economic status of a man or woman in a relationship is cited as one of the root causes of domestic violence. According to Payne and Wermeling (2009), the probability of a woman falling victim of domestic violence increases as her socio-economic status reduces. A study by Kernsmith (2005) that assessed the effects of resource availability and experiences on domestic violence using married women found that higher living standards resulted in a decreased incidence of physical abuse. Another study by Anderson (1997 found there was a positive relationship between low socioeconomic status and high rates of domestic violence. The study also found that households with fewer consumer products experienced higher rates of domestic violence compared to those with adequate consumer durables. In India, where wife beating is a common practice, it was found that working women who are more independent economically and financially experienced fewer incidences of domestic violence compared to their counterparts who depend on their husbands as provider. Culture is another common cause of domestic violence in the society. Culture defines the power structure and the place of men and women in the society and this can permeate to promote domestic violence. Payne and Wermeling (2009)noted that, in some societies, domestic violence in a cultural practice. For instance, in most Asian societies, wife beating is seen as a normal and cultural practice used to demonstrate the position that men occupies in the society. In such male domineering societies, such as India, Afghanistan, and Saudi Arabia, wife beating is common to the extent that it is promoted in the society. In these societies, women who are abused are forced to stay in such marriages because divorce is seen as a taboo and a form of deviance. At the same time, people abused in such societies stay in abusive relationships on belief that it is only better to stick in such a marriage for the benefit of the children (Payne & Wermeling, 2009). In this process, this helps promote domestic violence as the perpetrators know that there is little chance of divorce regardless of the degree of abuse. Domestic violence is also caused through learning process, through exposure to domestic violence. In this regard, it has been observed that people who grew up in families where domestic violence was common are likely to become perpetrators of the act later on in their relationships. This argument is supported by social learning theory fronted by sociologists, Akers and Jensen (2007) who noted that violence against a partner in courtship or marriage is the consequence of imitation. The authors argues that men who abuse their wives do so because they were made to believe that domestic violence was the right way to solve problem by their parents who lived in abusive marriage and are not imitating and perpetrating. Additionally, the root cause of domestic violence is explained from biological perspective. According to biological theorist, Cunningham (1998), some men who abuse their partners have this behaviour in their genes to be protective of their partners and as such resort to aggression to be able to maintain dominance. A study by Cohen et al (1999) also pointed that psychopathology and neuropsychological dynamics have an influence on domestic violence. According to biological theory, a combination of personal characteristics and experiences during childhood days works in partnership to bring about aggressive and violent behaviours. This implies that aggression and violence against a partner can be innately triggered by biological factors and explains why some people are fond of abusive their wives of husbands. Impact of Domestic Violence on Workplace Although most domestic violence occurs at home, the impacts of such acts are felt beyond the households to the workplace. Today, there has been an increased focus on domestic violence in the workplace because of the increased recognition of the fact that domestic violence impacts employees work and the workplace as a whole. Kernsmith (2005) indicates that domestic violence affects workplace by making it difficult for an employee in an abusive relationship or marriage to report to work and this affects organizational performance. A study by the Australian Domestic Violence Rights and Entitlements Project that sought the opinions of 3,611 respondents from six different employment firms and unions found that about one-third of the respondents have been victims of domestic violence and of this number, more than half stated that their ability to get to work had been affected by domestic violence (McFerran, 2011a). About 67% of the respondents who cited difficulty in reporting for work said that their ability to report to work was affected by physical injuries or restraint by the perpetrator as the reason for not reporting for work (McFerran, 2011a). Some of the respondents in the study also reported that the perpetrators used other tactics to make it difficult for them to report for work, which included stealing or hiding car keys or transport fares, refusal to take care of children and hiding important documents belong to the victims. Domestic violence also affects worker and workplace by distracting the victim, thus interfering with their ability to work or concentrate in their job. According to the Australian Domestic Violence Rights and Entitlements Project survey, about 16% of the respondents stated that they felt distracted, unwell, tardy and tired to perform their duties at work because of physical injuries sustained or emotional trauma they suffered as a result of domestic abuse (Bishop, 2017). Accordingly, the distraction caused by domestic violence had an impact on the victim’s productivity, which also affected the company’s bottom line through declined productivity. Additionally, domestic violence has also been found to affect employees and workplace in the form of job loss or time off. Wathen (2015) study found that about 8.5% of domestic violence victims end up losing their jobs because of domestic violence. The prevalence of those who lose their jobs because of domestic violence was higher among women with men less likely to experience this outcome. Additionally, the researchers found that a significant number of victims of domestic violence are forced to take time off from work because of domestic violence. Approximately 39.5% of the respondents cited that