Fórsa highlights financial abuse risk under new Bill
by Niall Shanahan
 
Fórsa national secretary Ashley Connolly said the union ‘strongly’ believes workers requiring domestic violence leave should be paid in full.
Fórsa national secretary Ashley Connolly said the union ‘strongly’ believes workers requiring domestic violence leave should be paid in full.

Fórsa has written to the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O’Gorman TD, to express what it says are the union’s ‘grave concerns’ on the proposed rate of pay, allocated for domestic violence leave, under the provisions of the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill (2022).

 

In a letter to the minister sent last Friday (10th February), Fórsa national secretary Ashley Connolly said the union ‘strongly’ believes workers requiring domestic violence leave should be paid in full. The Bill proposes a sick leave rate, which caps payment at 70% of salary, or €110 per day.

 

Ashley added: “The purpose of paid domestic violence leave is to ensure financial stability, and any reduction in pay for those who require it is wholly unacceptable.

 

“Research has proven that financial control by abusers is one of the reasons people struggle to escape domestic abuse. Those experiencing abuse may not have financial independence or full control of their own finances.

 

“If a person’s income is monitored or appropriated by their abuser - or both - a change in their normal salary may alert the abuser, putting the victim at risk,” she said.

 

Ashley said Fórsa supports the call by Womens’ Aid for ten days of fully paid leave ‘as best practice’, urging the minister to consider positions on this expressed by a number of senators at the Seanad Committee Stage debate on 31st January.

 

She added: “We want this leave to work. Fórsa wants to see those who need this leave avail of it. This legislation should not impose barriers for those navigating a pathway out of domestic abuse,” she said.

 

At the union’s conference in May last year, Fórsa delegates unanimously backed a conference motion for statutory paid leave for victims of domestic violence. The conference motion committed the union to actively campaign to legislate for an effective statutory entitlement to paid leave for victims of domestic violence.

 

The union is also committed to encouraging its own networks to raise the issue of workplace supports for victims and survivors of domestic violence with employers, and to investigate the potential of extending the union’s own counselling service to include a dedicated confidential service for victims of domestic abuse and gender-based violence.

 

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