Leadership In Law Podcast

14 Legal Compliance for Domestic Violence in the CA Work Place with Agape Garcia

• Marilyn Jenkins • Season 1 • Episode 14

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What if your workplace could become a sanctuary against violence? In this compelling episode, we sit down with Agape Garcia, the tireless founder of Confronting Domestic Violence, to dissect California's groundbreaking Workplace Violence Prevention Plan. Set to take effect on July 1, 2024, this legislation is a game-changer for businesses across the state. Agape, a survivor of a double attempted homicide, shares her deeply personal yet professional insights into the bill's 13 essential elements and over 30 mandatory actions, along with the exemption criteria for specific sectors. We probe into her firsthand experiences and how they shape her advocacy, offering a unique perspective on creating customized safety plans that resonate with each organization’s culture.

Delving deeper, we underscore the critical need for anonymous surveys to understand employees’ actual experiences with domestic violence. Agape sheds light on the importance of integrating comprehensive support systems within Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) and establishing clear procedures for access control and threat communication. We also cover practical steps for leadership to create a more supportive and safe work environment. Don't miss Agape's announcement about her nonprofit's upcoming fundraising gala and training sessions on the new legislation. This episode is essential listening for anyone committed to fostering a workplace where safety and support are paramount.

Agape Garcia is what you call a live definition of Post Traumatic Growth. She is passionately dedicated to helping businesses across the State of California prepare for and be compliant with the NEW Workplace Violence Prevention Plan.
This plan requires the inclusion of domestic violence which touches on her personal experience of surviving a double attempted homicide as well as her professional journey constantly confronted with domestic violence at the workplace.
Combined with that, her extensive community involvement has provided a full circle of well-rounded training which adds a wealth of wisdom and a uniqueness that makes this woman stand out as an extremely credible competent source you want on your team!

Her Mission is to help fill a much-needed gap by bringing organizations into compliance resulting in real-time resources for real-time victims of domestic violence.

Reach Agape here:
Social Media LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/confrontingdv
FB: https://www.facebook.com/AgapeConsulting
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/1agapeconsulting
IG: https://www.instagram.com/yes2agape/
CDV: https://linktr.ee/confrontingdv
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@CalOSHASB553?si=WMMWjyQgCp5jSMjR Website: https://sb553consulting.com


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Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Leadership in Law podcast with host Marilyn Jenkins. Cut through the noise, get actionable insights and inspiring stories delivered straight to your ears your ultimate podcast for navigating the ever-changing world of law firm ownership. In each episode, we dive deep into the critical topics that matter most to you, from unlocking explosive growth to building a thriving team. We connect you with successful firm leaders and industry experts who share their proven strategies and hard-won wisdom. So, whether you're a seasoned leader or just starting your journey as a law firm owner, the Leadership in Law podcast is here to equip you with the knowledge and tools you need to build a successful and fulfilling legal practice.

Speaker 2:

Hi everyone and thank you for joining me for another episode of the Leadership in Law podcast. I'm your host, Marilyn Jenkins. Please join me in welcoming my guest, Agape Garcia, to the show today. Agape is what you call a live definition of post-traumatic growth. She is passionately dedicated to helping businesses across the state of California prepare for and be compliant with, the new Workplace Violence Prevention Plan. This plan requires the inclusion of domestic violence, which touches on her personal experience of surviving a double attempted homicide, as well as her professional journey constantly confronted with domestic violence at the workplace. Combined with that, her extensive community involvement has provided a full circle of well-rounded training, which adds a wealth of wisdom and a uniqueness that makes this woman stand out as an extremely credible, competent source you want on your team. Her mission is to help fill a much-needed gap by bringing organizations in compliance, resulting in real-time resources for real-time victims of domestic violence. I'm excited to have you here, Agape, Welcome.

Speaker 3:

Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to have you here, agape, welcome. Thank you so much for having me here. I'm excited to be here.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely so. Tell us what you do and how you got started and how you help people.

Speaker 3:

Oh my, gosh, what do I do? That's a mouthful, all right. So I actually I run a nonprofit. I'm the founder of a nonprofit called Confronting Domestic Violence and I'm in the background making sure that you know A we're running on compliance and that we are establishing our program. It's barely reaching its third year of existence and we are having our very first event this year, which we'll get into a little bit later. And I'm also your SB553 SME, like you mentioned earlier. I am out there helping different organizations, small and large, understand the high-level requirements of the Workplace Violence Prevention Plan, to include all the way down to the weeds and being audit-ready. It is a very murky type of bill, murky type of requirement, and you know it's really hard to understand domestic violence if you really haven't been through it yourself. So it's a big calling.

