Family and Domestic Violence

MetLife is committed to assisting all our customers and we recognise that they have unique needs. The following information is our promise to support customers impacted or affected by family and domestic violence. We will regularly monitor our guidance, procedures, and feedback to ensure we are following through on our commitment.

What is family and domestic violence?

Family and domestic violence refers to violent, threatening, or abusive behaviour performed by a current or former family member, to cause fear or harm with an intention of coercion or control.

Family and domestic violence behaviour is not limited to physical harm. It can include emotional, sexual, financial or psychological abuse, social isolation or any other behaviour intended to cause fear or harm to you or other family members. Family and domestic violence can impact individuals from all communities.

We acknowledge it is sensitive and very personal. If you are, or have been, affected by family and domestic violence we are committed to supporting you with extra care, and will ensure your personal circumstances do not adversely affect your claim.

Our commitment

We know that talking about sexual, domestic and family violence can be hard and sometimes can feel risky if your situation is currently unsafe. Our approach in supporting you is designed to minimise risk during our contact with you and provide you with respectful, sensitive and timely assistance. Our products are designed with provisions for those affected by domestic and family violence, as well as other vulnerabilities. 

How can we help?

At MetLife we can help support you by:

• Ensuring a sensitive and confidential claims handling process and a commitment that if a family and domestic and violence situation exists, it will have no adverse effect on your claim 
• Responding to your disclosure of family and domestic violence with sensitivity and respect and minimising the number of times you need to disclose this information
• Having one nominated team member to communicate with you, where possible
• You can nominate a preferred communication method including a preferred phone number or email address and specific times to communicate
• Helping you set up new insurance policies if needed
• Where possible, accelerating claim decision outcomes
• Assisting to arrange access to financial hardship help
• Recommending and connecting you to specialist services

Training

Our employees are trained to ensure they recognise and respond to customers affected by domestic and family violence as early as possible and with empathy and compassion. Where appropriate they will help with referral to external community services if additional support may be required.

Your Privacy

We recognise that privacy and confidentiality is critical to safety in any family and domestic violence situation. We will treat any information you give us about your situation and your personal circumstances with confidentiality and take great care to ensure this information is not made available to anyone not involved in the management of your claim or policy request.

You have the right to choose whether, when and to whom you disclose information about being affected by family and domestic violence. Information will be kept confidential except to the extent that disclosure is required by law. You will be informed if your information needs to be provided to any third party, such as your doctor, for the management of your claim or policy enquiry or if it is required to be disclosed to any law enforcement agency.

Financial Hardship

If you’ve been impacted by family and domestic violence you may be eligible for financial hardship support or a prioritised claims handling process. Please contact us for more information.

Sometimes you may need extra help to get your finances back on track during a difficult time. For free, confidential, independent financial advice you can call the National Debt Helpline on 1800 007 007.

Employee Support

We also recognise that our own employees may be impacted by family and domestic violence and need support. MetLife leaders and employees are committed to making our workplace safe and can make a significant difference to employees affected, by providing appropriate safety and support measures.

Our customer-facing employees are provided additional support if they are affected vicariously during any customer interactions that include family and domestic violence references or statements. MetLife Australia has an employee-specific Family and Domestic Violence Policy which provides guidance for employees on how to respond and refer effectively to both internal and external support.

Complaints

If you feel that we have not followed through on our commitments to support you, we encourage you to let us know as soon as possible.  

You can lodge a complaint by:

• calling us on 1300 555 625
• completing our ‘Contact Us’ form
• emailing aucomplaints@metlife.com
• writing to us at GPO Box 3319, Sydney NSW 2001.

Other support services