In a California domestic violence restraining order case, the judge can order the restrained person to stay a set distance from the protected person’s job or workplace, and the standard order forms make no exception when the restrained person works there too. The request form asks whether the two of you work at the same place, so the shared job can be raised with the judge and, if the judge agrees, addressed in the order’s written terms.
The order can name the workplace and a distance
A domestic violence restraining order can require a person to keep a specified distance away from the other party (Family Code section 6320(a)), and the court can make the same orders after a hearing (Family Code section 6340(a)(1)). The official forms turn that into a checklist of places.
On the Request for Domestic Violence Restraining Order (DV-100), item 12 lets the person asking for protection request that the other person stay away from listed places, including “My job or workplace,” at the form’s printed distance of 100 yards (300 feet) or another distance the person writes in. If the judge grants that, the Temporary Restraining Order (DV-110) can order the restrained person to stay a specified number of yards away from, among other places, the “job or workplace of person in 1,” meaning the protected person (item 12). The Restraining Order After Hearing (DV-130) uses the same list (item 16).
The request form asks about a shared job
In the same stay-away section, DV-100 asks: “Do you and the person in 2 have the same workplace or go to the same school?” If the answer is yes, the form asks for the name of the company or school (item 12d). A standard stay-away distance around the protected person’s workplace can keep the restrained person away from a job the two of them share, or be impossible to follow if both are regularly on the same premises. Answering that question fully is how the judge learns about the conflict before deciding the stay-away terms.
The forms have no automatic exception for a shared job
The printed exceptions to the stay-away order on DV-110 and DV-130 cover only exchanging children for court-ordered visits and court-ordered visits with children, followed by an “Other (explain)” line. Nothing on the forms exempts a shared workplace by default. If the judge decides to accommodate a shared job, for example with a different distance or a written exception, it has to be written into the order, and whether to do that is the judge’s decision on the facts.
If a temporary order already covers the workplace
A temporary order is effective when made and lasts until the end of the hearing listed on it (DV-110). If it lists the protected person’s workplace, follow it as written until a judge changes it, even though the job is also yours. A protective order’s terms “may be changed only by order of the court” (Penal Code section 13710(b)), and the order form adds that contact the protected person invites or agrees to does not suspend it. An arrangement worked out at work, with the other person or with a supervisor, does not change the order.
How to raise it at the hearing
If you are the restrained person, the response form, DV-120, lets you say you do not agree with the requested stay-away order and “describe a different order that you would agree to” (item 10). Whichever side you are on, be ready to tell the judge, in writing if possible, the employer’s name, the layout of the workplace, and whether shifts or work areas can realistically be kept apart. A judge who knows about the shared job can consider a narrower or conditional term, but whether any particular accommodation is granted depends on the facts presented.
After the hearing, the order’s stay-away terms can be changed only by a further court order, made either when one side files a motion or when both sides file a written agreement (Family Code section 6345(a)). That is a reason to raise the workplace issue at the hearing rather than assume it can be worked out later.
Talk to a lawyer before the hearing
The Law Offices of David S. Chesley can help you prepare what to tell the judge about a shared employer, whichever side of the restraining order you are on. Call (800) 755-5174.