Speaker 2:

Okay, well, I've lived in California for 15 years. A lot of the bills are murky, so does every business in California need to comply with this workplace violence prevention plan?

Speaker 3:

you need to comply with this workplace violence prevention plan. So not every business. There's two industries that make you exempt and that is, if you're anything law enforcement you know parole officer, police officer, first response, any anything that is law enforcement umbrella. You do not qualify or are mandated to be compliant under SB 553 because you already have that industry already has their own workplace violence. You know programs in place, same for the healthcare system. So basically, to simplify that, if you have to follow HIPAA rules and then also you have to meet three, you have to meet three other things in order for you to be exempt, and that is have less than 10 employees at one time in the office, be open to the public and also be active and compliant with your annual injury and illness prevention plan. If you have all three of those combined, then you're exempt, but if not, you need to comply.

Speaker 2:

Okay, great, and what are some of the key elements? What do we look for as a small business, or even a medium-sized business, to be able to start compliance?

Speaker 3:

And what is the?

Speaker 2:

date and what is the date? Okay, I jumped in there first. What is the date?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, okay. So very interesting question. So the date is let me give a little history September 30th of 2023 was when the bill was signed by Governor Newsom and July 1st of 2024 was when it went into effect. So it was really quick that it went into effect. About it more so along the lines of how to make sure that the mandates are being met right, because legislation is how the bill was passed through, but they are putting that on Cal OSHA to enforce. So Cal OSHA needs to now understand this bill. You know back and forth because it's not their mandate Right. So it's been a lot of back and forth. There's been a huge learning curve for quite some time. I personally have a direct contact that I speak to on a weekly sometimes like many times a week basis at the Department of Industrial Relations, so I've been able to find stuff through their guidelines that questioned what was, you know, the discrepancy or the alliance with what's written in the bill and what's written in their guidelines. So, yeah, it's been interesting, to say the least. Oh my gosh.

Speaker 3:

And then to answer your question about the elements and the and like, really, the ins and outs of the bill, I'll stay. I'll stay high level until we get a little bit deeper, but there's 13 elements and over 30 musts throughout the bill, and so what I've experienced in talking with multiple organizations is quite a few things. Number one each and every organization has its own culture and DNA, so there's not going to be one land that is alike. There can be a template type approach, but that's about it. Everything else is very customized and tailored to your specific organization, entity, office, you name it, it's specific to yours. And so corporations very different. Some just want the I's dotted and the T's crossed. Give me what I need to fill in the blanks and, you know, let me be done.

Speaker 3:

And then some, you know, actually want like the full on training of what are the, what are the traits, what are the human behaviors, what is it that? What observations can I actually, you know, materialize into a report that says, hey, I think that we have a safety issue? Or, you know, I overheard this person saying that they were being stopped, they were crying all day and I'm just afraid that, you know, their intimate partner might be showing up to the job and causing harm to them and or us. And then we have other corporations that you know, from small to large. They have security personnel already on premise and that will dive us into a whole other conversation.

Speaker 3:

Not a whole other conversation, but a deeper component to how this bill really starts to unravel and makes you feel like it is like the murkiest of waters, especially when the statistics of domestic violence increased since COVID. The needle has not for decades and the needle was pushed forward during COVID and with the new mandate of corporation requiring employees to return to work, that person who left a couple of years ago is not the same person who's coming back to work. Ok, and with the, you know, with the domestic violence numbers increasing, that's more likely to show up at the workplace than any sort of chemical spill.

Speaker 2:

That is true. I mean being locked in a house for three months with an abusive partner. It only gets worse, Right? So my heart goes out to the children, absolutely. I mean I can see like two sides of this bill, which I'm sure you know. When I lived in California, every time a new bill came out you got a booklet in the mail that explained both sides. I mean it was crazy. But so, thinking about this, as an employer it's my responsibility to now monitor my employees even closer or build a structure within my business to make sure I know or have an inkling that something's going on. If you see something, say something is kind of what we've been personally going by. But as an employer and then as an employee, how does that look in the employee structure, in the company structure? If someone should come to the business owner and say I think this is happening and then it should be addressed with the person, how are we handling the actual potential incident before it happens?