they have been forced to take time off from work to enable them deal with the medical/health conditions developed due to domestic violence, such as attending hospitals or counselling (Wathen, 2015). Studies have also found that domestic violence not only affect the victim’s work, but also co-workers. According to Wathen (2015) survey, approximately 37.1% of the respondents reported that domestic violence affected their co-workers. The most common impact felt by victims’ co-workers included stress and being bothered about the situation. The co-workers were also affected by domestic violence in the sense that, when a victim of domestic violence took time off, their responsibilities have to be delegated to co-workers and this increases the amount of workload performed by colleagues, which in turn result in decreased productivity. Although researchers often overlook the impact that domestic violence have on business with regards to the cost associated with employing perpetrators as most studies tend to focus on victims, Widiss (2008) study found that perpetrators of domestic violence place a significant burden on a company because of consuming work tome and resources to engage in abusive behaviours. A study by Rothman and Corso (2008) found that there is a relationship between being a domestic violence perpetrator and work absenteeism and loss productivity. Precisely, the researchers found that 75% of perpetrators of domestic violence missed work for at least a day while 46% reported having reported for work late because of having engaged in domestic violence. Some of the reasons for failing to report for work or report late included going to court or talking to the police. In addition, about 78% of the respondents cited having used company work time and resources to abuse their victims and this places a company into financial burden. Moreover, domestic violence also cost companies billion of dollars. According to Levin (1995) study, cited by Johnson and Gardner (2000), it was found that domestic violence cost American companies an estimated $3 to$5 billion every year. The cost of domestic violence on businesses is also reported by Wathen (2015) who observed that Canadian employers lose up to $77.9 million annually due to domestic violence-rated issues. Similar findings have also been reported in Australia, where employers lose billions due to domestic violence related violence. Analysis The literature review above demonstrates that domestic violence is commonplace in most societies, Australia not an exception. The research has also shown that domestic violence affect employees work and the workplace as a whole. Greenacres as an organization that deals with people with disability is one of the companies whom some of its employees have fallen victim of domestic violence as narrated by Jacqui Charlesworth an employee who has been victim of domestic violence (Greenacres, 2017). Domestic violence though affects the victim directly, a large body of research has shown that the impact of domestic violence extend to the workplace, where it affects the productivity of the victim, the perpetrator and the co-workers. For instance, it emerged that domestic violence makes victims and perpetrators not to report to work or report late and this has implications on a company as it results in loss of productive working time. The same applies to Greenacres whose is likely to be affected by domestic violence in the sense that it can result in increased incidences of employees affected by domestic violence failing to report for work or report to work late and this can result in lost productivity for the company. The research also found that domestic violence affects workers productivity by causing destruction. It emerged that victims of domestic violence often feel distracted, tired and unable to concentrate in their work. Accordingly, this results in a reduction in their productivity level. Greenacres as an organization that deals with people who have been abused in their marriages or relationships is also faced in a situation, where it might experience a decline in performance due to the inability of its staff that is affected by domestic violence to concentrate in their jobs (Greenacres, 2017). Besides, studies show that lack of concentration in work can result in many errors and mistakes by an employee and this has the potential of causing accidents or errors that might prove costly to an organization. The same applies to Greenacres and Norco that stands the risk of experiencing increased errors made by employees experiencing domestic violence in their relationships or marriage because of their inability to concentrate in their jobs ((Mclauchlan, 2016). The research has also demonstrated above that domestic violence cost employers billions of dollars every year. In the United States, domestic violence cost employees between $3 and $5 billion annually (McFerran, 2011b). Greenacres and Norco being companies that employee some of the employees who experience domestic violence, they are exposed to the risk of experiencing increased cost associated with domestic violence. The costs result from increased incidences of absenteeism, late reporting for work, lack of concentration and reduced productivity by co-workers who have to take up the responsibilities left by domestic violence victims who might opt to take time off from work. Recommendations The literature and analysis above have shown that domestic violence impacts negatively on the workers and the organizational where they work. For this reason, there is an urgent need to help victims of domestic violence overcome the challenges associated with domestic violence. To address the issue faced by victims of domestic violence in the workplace, such as absenteeism, reporting to work late or taking time off, it is important for employees and unions representing workers to bargain for a paid leave for the victims of domestic violence. When a person becomes a victim of domestic violence, this not only result physical injuries, but also emotional injuries such as stress (Smith, 2017). To deal with the issues, most victims request for a time off from workplace to enable them address the issue. Taking time off allows them time to manage the emotional stress that is caused by domestic violence looking for a counsellor to help them overcome their emotional problems caused by domestic violence. Taking time off though impacts the company they work for negatively, it also gives the victims of domestic violence the opportunity to find new homes (Woodley, 2016). Most domestic violence cases are spontaneous and when they occur, the victim might not be prepared with somewhere to move and might only seek a temporary shelter. Therefore, taking time off gives them the opportunity to look for homes, where they can escape from their abusers. Additionally, taking time off allows victims the opportunity to attend to court matters arising from domestic violence. However, most Australian employers still do not offer paid leave for victims of domestic violence for fear of the cost of making such payments. Besides, some employers do not even allow victims of domestic violence to take time off to address their issues. