OPM director John Berry has issued a memo asking federal agencies to provide OPM with policies they are required to develop on addressing domestic violence in their workforces.
The White House issued a memo in April stating that the federal government should be a model in responding to the effects of domestic violence on its workforce.
The memo directs executive departments and agencies to review any current guidance and/or policies that address the impact of domestic violence in the workplace in order to heighten awareness of what procedures agencies have already developed to address the issue and to inform an eventual government-wide policy.
Agencies are to send any existing agency-specific policies and practices for addressing the effects of domestic violence in the workplace to OPM’s Work/Life Office at worklife@opm.gov by July 18.
OPM said that it would review the policies and practices and then, in consultation with other agencies with expertise related to domestic violence, issue guidance on the content of these policies including recommended steps agencies could take as employers for early intervention in and prevention of domestic violence.