Speaker 3:

Right. So again, you know, going back to size of company, who you're, what the chain of you know communication is and how that's structured. Right, Because everybody, every company, has their own, again, culture. My recommendation is, you know, really assessing your culture and the communication style that you know that you have. Is it an open door policy? Are people comfortable talking, you know, with their managers? Do you have a reporting system where they can report something anonymously? You know this can be something very triggering, especially if you're a survivor of, like you know, any kind of domestic violence. This can be very triggering. So, because the statistics are so high.

Speaker 3:

My personal recommendation is, you know, put out a small survey. You know whether it's something that's electronic or you're just having a meeting to. You know, elicit, you know, some sort of feedback from anybody. Ask the question has anybody had or experienced or was exposed to a form of? You know see how many hands raised or how many people come forward and say, yes, those that have been through it actually have a lot to offer as it relates to their experience and what their ideas could be. You know, in helping start to draft the program Me personally, I mean, I can totally do that because of my personal experience, but if I'm not being asked, it's not something that's really being volunteered.

Speaker 4:

Right.

Speaker 3:

So again, I think it's important to kind of do a pulse check on your current organization, your current personnel, see who's willing to to, you know, raise their hand and say that they've had an experience, share it and give some feedback, or if somebody's actually currently in a situation you know, yeah.

Speaker 2:

I mean, I just, you know it's more, it's talked about a lot more now than it was back when I experienced it. So it makes you know it's it's not. You know, I went to work and it wasn't discussed. And I went to work with a great big bruised handprint on my face and no one, there was no conversation. You know it's just like okay, finish ship, go home. It's weird, so it's. I think it's more talked about now. So I think a survey would probably get more responses honest responses than than we would have even 20 years ago. So it is that's an interesting way of doing it having them anonymously or whatever, speak up. And I also remember when I was living in California I think it was the late 90s, early 90s a bill passed the stalker bill passed because of the boyfriend that went to work and and literally walked through a building to shoot his girlfriend and like five other people, and that was groundbreaking at the time.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, yeah, I mean and you're saying the early 90s, in 2014, thermal Fisher and Carl's bad had the boyfriend walk in tailgating at around midnight and killed his girlfriend right there in the corridors, gating at around midnight and killed his girlfriend right there in the corridors. I mean, it's in our backyard every day. I hate to say it that way, but it really is, and you know to your point. Now it's talked about a lot more openly. You are correct. There is still this stigma behind it, though. Right, like what's your title? How are you seeing? What's your? How are you perceived? You know when you, when you are the owner of a company, or when you are in HR, or when you are senior leadership, or when you are, you know these, these labels. That's the last thing that you want to put out there. But yeah, for most, for most people, it's still really a stigma and you know it. I just I cannot emphasize enough how it doesn't discriminate. Domestic violence does not discriminate. It doesn would not normally know.

Speaker 2:

so that I can help you with it, what are some of the useful tips that we can, that you can share with leadership, to do now regarding the SB 553?.

Speaker 3:

Well, definitely identify who your stakeholders are. As it relates to creating this plan. You know I start very high level. I do.

Speaker 3:

I do a perimeter check, like basically a vulnerability assessment on access control. If they can't get in, then you're already creating the most important barrier right there. Make sure that your doors are closing properly. Are you on a badge system? If you're on a badge system, are you doing monthly reports to make sure that people who are accessing an area have the excuse me, the roles and responsibilities to access that area, or do they just have access to the area because of their title? You know that's those important things, because really you know the assets is the critical infrastructure and the people.

Speaker 3:

So, starting at access control and then identifying who would be, you know your first responders and I say that walking on eggshells because you have your emergency responders. That's the law enforcement right, right, which we all know domestic violence is the riskiest call for police to respond to. But now, when you're at work and you have this responsibility, you're now the first responder. Ok, right. So, being the first responder, identify well, can you count on who has a past experience, who has, you know, maybe training in de-escalation or you know, physical threats and see who you might want to have as that first responder, because that's additional training, that's separate training. Also, identify who is going to be the decision maker.

Speaker 3:

Come up with a decision tree right. What is the chain of command and or communication? If it's just a regular employee that's seeing something that's going on right away, who do they need to call? What do they need to report? Because eventually this, the decision maker, has to make a general assessment and say you know, we're in lockdown, shelter in place, evacuate, go home. A decision has to be made at some point. So it's really figuring out how that effective communication can take place. So that act, the action that follows, you know, behind that, is in your best interest and outcome.