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the labour union to bargain with the employers and the Fair Work Commission to provide victims of domestic violence with paid leave. Estimates indicate that offering paid leave for victims of domestic violence would cost Australian economy about $120 million annually. However, Woodley (2016) argues that the cost of paid leave to victims of domestic violence constitutes just a fraction of the cost of imposed by domestic violence. Currently, only about 15% of Australian paid workers have access to domestic violence leave, meaning that up to 85% of employees lack access to paid leave (Smith, 2017). The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has recommended that employees who are victims of domestic violence should be offered a paid leave of 10 days and additional non-paid leave of 2 days (ACTU, 2016). Certainly, this would allow victims time to address the challenges that come with domestic violence that impacts negatively the performance of those employees and the organizations they work for. Besides, lobbying for a paid domestic violence leave would be a good thing as it would act as deterrence to domestic violence, as pronounced by Dr. Jim Stanford of the Australia Institute Centre for Work who observed that offering a paid leave for victims of domestic violence help prevent such behaviours because paid leave is tied to the things that people to engage in order to develop a safe environment at home (ACTU, 2016). Conclusion Domestic violence is commonplace social issue that affects hundreds of Australians. Domestic violence is caused by a combination of factors that include low socio-economic status, cultures that promote the behaviour, exposure to the behaviour during childhood and by biological triggers among others. However, the analysis has shown that domestic violence is impacting negatively on workers and the workplace through lost productivity caused by time off, delay to report to work and destruction that comes with domestic violence. Norco and Greenacres are some of the companies that have employees who have been victims of domestic violence and as such have suffered the consequences of domestic violence. Therefore, to address the problem of domestic violence, it would be appropriate for employees affected by the issue and the union to bargain for paid leave for victims of the vice as this would enable them be able to address the stress, find a new home, as well as attend to courts. References ACTU. (2016). Case for paid family and domestic violence leave commences at Fair Work Commission. Retrieved from http://www.actu.org.au/actu-media/media-releases/2016/case-for-paid-family-and-domestic-violence-leave-commences-at-fair-work-commission Akers, R. L., & Jensen, G. F. (2007). Social learning theory and the explanation of crime. New York, NY: Transaction Publishers Anderson, K. L. (1997). Gender, status, and domestic violence: An integration of feminist and family violence approaches. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 59(3). DOI: 10.2307/353952 Bishop, C. (2017). Here’s how we can change the domestic violence statistics in 2017.Retrieved from http://www.mamamia.com.au/domestic-violence-statistics-australia-2016/ Cohen, R. A., Rosenbaum, A., Kane, R. L., Warnken, W. J., & Benjamin, S. (1999). Neuropsychological correlates of domestic violence. Violence and Victims, 14(4), 397-411. Cunningham, A. (1998). Theory-derived explanations of male violence against female. London: London Family Court Clinic. Greenacres (2017). Greenacres to introduce paid domestic violence leave. Retrieved from http://www.greenacres.net.au/blog/greenacres-to-introduce-paid-domestic-violence-leave Johnson, P., & Gardner, S. (2000). Domestic violence invades the workplace: Strategies for the global business community. Women in Management Review, 15(4), 197-203. Kernsmith, P. (2005). Exerting power or striking back: a gendered comparison of motivations for domestic violence. Violence Vict., 20(2):173-85. Levin, L. (1995). When domestic violence shows up at work. National Business Woman, 76(1), 11. McFerran, L. (2011b). Why domestic violence is a workplace issue. Parity, 24(8), 36. McFerran, L. (2011a). Safe at home, safe at work? National Domestic Violence and the Workplace Survey (2011). Sidney: Australian Domestic & Family Violence Clearinghouse, University of New South Wales. Mclauchlan, C. (2016, Dec 9). Norco’s landmark decision: Paid DV leave for workers. News. Retrieved from https://www.northernstar.com.au/news/norcos-landmark-decision-paid-dv-leave-for-workers/3120900/ Payne, D., & Wermeling, L. (2009). Domestic violence and the female victim: The real reason women stay! Journal of Multicultural, Gender and Minority Studies, 3(1), 1-6. Rothman, E., & Corso, P. (2008). Propensity for intimate partner abuse and workplace productivity why employers should care. Violence against Women, 14(9), 1054-1064. Smith, F. (2017, Feb. 8). Domestic violence leave a small cost to employers but priceless to victims. The Guardian p. 1 https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/feb/09/domestic-violence-leave-a-small-cost-to-employers-but-priceless-to-victims Wathen, C. N., MacGregor, J. C. D., MacQuarrie, B. J. (2015). The impact of domestic violence in the workplace results from a Pan-Canadian Survey. J Occup Environ Med., 57(7): e65–e71. Woodley, N. (2016). Domestic violence: Study finds price of paid leave would be 'fraction of cost imposed by violence.' Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-22/paid-domestic-leave-will-cost-up-to-$120-million-p.a/8141190 Read More