OBJECTIVES: The productivity costs of intimate partner violence (IPV) have received considerable attention by human resource experts, employers and news outlets, including the BBC and Washington Post. Absences, tardiness and turnover have been estimated. Yet, validated estimates of “presenteeism” (functioning at work) are unknown. METHODS: In 2007, 190 female IPV victims petitioning a US court for orders for protection (OP) consented to participate in a randomized control trial which included the validated Work Limitations Questionnaire, the SF-12v2, the CES-D (for depression and anxiety), the CTS2S and the Danger Assessment. The WLQ is sensitive to changes in depression and anxiety over time and to a variety of medical and behavioral health conditions. We report descriptive statistics and univariate comparisons of working and non-working subjects using the WLQ. The paper will include multivariate analyses controlling for mental health and overall health status, neighborhood poverty rates and household characteristics, and comparisons among scales of specific domains (time management, mental/social performance, physical, output). The sample is comprised of 122 subjects who completed time two assessments. RESULTS: Employed subjects report a mean WLQ Productivity Loss Score of 94.3 (range 75.13-100; s.d. 6.28), representing a performance loss while working, of 5.7% (or 4.6 hours over 2 weeks of full-time employment) compared to the healthy worker norm. Employed women (n=75) reported better health, less danger, and less severe mental health symptoms than those outside of the workforce (n=47) at the time of their OP Petitions. CONCLUSIONS: To our knowledge, these are the first estimates of work loss reported by IPV victims. When considered on a continuum of burden of illness due to work productivity loss, preliminary data suggest this population has a greater burden of illness than breast cancer survivors, but a lower burden than employees with active major clinical depression.