Speaker 2:

So are we looking at an instance where I noticed my cubicle neighbor has she seems to be, or he seems to have been hit or has been abused, or are we looking at a stalker type incident? Does the bill focus on both levels of the domestic violence?

Speaker 3:

Absolutely. Domestic violence comes in many different forms and you know whether it's somebody being stalked or somebody being, you know, verbally abused or financially abused, versus you know, physical marks, all of that constitutes domestic violence. I mean, even coerciveness is a part of domestic violence. You know, there's so many different forms and this is where it gets murky, right, because other people so let's take a few scenarios the actual person that's experiencing the DV may not want to say anything to the people at work, right, they don't want to say anything to the people at work, right, they don't want to say anything to their superiors at work, but they're sharing their information, their situation, with their co-workers Right Now. That puts a lot of stress on all people, all parties involved, because, number one, the person that's receiving the information might start feeling fearful for their own life, knowing that this individual is coming to work every day with a stalker or an abusive boyfriend on girlfriend, boyfriend on, you know, on their tail. You know, nobody knows how far somebody else is going to go for what they call love.

Speaker 1:

Okay.

Speaker 3:

So it really puts this again, this stress on the individual that's receiving the information. Because what do they do? This person doesn't want to tell anybody at the job, they don't want to expose themselves, but this person is fearful that everybody's life might be at danger.

Speaker 4:

Right.

Speaker 3:

So it really is up to that person on the receiving end or anybody in ear laying shot to say something so that, whether an intervention needs to take place or preparation you know of a potential threat needs to take place, the communication needs to happen. Again, so simple as it gets down to. Here's a picture of a person that it can potentially pose a threat. If you see them, you know on camera, or coming to the parking lot or trying to look inside doors, you know contact so and so right away, it doesn't need to know, nobody needs to know, what the name is, who the potential threat is against. It can be super generic, just information sharing to prevent problem from happening. Right, it's all about prevention.

Speaker 2:

Report response that sounds that sounds as a business owner. Response that sounds that sounds as a business owner. That sounds like a lot of contingency plans that have to put in place. How do yes. So how do you help business owners prepare for that? I mean, there's so many, like you said, so many scenarios. It's murky. Obviously you do training. What else do you help business owners with to to get into compliance?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, well, thanks for asking. So it's not just about the 13 elements and the 30 musts, right, there's a whole bunch of logs that are required, there's a whole bunch of processes that are required and I'm learning that there's multiple plans that are embedded within this as well, like I was saying earlier the communication plan, the response plan, you know. So what I do is I try to. My approach is maximum utilization of available resources. So I try not to start anything from scratch. I like to ask the questions what do you already have in place that can constitute and satisfy some of those requirements off the bat? So, again, things that people have already been trained on, that's, it's just going to be repetitive. So it's more of like muscle memory and the outcome will be a lot better because it's again similar training that's received in other areas. You know of the corporation that will satisfy the needs for SB 553. So I try to use what you already have, cutting down on costs and time.

Speaker 2:

Okay, All right. Wow, I'm so glad that you're there to help with that. It just seems. It seems almost overwhelming, but it's. You know, it's the state of life these days. Why is this so important to you?

Speaker 3:

Why is this so important to me? This is going to sound crazy, but it's so important to me because when I woke up and saw everything that this bill has in place, I felt like it was writing my life story. I couldn't believe it. I had already established the nonprofit. I had to remove the vision statement off of our website because the vision statement was literally saying that we wanted to see, you know, domestic violence, assistance and or support in corporations. And why? Let me break that down? Because most EAP programs employee, you know assistant programs have things for alcohol, porn, gambling. There's rarely something there for domestic violence. Those are all things that take place outside of the workplace. Those are all things that are personal, that you know the job actually offers help for. So now that domestic violence is a I don't want to say burden, but a responsibility for employers to help prevent, mitigate and respond to, I believe that you know this is something that's going to be implemented fairly quickly into that employee assistant program.

Speaker 3:

So me personally, I suffered a double attempted homicide. So I've gone to work wearing multiple hats. I've gone to work as a victim. I've gone to work as a manager. I've gone to work, as you know, hr. I've gone to work as a physical security consultant. I've gone to work as a compliance officer, you name it.

