Victims of sexual or domestic assault to receive paid leave from work

VICTORIA (NEWS 1130) – Victims of sexual or domestic assault in British Columbia will now be allowed to take five days off with pay.

Changes made last year to the  Employment Standards Act now allow ten unpaid days off, with the new changes making half of those days paid.

This will be available for both full and part-time workers.

Minister of Labour Harry Bains says for victims of abuse or sexual violence, this means one less thing to worry about as they navigate through the trauma.

“The last thing you want is that they worry about their paycheque and losing money from work or from missing work,” he says. “So, I think that’s where we are starting. So they can take one day at a time or all five days.”

Sonmin Bong with WAVAW Rape Crisis Centre in Vancouver says it’s hard to say if it will have the universal impact of helping every survivor but adds this kind of leave will ease the pressure for many in how to approach this issue of leave with their employers.

She says both domestic and sexual assault can cause massive disruptions to survivor’s lives both emotionally and mentally.

She adds these days can give them time needed to move forward or get help.

“For people to have time to consider their options as far as whether or not they want to access the medical system following sexual assault or whether or not  they want to make a report to police.”

This legislation has yet to pass but is expected to as it has the support of both opposition parties.

Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson stated “while there are many issues that our parities disagree on, domestic and sexual violence is not one of them.”

MLA Sonia Furstenau with the Greens applauds the inclusivity of this legislation while saying there is much more work to be done to decrease the instances of sexualized violence and increase the response in BC.

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