Senate eyes help for abuse victims

WASHINGTON — Yvette Cade was working at a T-Mobile store outside Washington, D.C., the morning of Oct. 10, 2005, when her estranged husband walked in and doused her with gasoline from a Sprite bottle.

As she ran from the store, her husband set her on fire.

"I fell to my knees and that's when I felt the intense heat on my back," she told a Senate subcommittee Tuesday, her face showing the scars from the third-degree burns she suffered over 60 percent of her body.

Cade testified as part of a hearing, chaired by U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., on domestic violence in the workplace.

The hearing was held just two weeks after women were killed in domestic-violence incidents at work in Seattle and Atlanta, and one day after the shooting rampage at Virginia Tech.

On April 2, Rebecca Griego, 26, was shot and killed by an ex-boyfriend in her fourth-floor office at Gould Hall on the University of Washington campus before he turned the gun on himself. The next day, Clara Riddles, 22, was shot at her job at a hotel attached to the CNN center in Atlanta. Her ex-boyfriend, Arthur Mann, faces murder charges.

"Each day we get terrible reminders that domestic violence does not stay at home," Murray said.

Murray used the hearing to introduce a bill that would require employers to grant unpaid leave to employees seeking legal protection from abusers. It also would make domestic-violence victims eligible for unemployment benefits if they quit their jobs to get away from abusers.

"People should not be forced to choose between financial security and physical security," Murray said.

Cade said her estranged husband called and threatened her at 2:30 a.m. the day of her attack. Afraid of losing her job, Cade showed up as usual at work.

She said that if Maryland law required her employer to protect her — or at least guarantee she would not be fired for not going to work — her attack might have been avoided.

Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., said he had not yet reviewed Murray's proposal but was concerned about the potential impact on businesses, particularly the cost of lawsuits associated with such legislation.

Sue Willman, an employment-law attorney from Kansas City, told the senator that such legislation often assumes employers discriminate, when that's rarely the case.

Willman, herself a victim of domestic violence who serves on the board of directors of a battered-women's shelter, said she would rather see incentives for businesses in the form of grant money or tax credits to create programs that fight domestic violence.

Laura Fortman, commissioner of the Maine Department of Labor, said a law similar to Murray's proposal has been successful in her state. There have been few complaints from businesses, she said.

Willman said the lack of problems over Maine's law shows that employers are voluntarily protecting their workers, making legislation unnecessary.

Murray said after the hearing that she expects to alter the legislation as concerns are brought to her attention.

Material from The Associated Press is included in this report.