Domestic violence leave law passes
Domestic violence victims can now take a new type of leave to help support them out of violent situations.
Green MP Jan Logie’s Domestic Violence – Victims’ Protection Bill passed its third reading last night, without National Party support.
The law requires employers to give victims of domestic violence up to 10 days leave from work, separate from annual leave and sick leave entitlements.
It also allows workers who are victims of domestic violence to request flexible working arrangements and prohibits being a victim of domestic violence as a grounds for discrimination under the Human Rights Act.
Labour, NZ First, and the Greens supported the bill, with it passing 63 votes to 57 (National and ACT were opposed).
National supported the bill at first reading while still in Government early last year, but dropped their support at second reading.
The party’s justice spokesman Mark Mitchell has said the provisions of the bill would be too onerous for small and mediumsized employers.
Mitchell proposed two amendments last month, which were rejected by the Government parties, ensuring National would vote against the bill at third reading.
One of the proposed amendments would roll the domestic violence leave back into annual and sick leave, while the other proposed a nationwide education campaign to make sure employers knew their obligations.
Mitchell and other National Party members said they agreed with the intent, or the spirit, of the bill, but said this would not reduce domestic violence, and in the process could lead to businesses not employing women they believed may be more likely to experience domestic violence.
National MPs also said if the Government was serious about the law change, it would be footing the bill.
Logie said employers were already paying the price of domestic violence.
‘‘We have a huge amount of evidence now from years of research that tells us about the impact of that domestic violence in workplaces where victims are stalked in their workplaces, where they are sabotaged from attending work or performing in their jobs by their abusers, and that they are also often harassed in the workplace,’’ Logie said.
‘‘That is happening right now, and we know from the evidence that employers generally—most of them don’t know how to deal with it.’’
Research showed rather than representing additional costs to business, workplace protection led to increased productivity and lower turnover, Logie said.
Domestic violence charity Shine said the bill would benefit all employers, including small businesses, through increased productivity and better employee retention.