Wednesday, April 18, 2007
WASHINGTON - Maine Labor Commissioner Laura Fortman described for a congressional panel Tuesday pioneering state laws governing workplace benefits for the victims of domestic abuse, including time off for legal action.
"We think Maine's efforts would be more effective if there was a coordinated national response to domestic violence," Fortman said.
Her testimony at a Senate Labor subcommittee hearing came in the aftermath of shootings Monday at Virginia Tech University, where a gunman killed 32 people and himself.
The chairman, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said the previously scheduled hearing would help prevent violence from reaching into schools, homes and the workplace.
She proposed federal legislation to allow victims to take time off work without penalty to appear in court or seek legal assistance, to ensure that victims are eligible for unemployment compensation if they leave a job because of abuse, and to prohibit employers or insurers from basing hiring or coverage decisions on a victim's history of abuse.
"Many other cases of abuse, stalking, harassment and homicide don't make the nightly news, but they do end lives, hurt businesses and alarm communities," Murray said. "Each day we get terrible reminders that domestic violence doesn't stay at home."
Maine's pioneering initiatives served as an example for how to cope with domestic violence. Half of all homicides in the state -- 157 from 2000 to 2005 -- were attributed to domestic violence.
Former Gov. Angus King declared the problem "public enemy No. 1" in his 2000 State of the State address.
Gov. John Baldacci issued an executive order in October 2004 for state agencies to develop plans to address domestic violence. The order encouraged even supportive employers to do more, such as the Labor Department creating a new poster and the Conservation Department creating a new strategy to help victims in parks, Fortman said.
"Having that added push really caused us to focus in a different way on this issue," she said.
Several state laws deal with how employers treat the victims of domestic violence.
Fortman, a former executive director of the Maine Women's Lobby, helped win approval of a first-in-the-nation law requiring employers to grant unpaid leave if an employee, their child, spouse or parent is the victim of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking. As labor commissioner since 2003, she now enforces the law.
Another law prevents a worker from losing benefits if they leave a job because of domestic violence.
In terms of unemployment benefits, claims resulting from domestic violence are charged to a state fund rather than the individual business where the employee worked.
The state Chamber of Commerce initially resisted the legislation for extended unpaid leave for victims of violence. But after two years in effect, government-affairs specialist Peter Gore said the chamber found the law "appropriate given the difficult times we now live in."
Fortman said Maine is dominated by small businesses, with only 8 percent of the companies employing more than 25 workers. But she said there were no complaints about the law in 2003 or 2004, and of two complaints in 2005, one employer was found in violation.
Washington D.C. Correspondent Bart Jansen can be contacted at (202) 488-1119 or at:
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