Help reduce the financial and human cost of domestic violence by raising awareness and taking action to address the impact of domestic violenece in your work place.
Fiona was in a violent and abusive relationship from the age of 17 for 10 years.
For many of those years, Fiona worked as a cashier at a bank in Edinburgh. She tried to keep her problems to herself, but the bruises and impacts of abuse began to become too serious to be covered up. Her colleagues started to ask questions. The incidents of violence escalated and Fiona was often late or absent from work or turned up with black eyes.
The reason Fiona’s employer eventually found out was that at the time of the most severe beating, Fiona was admitted to hospital. She was the only employee who had keys to the bank. The hospital would not take responsibility for the keys and Fiona asked them to call her manager to pick up the keys but not to let him see her. The manager did indeed see Fiona that day in the hospital. He was horrified.
When Fiona returned to work several weeks later, she met with her manager, as well as an HR manager. Fiona’s manager had alerted HR to her plight. The HR manager said that Fiona might not hear what she was saying to her that day, but that when she was ready, the HR Manager offered to help. Fiona went back to her abuser. The violence escalated again and so she contacted the HR manager, who helped Fiona access resources to safely leave her abusive husband and start her new life. That was what saved her from being killed. Many women die when they are trying to leave a violent relationship.
In May 1985 the bank transferred Fiona to a new post in London, where she started a new life of freedom and safety.
She remained a loyal and productive employee for many years and is now a founding Member and Trustee of CAADV.
For more information about CAADV, please contact: support@caadv.org.uk