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SAFE Act Will Help Victims of Domestic Violence Stay Safe

October 27, 2015

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: NNEDV Communications Team (Communications@NNEDV.org)

Washington, DC – The National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) thanks Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA) and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) for their reintroduction of the Security and Financial Empowerment (SAFE) Act. The SAFE Act helps to ensure the economic security and safety of victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.

Survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking lose nearly eight million days of paid work each year — the equivalent of more than 32,000 full-time jobs. Abusers often use economic necessities like withholding rent, health care, and child care to exert control over their victims. It is critical that victims have the flexibility to take necessary time off from work (including to obtain a restraining order or appear in court) and to have protections in place to increase their physical, emotional, and financial safety.

Among other protections, the SAFE Act prevents the firing of victims because of harassment by an abuser or because they requested safety accommodations at work, prohibits insurance discrimination against victims of violence, and allows employees who must leave their jobs due to violence to apply for unemployment benefits.

“It is critical that those suffering from violence be able to protect their jobs and financial security so that they can seek safety. We thank Senator Murray and Congresswoman Roybal-Allard for their continued commitment to protecting survivors,” said Kim Gandy, President & CEO of NNEDV.

The SAFE Act takes critical steps to ensure that survivors aren’t trapped in an abusive relationship for financial reasons. NNEDV supports economic justice for survivors through a multi-pronged approach. NNEDV and its member programs have benefited from a ten-year partnership with The Allstate Foundation, which works to help survivors of domestic violence move from short-term safety to long-term security through financial education and asset building.

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The National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) represents the 56 state and U.S. territorial coalitions against domestic violence. NNEDV is a social change organization working to create a social, political, and economic environment in which domestic violence no longer exists. NNEDV works to make domestic violence a national priority, change the way society responds to domestic violence, and strengthen domestic violence advocacy at every level.