Making Domestic Violence Part of Everybody’s Business
Facilitated by:        Dennis Butler, SPHR
Chief Human Resources & Compliance Officer
RC Diocese of Paterson
(Formerly, Vice President, Workplace Solutions
Liz Claiborne Inc.)

In this session, participants will hear about one company’s experiences in developing a viable program to address domestic violence in the workplace.  Specifically, we will outline the steps taken to create a workplace program, including:

Developing a corporate policy on partner violence
Organizing a multi-disciplinary team to oversee the process

• Human Resources
• Legal
• Security
• Subject Matter Experts

Providing Training

• Response protocol
• Multidisciplinary Team (DVRT)
• Managers
• Employees

Building awareness through workplace communications

• Recognize, Respond, Refer
• Posters
• Brochures
• Employee Health Fairs
• Department Meetings

Integrating DV Workplace Program with other programs

• Developing partnerships with your EAP and Domestic Violence service providers
• Employee relations
• Other Training

Violence in the home affects thousands of employees every day. It decreases productivity and increases healthcare costs and absenteeism. It interferes with people’s capacity to accurately, safely and securely perform their duties at work. It has an adverse and disruptive effect on employee morale and affects the financial strength and success of a company as a whole. 

Employers have a unique opportunity to provide tools, assistance and resources for employees who need them. 

In 2002, Liz Claiborne Inc. sponsored a survey of Fortune 1000 senior executives conducted by Roper Starch. Only 12% of those surveyed say that corporations should play a major role in addressing domestic violence.  This is the same percentage as when this question was first posed in 1994 and it did not change when asked again in 2007. 

Though Liz Claiborne had a domestic violence policy in place for many years, they were terribly under-reported considering the national statistics and the number of employees they have. Upon further examination, they  realized that they were not doing enough to adequately support their employees and create the genuine environment of support within the company they strove so hard to establish. In 2002, after a DV case surfaced in their corporate headquarters and as the head of employee relations I did not know what to do – it was clear that the company’s policy and response protocol desperately needed an in-depth review.

Using existing materials as a starting point, the Company reached out to domestic violence experts, our EAP and other organizations to help revise their policy and incorporate best practices from around the movement.

This outreach resulted in the formation of a Domestic Violence Response Team or DVRT, a task force comprised of representatives from Legal, Security and Human Resources that responds to and reviews each case that affects or has the potential to affect our workplace in terms of security and performance. This team helps to determine the most appropriate course of action – in the best interests of both the employee and the company. They also meet periodically to review recent cases, look for trends and adjust the program and response protocols as needed.

After updating the policy and protocol, they retrained the entire Human Resources, Security and Legal departments both on the issue in general and on the new policy – including their expected roles and responsibilities. Knowing that it was necessary to have the tools in place to handle the calls once they started coming, there was a company-wide communications program after the training was completed.

The internal communications campaign included presentations at divisional town meetings, postings on the intranet and small group sessions with managers. They developed and distributed wallet cards and brochures with warning signs to our domestic employee population and reminded the HR team and line managers around review time that what appear to be performance issues might be domestic violence or some other problem revealing itself in the workplace.

Not surprisingly, as the communications campaign took hold, the number of reported incidents started to climb. Specifically, more than 125 cases have been reported in U.S. since they updated the policy. In 2001 there were no reported cases.

The session will emphasize a number of key points that will help ensure a successful program:

• Focus on safety for victim and workplace.
• Company representatives don’t act as counselors – we are conduits to experts.
• Each situation is unique.
• Knowing right referrals is most effective.
• Policies and protocols are guidelines only.
• Environment must be open and comfortable.
• Addressing domestic violence as a workplace issue can be integrated into existing workplace policies and practices and requires little added cost to the company.

Moreover, it will be clear that DV in the workplace training should:

• Educate HR and Security personnel on how to handle situations that arise.
• Educate re: warning signs of DV, rape, sexual assault.
• Inform employees how to communicate with victim, batterer and the company.
• Emphasize how NOT to become a counselor or psychologist.
• Outline what actions are appropriate and what referrals are available.

