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“A dream you dream alone is only a dream; a dream you dream together is reality.” — Yoko Ono
Jul
26
When Domestic Abuse Victims Fight Back
Filed Under discrimination, legislation, misogyny, patriarchy, sexism, violence against women and girls, women’s health, work | Posted by Cara |
Women’s enews reports that a New York woman is suing after she was fired from her job for being a victim of domestic abuse.
A flowerpot to the face from her ex-husband left Adriana Becerril a pulverized mess of blood, bruises and bumps while their four children screamed.
Injured and unable to report to her first day of work as the director at a Bronx preschool in September 2006, she sought four days of recommended medical leave and, after speaking to employees, thought she would begin the following week instead. She said she didn’t want to start work with the children while her face was bruised and swollen.
Four days later, she received a letter by FedEx informing her that she was fired.
Becerril is suing the nonprofit New York child-care agency Graham Windham and one of the day-care centers it runs, Grow With Us Preschool in the South Bronx. Her lawsuit invokes a 2003 amendment to the New York City Human Rights Law that requires employers to reasonably accommodate the needs of domestic violence victims. Becerril, who now works at a different Bronx day care, is suing for lost wages, compensation and benefits along with compensatory damages for injury to her reputation and emotional and mental distress.
“I wasn’t going to do anything in the beginning,” said Becerril, who was initially unaware of the law and is only the second person to invoke it in a legal proceeding. “But then I thought about it, and I thought, ‘If I don’t do anything about it, they’re going to do it to somebody else.’”
Damn right, they would. It looks like we’ve got another bad-ass woman’s activist on our hands!
Firstly, I want to say that I love the fact that NY has this kind of law to protect women. But how sad is it that more women don’t know about it? It’s been in effect since 2003, and only one other woman has invoked it? I would sure love to believe that it’s because no other woman has been a victim of this kind of discrimination, but I somehow doubt that that’s the case.
This type of treatment is just a revictimization of women who have already been victimized. And they do it for a reason that most abusers do: because they can. Victims of domestic violence are ostracized in this country. You need to be able to prove bruises and broken bones to be taken seriously. If you do produce bruises and broken bones, you’re derided as an idiot who shouldn’t have stuck around and therefore got what she deserved. These women are considered to be “trouble makers” in their workplace (well, gee, we never know when her boyfriend will beat her next. Instead of trying to get her help, let’s just fire her), and they are considered to be weak. They’re discriminated against because everyone assumes, from what their previous records supposedly indicate, that they won’t fight back.
Bravo to Ms. Becerril for proving them wrong.
I imagine that this case will be considered particularly “tricky” since Becerril had to take off work before she had even completed her first day– and I would be shocked to hear Graham Windham not invoke that argument. I admit that the timing was really, really bad. But I imagine that if women knew when their violent ex-husbands were going to smash flowerpots into their faces, they would try their best to avoid the incident all together, rather then just reschedule. Yes, it sucks that her attack happened when it did. It sucks for the school that this happened to their employee when it did– but you know what sucks a hell of a lot more? The fact that she was attacked at all. Would she have been fired if she’d had a heart attack or a stroke? What if she’d been in a car accident, or fell down a flight of stairs? I somehow doubt it.
Becerril was punished not only for the type of injury that she sustained, but for her honesty about it. As if women with ex-husbands who smash flowerpots into their faces don’t have enough problems, already.
This will be an interesting case to watch. I hope that Becerril wins– from the information provided in this article, it would be an outrage if she didn’t. And I hope that all employers and all women in the state of New York (from which I proudly hail) are paying close attention.
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“Men, their rights, and nothing more; women, their rights, and nothing less.” — Susan B. Anthony
An even sadder situation is when someone suffers from emotional abuse. You never know when someone arrives at work after some severe abuse that way. And they just have to try to cover it up and function anyway.
By even sadder, I mean as far as support from work.
We need a voice!! Here’s to the strong women who endure mental, sexual, and physical abuse on a daily basis and still stay strong and continue to fight back! I never have kept quiet about any abuse I went through, even as a child. I spoke out then as I do now. I got tired of leaving MY home during battles! Where I live, if a woman defends herself, she goes to jail too and the children go to the state, as if what they went through wasn’t enough. Some of us fight back. If there are several witnesses, including children, why does the victim pay yet again? Not everyone has 5 grand to dish out for a lawyer, then what? The police won’t make my abuser leave my father’s home, he wont sign the divorce papers, won’t get anger mgt or a job. Wont leave the house! I fight back… some laws in my state need to change.