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Most employers appear to remain unaware of the extent of their legal duties towards employees affected by family and domestic violence, a lawyer warns.

For several years, companies of any size have been subject to a statutory duty under WHS psychosocial safety laws to take proactive and preventative measures to eliminate or minimise the risk of harm to their employees from psychosocial hazards, says Lisa Berton, partner at Henry William Lawyers.

Regulators have deemed domestic violence a common workplace psychosocial hazard, so failing to take these steps can result in a breach of WHS laws, which is a civil and criminal offence carrying civil and criminal penalties, she highlights.

Part of employers' obligation is to identify hazards and assess risk, which means considering "when, where and how... workers might be exposed to family and domestic violence and manage those risks by implementing control measures", Berton tells HR Daily...