Article: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-paid-leave-domestic-violence-1.5325699
Prince Edward Island is about to undergo changes as a result of a development of the Employment Standards Act. As of November 1st, victims of domestic abuse are entitled to a paid leave from their place of work. This paid leave can be taken all at once or intermittently, an can take up to three days paid and three days unpaid. Other provinces already have this legislation in place. In Ontario, employees who have been employed for 13 consecutive weeks are entitled to a domestic or sexual violence leave if the employee or their child has been threatened under certain circumstances (Ontario, 2019). Ontario employees can take five days of paid leave, with the rest unpaid. Their leave can be used up to 15 weeks of the calendar year (Ontario, 2019). In P.E.I., employees had to be on the job for at least three months, and have experienced at least one of the following circumstances: needed to move residence quickly due to emergency, or if they needed to seek medical or legal services. The workplace leave in P.E.I. can be entitled to the victim or their close family members.
The most difficult issue regarding this change in the Employment Standards Act is disclosing that violence has occurred. Despite prior efforts to increase awareness about domestic violence, it remains unrecognized and underreported (Davis et al., 2003). According to Burn (2015), victims of domestic violence already feel badly about themselves and their situation, which is a reason why they do not open up for help. If an employee is currently experience domestic violence, or has experienced domestic violence, it can be very difficult for them to open up to anyone, let alone their employer looking to take time off work.
Domestic violence is defined as “violent or aggressive behaviour within the home, typically involving the violent abuse of a spouse or a partner”. There are many occurrences of violence outside of the home that can lead to extreme trauma, which can be another issue regarding this legislation. Why aren’t victims of violence in general entitled to paid time off work? Why is the line drawn at abuse from close relationship or family members? As shown in the chart below, there are many forms of violence, and sometimes are not visible. This types of violence occurs from individuals other than domestic relationships, yet there is no current legislation for those victims.
References
Burn, S. M. (2015, October 17). How to Help Someone in an Abusive Relationship. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/presence-mind/201510/how-help-someone-in-abusive-relationship
Davis, J. W., Parks, S. N., Kaups, K. L., Bennink, L. D., & Bilello, J. F. (2003). Victims of Domestic Violence on the Trauma Service: Unrecognized and Underreported. The Journal of Trauma: Injury, Infection, and Critical Care, 54(2), 352–355. doi: 10.1097/01.ta.0000042021.47579.b6
Medibank. (2018, May 24). How to support someone experiencing domestic violence. Retrieved from https://www.medibank.com.au/livebetter/my-medibank/healthcare/support-a-friend-domestic-violence/
Ontario. (2019, October 21). Domestic or sexual violence leave. Retrieved from https://www.ontario.ca/document/your-guide-employment-standards-act-0/domestic-or-sexual-violence-leave
Oxford English Dictionary. (n.d.). Domestic, adj. and n. Retrieved from https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/56663?redirectedFrom=domestic+violence#eid41827739
Maddie's Blog 
Hi Maddie,
I apologize for the late post, I am unable to retrieve my old posts so I am starting again unfortunately, but I hope you see this before tomorrow at 3 so you can respond!!
I hate to say I really enjoyed your post based on the content, this is a subject that for many people is difficult but it is realistic occurrence in society which should be protected under the ESA. Many people are silent on these issues, which is why we most normalize
I want to dive into your question of “Why aren’t victims of violence in general entitled to paid time off work?”. Employers in many instances try to accommodate every facet of our lives (to a certain degree) through flexible work arrangements, or in-house child care, but the moment the company is disadvantaged, accommodation slowly dwindles. Looking at the ESA, employees are entitled to up to 10 full days of domestic or sexual violence leave every calendar year, whether they are employed on a full- or part-time basis. But as abuse can take many forms, what if what someone is experiencing does not fall under domestic or sexual violence? I find this grey area concerning, as the “family unit” to everyone means something different. I am a firm believer that companies must go above and beyond the minimums set out inside the ESA, but this one leaves definite room for interpretation. All victims of abuse, whether that is emotional, physical from a family member, friend, roommate, co-worker, supervisor, should be characterized somewhere as a job-protected leave. I do not think it should be broad by any means, as there must be some type of criteria to meet before it applies.
Overall, great post. It made me think more about how my employer handles job protected leaves and the privacy promised to these individuals.
Cheers, Ericka
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