A new Florida employment law allows persons living in households affected by domestic violence to take brief leaves of absence from work and requires their jobs to be held for them until they return. Similar to the terms of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, victims and those affected by domestic violence have now been afforded much needed employment rights in the state of Florida.

According to the new law, employees who reside in households in which domestic violence occurs are eligible to take up to three days off during any 12-month period. Those affected may use that time off to seek a protective injunction, to increase their household security or seek new accommodations to obtain medical care, to obtain mental health care, and to obtain legal assistance or either prepare for or attend court-related proceedings.

Employers who fail to comply with Florida's new Domestic Violence Leave Law can be held liable for workers' economic damages (lost wages, benefits, etc.), and attorney's fees. In addition, if an employer fires a worker who then gets a job with lower pay and/or benefits, the prior employer (who did not comply with the new Domestic Violence Leave Law) can be held liable for on-going economic losses as well. It is also illegal to demote, suspend or retaliate against any employee who takes domestic violence leave.

Just like other leave laws, employees must provide appropriate advance notice for leave, except when an employee or household member is in imminent danger. In addition, employers can require employees to use up all vacation and sick leave before they are granted domestic violence leave rights. Employers are also not required to pay wages to employees during the period they take domestic violence leave.

Even though some may disagree as to whether or not employees who take domestic violence leave should be paid, I think this new Florida law is a great start. We have workplace legislation throughout the United States that prohibits sexual harassment, that prohibits discrimination against people of different races, ethnicities, gender, sexual orientation, religion— but to my knowledge this is the first law of its kind to actually grant some rights to those that suffer as a result of the plague that is domestic violence.

Threats, sexual offenses, assaults, arson, and stalking are prevalent among the long list of offenses that can constitute domestic violence. To give you an idea of how prevalent domestic violence is in the US, here are some facts about domestic violence in the US (as per US Department of Justice statistics):

• One in 320 US households are affected by domestic violence.

• Women aged 24 and younger are most likely to experience domestic violence.

• Violence by the same "intimate partner" (spouse, lover) tends to reoccur, with female victims averaging 6.9 attacks and male victims averaging 4.4 attacks.

• Half of the women experiencing intimate partner violence are physically injured, and 37 percent require medical care.

Though I don’t believe that victims of domestic violence should become a diversity class in the workplace, I do believe that employers and legislators throughout the United States should follow Florida’s lead and allow victims of domestic violence the time that they need to protect themselves and to recover both physically and mentally from the effects of domestic violence.