Unemployment Insurance for Domestic Violence Survivors

In addition to women who experience domestic violence, millions more children are affected.

Studies show that every day, domestic violence follows women to work­—between 24 and 52 percent of victims report that the abuse they’ve suffered contributed to loss of a job.1

Ninety-six percent report some type of work-related problem due to the violence they suffer in their personal relationships.2  For example, a perpetrator may stalk a victim at her workplace—making harassing phone calls, waiting outside, or coming into the workplace to verbally or physically assault her.

Job loss, or the threat of job loss, prevents many battered women from escaping violent relationships. Women who suffer domestic violence are often dependent upon their abusers to provide food and shelter for themselves and their children. Without an income source separate from their abusers, many women are unable to escape the violence in their homes. Survivors should not have to choose between violence and poverty. The 1990 National Family Violence Survey found that levels of “abusive violence” to women with annual incomes below $10,000 are more than 3.5 times those found when incomes exceed $40,000.

Unemployment insurance helps battered women find and maintain safety for themselves and their children. UI benefits allow women who lose or leave their jobs because of an abusive relationship to secure the basic necessities for themselves and their children.

South Carolina and Vermont changed their laws in 2005 to recognize domestic violence as “good cause” for leaving a job, bringing the total number of states that do so to 27. Three states (AK, FL, PA) provide UI eligibility to domestic violence survivors as a result of court rulings. Seven other states (AL, HI, NV, OH, SC, UT, VA) provide UI to workers who have been separated from their jobs for personal reasons, including domestic violence.