By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Columnist

One week ago today, a Circuit Court jury found Clyde Arakawa guilty of manslaughter; a federal court judge threw out a lawsuit by Republican gubernatorial candidate John Carroll against the Office of Hawaiian Affairs; the fourth floor of the District Court on Alakea street was packed with the first wave of traffic cam cases; and up the street at Honolulu Hale, Jon Yoshimura was stepping down as chairman of the City Council.

All of those stories made headlines.

But on the eighth floor of the District Court, it was business as usual.

A young woman spent the day sitting in a room with other domestic violence victims waiting for her ex-husband's case to be called. It was scheduled for 8 a.m. She didn't go before the judge to testify until nearly 2 p.m. But she considered herself lucky. The case could have been continued another day. Or longer. And every day she had to wait for the case was another day she had to take off from work. There were lots of days she had to take off from work to deal with this guy, from the four times he got arrested for domestic violence, the three times he violated the court order for her protection, plus the time she had to take to move to a place he couldn't find her.

Fortunately, she has an understanding employer and a job with some flexibility. Others don't. That can mean it's just too much of a risk for some victims of domestic violence, sexual violence or stalking to get legal, medical and psychological help. It can seem easier to do nothing.

Two measures moving through the Legislature are designed to address this problem. House Bill 2123 and Senate Bill 2438 establish that an employee who is a victim of domestic abuse may take paid or unpaid leave from work to seek medical attention, obtain services from a victim services organization, get counseling, move or take legal action resulting from or relating to the abuse. The measures state: "Upon return from leave ... the employee shall return to the employee's original job or to a position of comparable status and pay, without loss of accumulated service credits and privileges."

The measures also provide some protection for employers, including a "reasonable period of time" clause and allowing the employer to ask the employee to provide proof of services from a doctor, counselor, or agent of the court. Such information has to be kept confidential by the employer.

But the bigger picture in both bills is that employers cannot discriminate against employees who are victims of domestic violence or stalking. That might seem elementary, but in real life, a woman with a "crazy ex" can be blamed by her employer for his disruptive behavior at her workplace. The "crazy ex" often knows this and uses this as another weapon against her, threatening her ability to support herself financially. These bills take that threat away.

Reach Lee Cataluna at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.