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Master List of
New Directions Recommendations
Chapter 12
New
Directions from the Field:
Victims'
Rights and Services for the 21st Century
| Recommendations
for the Business Community |
The recommendations below, which
appear in the May 1998 New Directions Report, have been reformatted
for replication and distribution.
| Studies clearly indicate that crime has an impact on where people choose to live, work, and shop. Over the past 15 years, employers have recognized that it is good business to offer employees a full spectrum of assistance programs to help them deal with problems, including criminal victimization, that affect job performance and the safety of the workplace. They are beginning to develop efforts to prevent violence in the workplace. When violence strikes, employers now realize that they must deal with both the physical injury and the emotional consequences of trauma. Unfortunately, many barriers still block corporate America's ability and willingness to respond fully and appropriately to crime victims. In an effort to address these barriers, the following recommendations for the business community are set forth by the field: |
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- Business leaders should commit
resources in addition to money to victim assistance and crime prevention
efforts.
- All managers, supervisors, union
officials, shop stewards, and other designated employee representatives
should receive training on how workplace violence impacts employees
and the company; how to develop and implement policies and procedures
to resolve conflicts before they erupt into violence; and how to develop
and implement crisis response plans in the aftermath of violence.
- In cases of serious trauma and
multiple victims, employees should be assisted by long-term expert psychological
counseling.
- Counseling for psychological
injuries suffered by victims of terrorist attacks in the workplace should
be covered by workers compensation and other employer-sponsored insurance.
- Workplace policies and programs
should be responsive to the needs of all crime victims, including victims
of domestic violence.
- Employers and unions should
work together to adopt leave and benefit policies that accommodate the
needs of victimized employees to go to court, counseling, or a shelter
without penalizing them with unexcused absences or dismissal.
- All managers, supervisors, union
officials, and shop stewards should receive training on how to recognize
signs of domestic violence in their staff and apply organizational policies
and programs to employees or members who are victims of domestic violence.
- Employee assistance program
(EAP) staff, corporate fitness and wellness programs, and workplace
health services providers such as occupational nurses and medical directors
should receive specialized training in how to deal with employees who
have been victimized.
- All workplaces should educate
their employees to increase awareness of domestic violence and sexual
assault as societal and workplace issues. Such education will promote
compassionate responses to the needs of these victims and will serve
to encourage victims to seek services available to them in the workplace
and in their community.
- Research is needed that focuses
on the risks and costs of workplace victimization to both the company
and the employee.
- Due to the complex issues and
effects of workplace victimization, a comprehensive, multidisciplinary
approach to delivering services for these victims must be developed
and implemented at the national, State, and local levels.
- Employers should adopt policies
and practices that accommodate crime victims who suffer physical and
psychological disabilities as a result of their victimization in accordance
with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
- Employers should report all
violent crime that occurs on their premises and encourage their employees
to do likewise.
- Workers compensation programs
should be combined with employee benefit programs to cover all expenses
and lost income employees incur as the result of violent victimization
on the job.
- Employers should develop and
implement crime prevention and safety measures to protect their employees,
clients, and customers.
| New Directions from the
Field:
Victims' Rights and Services for the 21st Century |
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