Speaker 3:

Ok, I have dealt with domestic violence, whether it was my own or somebody else's, at every single job I was ever at Wow Ever after I was wearing OK yeah, so to see that domestic violence can be a problem when you clock in, this is extremely important for us to come together as a community and really, really support the survivors that are showing up every day to work to try to get out of their situation, that really are seeking help and would totally do the right thing, the right way, if they just had that little bit of help or place that they know that they can share their story to get help.

Speaker 2:

Right, okay, that makes complete sense. Wow, and it is everywhere. It is everywhere. So you mentioned you're a non-profit, so what's coming up next for you?

Speaker 3:

Oh, my gosh. So we are happy, we, the nonprofit Confronting Domestic Violence, we're having our very first gala.

Speaker 3:

this year our fundraising event October 27th in Del Mar at the Del Mar Social. So we are super excited. Our mission is to provide real-time resources to real-time victims and their children and we also offer relocation services when you know parents have a safe place to go but not the means to get there. You know financial reasons or financial challenges are a big reason that keeps you know people in their abusive relationship. So we're really trying to fill that gap to prevent that from being a reason.

Speaker 2:

Oh, wow, that's so cool, yeah.

Speaker 3:

So we have our gala October 27th, and then also I'm going to be offering a three series training on SB 553, both on October 30th and November 1st. So I'll be doing like a high level training for those that just kind of want to know what the musts and the elements are. And then I have a second level training, which is going to be pretty much giving you an outline of the draft of everything that you need in order to fill in those blanks, to make it tailored and customized specific to your facility or facilities. And then I have, you know, a six hour training where I'm really breaking down every component of it and you're walking out of there audit ready with confidence.

Speaker 2:

Wow, okay, that sounds incredible that it just having someone like you on the on their side, it just takes so much away from the business owner of having the burden to do it, away from the business owner of having the burden to do it.

Speaker 3:

So and to be in compliance. Oh my gosh, and listen, I have for 15 years. I'm still currently volunteering for Cal legislation. Cal legislation is all about writing legislation for the state of California and specific to public safety and privacy. I used to work directly with internal affairs as a mayoral appointee. I mean, I got hands on training like like a on the clock officer from sheriffs and from different counties, the federal agencies, homeland Security, fema, you name it. I'm telling you, when I read this bill, I said this is not murky for me. I understand everything about it. I have some things I need to talk to you know the Department of Industrial Relations about, but I understand it like the back of my hand. I can talk about it all day.

Speaker 2:

Wow, that's fantastic. I hope whoever's listening that has a business in California reaches out so you can help them get everything straight and ready for audit if needed. Sounds like you can definitely are a big asset for this. I know my listeners might want to reach out to you, connect with you. Where can they learn more about you?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, sure, thank you For SB 553. Anything you can locate me at contactagapecom. Simple, okay, simple, contactagapecom. I got you. And also, if you're interested in supporting in any way, shape or form, attending the gala. The theme is old Hollywood, so, even though it's a sensitive topic, we're going to have a wonderful evening and you can find everything you want out about that at confrontingdomesticviolenceorg.

Speaker 2:

Well, fantastic, that's great. This has been really eye-opening and I appreciate all your feedback and your advice on the California businesses getting compliant with this, and I wish you luck on the Gala. I hope everything goes really well and you meet your goals and you can help even more people. Thank you so much, thank you. Thank you so much for being here.

Speaker 4:

Thanks for joining me today for this episode. As we wrap up, I'd love for you to do two things. First, subscribe to this podcast so you don't miss an episode, and if you find value here, I'd love it if you would rate it and review it. That really does make a difference in helping other people to discover this podcast. Second, you can connect with me on LinkedIn to keep up with what I'm currently learning and thinking about, and if you're ready to take the next step with a digital strategist to help you grow your law firm, I'd be honored to help you. Just go to lawmarketingzonecom to book a call with me. Stay tuned for our next episode next week. Until then, as always, thanks for listening to Leadership in Law podcast and be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts so you don't miss the next episode.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Leadership in Law podcast. Remember you're not alone on this journey. There's a whole community of law firm owners out there facing similar challenges and striving for the same success. Head over to our website at lawmarketingzonecom. From there, connect with other listeners, access valuable resources and stay up to date on the latest episodes. Don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. Until next time, keep leading with vision and keep growing your firm.