October is domestic violence awareness month and OPM has called on federal agencies to actively participate, noting that a third of all women experience domestic violence in her lifetime.
An April 2012 Presidential memo asked agencies to develop policies addressing the impact of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking on the federal workplace, and since then OPM said it has established its Guidance for Agency-Specific Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking policies and has provided agencies feedback on their draft policies.
Final agency-specific policies are due to OPM by December 8. This month, OPM said agencies could support the effort by: Making domestic violence fact sheets available to employees; Hosting a “lunch-n-learn” where a featured speaker addresses relevant topics; sending an agency-wide email bringing awareness to internal resources that are available to support employees; and, encouraging employees to attend a webinar, hosted by OPM, on October 24that will present information on the issue of domestic violence and what leaders and employees can do to further efforts at their agencies.
