Elizabeth Holmes And How Partner Abuse Can Impact Work Behavior

Jury selection was completed last week in the trial of Theranos founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes. Federal prosecutors have charged Holmes with fraud relating to the blood-testing startup. Holmes and Theranos’ former COO and president, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani claimed their technology could test for dozens of health conditions with a single finger prick of blood. Federal investigators and a Wall Street Journal reporter discovered it couldn’t, and now Holmes and Balwani are facing charges for defrauding investors, doctors and patients.

In unsealed court documents, attorneys for Elizabeth Holmes wrote, “For over a decade, Ms. Holmes and Mr. Balwani had an abusive intimate-partner relationship, in which Mr. Balwani exercised psychological, emotional and [redacted] over Ms. Holmes.” They continue, “This pattern of abuse and coercive control continued over the approximately decade-long duration of Ms. Holmes and Mr. Balwani’s relationship, including during the period of charged conspiracies.”

As a result of these allegations, there’s speculation that Holmes’ defense will suggest that intimate partner abuse contributed to her actions at work. Although many think of domestic violence as a personal issue, it can result in significant repercussions for physical and mental health that impacts work life too. For example, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) reports that victims of domestic violence lose nearly 8 million days of paid work per year in the U.S., resulting in a $1.8 billion loss in productivity for employers. When you add in the costs of medical care, the cost of domestic abuse rises to a whopping $5.8 billion per year. 

California State University Professor Emeritus Mindy Mechanic is serving as an expert on intimate partner abuse in Holmes’ trial. Naturally, Mechanic cannot speak about Holmes’ case, but she did offer to share her knowledge about the different ways that domestic violence can play out at work. 

What Is Intimate Partner Abuse?

Although most of us likely think of physical violence when we hear about intimate partner abuse, Mechanic says it’s really about control. She points out that physical violence is just one of four abusive tactics adopted to control victims. The most common tactic is emotional and psychological abuse which, according to Mechanic, includes behaviors like name-calling and verbal abuse; gaslighting; undermining someone’s self-esteem; isolating victims from friends, family and sources of support; restricting access to other resources including finances; controlling who they see, what they do, what they read, what they watch and what they listen to.

Sexual assault and coercion, and stalking and harassment are the other two primary strategies employed by abusers. Although these four strategies may seem like they have little overlap, Mechanic says they share a common thread. “The underlying goal of a perpetrator in these kinds of cases is to keep their partner controlled—to get their partner to do what they want them to do,” she says.

Most victims report experiencing a variety of these abusive tactics. One study that followed women experiencing intimate partner violence found on the majority of days (62%), no abuse occurred; on 27% of days, the women suffered psychological abuse alone and on 6% of days, victims experienced both psychological and physical violence.

Repercussions Of Partner Abuse At Work

Suffering this type of abuse at home would naturally have repercussions in the workplace. “If somebody is being harmed and threatened, they are living in a state of fear, looking behind their back, looking over their shoulder, always wondering what’s going to happen. People who have suffered intimate partner abuse or violence can suffer PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), they can suffer depression, they can suffer anxiety, they can suffer panic attacks, they can cope maladaptively by using substances to try to quell their anxiety or self-medicate for depression,” says Mechanic. In addition to mental health issues that may impact job performance, victims may also miss work due to doctor’s visits or because they don’t want to show up at work with bruises or a black eye. These could all add up to productivity losses as well.

Although many abuse victims suffer symptoms consistent with PTSD, Mechanic points out that PTSD often doesn’t fully capture the victim’s experience. PTSD assumes that the traumatic event is in the past, and for many victims, the real threat of abuse continues while they are experiencing symptoms consistent with PTSD. This makes abuse victims experience with PTSD unique. Mechanic suggests that a different name for the disorder (peri-traumatic instead of post-traumatic) might better capture the victim’s experience and help clinicians target coping strategies to meet the unique needs of abuse victims.

Mental health issues aren’t the only problem victims face at work. Abusers can also directly interfere with a victim’s ability to do their job. Mechanic says they might try to sabotage the partner’s career by losing the victim’s keys so that when it’s time to go to work, they’re stuck at home. Abusers may show up at the victim’s job or place tracking devices in their car, their phone or laptop to monitor if the partner is where they’d said they would be. If the abuser is also a work colleague, they can track and control even more activities like their partner’s meetings and lunch plans.

While the workplace can be a source of additional stress, Mechanic points out that it can also be a place of salvation and refuge. “There are a lot of ways that having a job can be a life raft both emotionally and physically helping women get out of abusive relationships,” Mechanic says. The workplace can provide physical safety and emotional safety which is absent in the victim’s home life. A job can also help the victim regain self-esteem and achieve the financial independence necessary to escape the abusive relationship.

Victims of abuse faced even more challenges when stay-at-home orders, intended to reduce the spread of Covid-19 left many victims trapped at home with their abusers. Even since stay-at-home orders have expired, work from home has become standard for many employees.  “When people are together 24/7, there is no escape from abuse that might ordinarily be provided by one or both individuals leaving to attend school or employment,” Mechanic says. “With more exposure, there is greater opportunity for abuse to be transacted,” she adds.  

Organizations Can Provide Training

Given the prevalence of domestic abuse, some organizations are stepping up to train their employees on how to spot it.  Without training, a domestic violence victim’s struggles may go unnoticed by coworkers.  Educating coworkers to look for signs of abuse (a coworker’s partner who shows up at work frequently or sits waiting in the parking lot, an employee who wears long sleeves in warm weather, a colleague bombarded with calls from home) is a critical first step. Once domestic abuse is suspected, then a trained manager can talk to the employee. Some organizations also offer options such as relocation plans for victims. An additional benefit of these programs is they help victims realize that their workplace is safe and that they have options to escape the abuse.

With regard to Elizabeth Holmes, we have yet to find out if and how she will be presenting her alleged experience with domestic abuse at work. If she does discuss her experience, it will help raise awareness of this serious issue faced by millions of victims.