While Liz Claiborne is a large company, much of what I have outlined is not exclusive to the Fortune 500 and is not expensive. I am now in the process of establishing a similar program here at the Diocese of Paterson as part of my new position.Where an organization does not have in-house Security, the police are a great resource. No Employee Assistance Program? A local domestic violence agency may be able to lend a hand. No money for collateral materials? Posters and brochures listing both local and national hotline numbers are available free of charge. In fact, we have a brochure and wallet card available to anyone who wants to use them. Called “Recognize, Respond, Refer,” these materials help women know how to help someone that needs it. The goal is simply to create an environment of support within the workplace so that employees who need help know they have an ally.

As a survivor of intimate partner violence shared for a Liz Claiborne brochure, “I remember the first coworker who asked me if my fat lip was caused by my ex-husband. He may have felt that it didn’t do any good, or that he was wrong to ask. But by asking that question, he planted a seed in my mind that what was happening to me wasn’t right.”

Dennis Butler, SPHR
Chief Human Resources & Compliance Officer
RC Diocese of Paterson, Clifton, NJ

Dennis Butler, joined the RC Diocese of Paterson in November 2009 on a temporary basis to assist them in successfully passing an audit of their Child and Youth Protection Program. In January 2010, Dennis was appointed as the Chief HR & Compliance Officer for the Diocese. In that capacity, he is responsible for all aspect of Human Resources and Compliance and leads the Office of Child and Youth Protection, which was established to ensure that the more than 11,000 volunteers and employees of the Diocese who regularly work with children and vulnerable adults have been properly screen for criminal offenses that should preclude them from working with children, and that they have been trained in recognizing the signs of child and sexual abuse, and responding appropriately.

Prior to joining the Diocese, Dennis Butler worked for Liz Claiborne, Inc. from 2000 - 2009. As Vice President, Workplace Solutions he had companywide responsibility for developing, implementing and managing workplace programs including: equal employment opportunity, affirmative action, diversity management, immigration, workplace safety, ethics and compliance, policy and procedures. He has also directed companywide leadership learning, compliance and development programs. He has been the key contact on all Human Resources employee relations and compliance issues in corporate, retail, manufacturing, service and distribution center environments

As Human Resources professional for more than 25 years, Dennis has served in a variety of Compliance and Human Resources roles in both generalist and specialist functions including benefits administration, employee relations, equal employment opportunity, affirmative action, Ethics and compliance and diversity. He has worked in the financial services, consumer electronics and wholesale/retail apparel industries. He has a successful track record implementing programs in the United States and globally. He has helped develop and conducted extensive workplace training in these areas. He has been a facilitator or the Civil Treatment® series since 1995 and is a Master Facilitator of Employment Learning Innovation’s (ELI) Civil Treatment®, ValuEthics® and Professional Global Management ® programs. He was also a member of the Business Advisory committee for ELI’s development of ValuEthics® and Professional Global Management®

Dennis has a long history of working with various non-profit and faith-based organizations.  He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Equal Employment Advisory Council (EEAC). He is the immediate past Chair of the Northeast Regional Corporate Industry Liaison Group (NERC ILG) and a past Chair of the NJ Industry Liaison Group (NJ ILG), ILGs are groups of federal contractors working closely with the OFCCP, the EEOC and State fair employment practice agencies to seek out best practices in the areas of affirmative action and equal employment opportunity compliance and workplace diversity. Dennis served as a Trustee for the Department for Persons with Disabilities/Catholic Charities for the Diocese of Paterson, NJ and was Chairman of their subcommittee for Human Resources as well as a former member of their Vocational subcommittee. He was also a member of the Business Advisory Councils for Prospect Employment Services, a division of the Mental Health Association of Essex County in New Jersey, and for “Project Re-Employ”, a program of the National Business and Disability Council to help individuals with disabilities, displaced by the Sept 11 tragedy return to gainful employment.

