[NOW-action-list] Support Survivors of Domestic and Sexual Assault!

Title: Support Survivors of Domestic and Sexual Assault!

Support NOW's Work  |	November 6, 2003	|  Tell a Friend

Action Needed Background All NOW Actions More on Violence Issues		Support Survivors of Domestic and Sexual Assault! The Security and Financial Empowerment Act (SAFE) introduced in Congress addresses workplace safety and job security Action Needed: Please ask your senators and representative to co-sponsor the bill addressing violence and the workplace, the Security and Financial Empowerment Act (SAFE). This timely legislation promotes employment stability, economic security and safety for survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking, as well as for their families and household members. This legislation, whose full title remains the Victim's Economic Security and Safety Act (VESSA), was introduced in the House as H.R. 3420 and in the Senate as S.1801 on Oct. 30 by Representatives Roybal-Allard (D-Calif.) and Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Senators Murray (D-Wash.), Kennedy (D-Mass.) Schumer (D-N.Y.), Corzine (D-N.J.) and Dayton (D-Minn.). Please urge your congressional representatives to cosponsor the SAFE Act and support battered and abused women and their families in avoiding job loss and escaping domestic violence. Background: Each year, approximately two million women are physically or sexually assaulted or stalked by an intimate partner in the United States. While survivors confront a number of obstacles to escaping abuse, economic insecurity is among the most formidable, as many abusers retain control over survivors by ensuring their economic dependence or threatening their economic stability. Abusers often sabotage their victims' ability to work productively by threatening, attacking, stalking or harassing them at work. Legislation was introduced in the last Congress—the Victim's Economic Security and Safety Act (VESSA)—in an attempt to guarantee workplace safety and job security for victims of sexual and domestic violence. SAFE, an updated and improved version of these earlier proposals, is supported by NOW and the thousands of member organizations in the National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence. This legislation will promote financial security for victims of abuse in several ways: It allows a victim to take time off from work, without penalty from an employer, to make necessary court appearances, seek legal assistance, and get help with safety planning. For families attempting to escape a violent environment, attending to such necessities is often a matter of life and death. It ensures that battered women can retain the financial independence necessary to leave their abusers by requiring that states provide unemployment benefits to victims who are terminated from employment due to circumstances stemming from domestic violence. It provides a tax credit for employers to provide workplace safety programs, and prohibits employers or insurance providers from basing hiring or coverage decisions on a victim's history of abuse. In the 107th Congress, the House bill, VESSA (H.R. 2670), had more than 110 bipartisan cosponsors. Please urge your congressional representatives to cosponsor the SAFE Act and support battered and abused women and their families in avoiding job loss and escaping domestic violence. Please urge your congressional representatives to cosponsor the SAFE Act. A more detailed summary of the legislation is also available. For more information: Working Women and Violence Employment Rights for Survivors of Abuse - Domestic Violence and Work Or contact Lisalyn Jacobs or Jennifer Grayson at NOWLDEF's Public Policy Office, (202) 326-0040.
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