He was instrumental in establishing Liz Claiborne’s ethics and compliance program and was a key member of Liz Claiborne’s Ethics and Business Practices Committee. He was part of the team that developed their policy and protocols for Domestic Violence in the Workplace and a member of the company’s Domestic Violence Response Team (DVRT). Since 2002, Dennis has managed the company’s responses to more than 125 reported DV in the workplace cases and has conducted Domestic Violence in the workplace training both in the US and globally.

Dennis has been a frequent speaker about domestic violence as a workplace issue at conferences and symposiums around the world including:

• The FBI Family Violence Symposium (August 2003)
• The Women’s Fund of Miami Dade County (October 2003 & 2004)
• The Partnership against Domestic Violence/SHRM/YWCA of NW Georgia (January 2004, April 2005, April 2006))
• LA/Tel-Aviv Partnership of the Jewish Federation’s first symposium on domestics violence in the workplace, “Domestic Violence IS Your Business”, Tel Aviv, Israel, (March 2004)
• NJ Gateway Chapter of SHRM (October 2004)
• The Maricopa Association of Governments in Phoenix, AZ (October 2004)
• Symposium on Corporate Social Responsibility, hosted by the British Home Office in London (October 2004)
• Coalition Puerto Ricano Contra la Violencia Doméstica y la Agresión Sexual, Symposium on domestic violence in the workplace, San Juan, PR (November 2004)
• World Conference for the Prevention of Family Violence, Banff, Canada (October 2005)
• Inaugural Conference of the Corporate Alliance Against Domestic Violence, London (September 2006)
• No to Domestic Violence! Conference, Istanbul, Turkey (November 2005/2006)
• “Building Public Private Partnerships to Enhance Social and Economic Progress”, Vital Voices Symposium, Dead Sea, Jordan (February 2007)
• Human Rights Challenge: Domestic Violence, International Press Institute World Congress And 56th General Assembly, Istanbul, Turkey (May 2007)
• “Implementing Workplace Awareness Programs and Employee Engagement - Leveraging Corporate Community Partnerships for Women’s Programs”, Vital Voices Symposium, Amman, Jordan (November, 2007)
• Alberta Council of Women’s Shelter First World Conference, Domestic Violence in the Workplace – what we all can do”, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (October, 2008)
• Workplace Violence Think Tank, Centre for Research and Education on Violence Against Women and Children, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario (October 2008)
• “Making Domestic Violence Part of Everybody’s Business”, S2: The National Safer Smarter Workplace Conference, San Francisco, CA (November, 2008)
• “DV is Everybody’s Business”, Women in Distress of Broward County, Weston, FL (April 2009)
• “The Workplace Responds To Family Violence: Case Studies & Best Practices”, Columbus Coalition Against Family Violence Innovation Through Collaboration: Building a Community Response to Family Violence, Columbus, OH (May 2009)
• “From Harassment to Domestic Violence in the Workplace: What Have We Learned about Opportunities for Prevention?”, Centre for Research & Education on Violence Against Women and Children Safe, Respectful & Inclusive Workplaces Conference, London ON (May 2009)

Dennis worked with Safe Horizon and Plays for Living in New York City on the development and roll out of a training program called SafeWork about domestic violence as a workplace issue. Dennis was instrumental in the development of both the theatre based and film versions of (Un)Safe a workplace dramatization used in the program. Dennis has facilitated the SafeWork program for managerial and executive audiences across several industries.

Dennis has developed a reputation as a thought leader in the areas of ethics, compliance, corporate social responsibility and domestic violence in the workplace. He has been quoted in various publications including: HR Magazine, HR Executive, Workforce, the NY Post, and Business Insurance. He has participated in a number of Business Roundtables on ethics, workplace violence and corporate social responsibility.

Prior to joining Liz Claiborne Inc., Dennis worked for Sony Electronics managing their EEO and Affirmative action compliance programs.  At Prudential, Dennis progressed through such roles as manager of Benefit Plans, Human Resources, Equal Opportunity Programs, Business Planning and Corporate Human Resources giving him an excellent opportunity to build a broad range of business, HR and line management skills.
 
He  earned his BA in French/Education from Montclair State University and an MBA in Management/Industrial Relations from Seton Hall University. He is Life Certified as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) and a member of the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM).