01 Jul Unlawful Harassment
Unlawful Harassment
The Company is committed to maintaining a workplace that is free from unlawful discrimination and harassment, and therefore strictly prohibits all unlawful harassment. Any employee found to be responsible for harassment in violation of this policy may be subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination. The Company will not tolerate reprisals against individuals filing complaints in good faith under this policy.
II. DEFINITION OF DISCRIMINATORY HARASSMENT
Prohibited discriminatory harassment is verbal or physical conduct that denigrates or shows hostility or aversion toward an individual because of that person’s race, skin color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, or any other protected characteristic and that unreasonably interferes with the individual’s work performance by creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment.
III. DEFINITION OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT
Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitute sexual harassment when:
- Submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly as a term or condition of an individual’s employment;
- Submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as the basis for employment decisions affecting such individual; or
- Such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual’s work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive working environment.
Sexual harassment may involve conduct such as the following:
- Unwelcome requests for sexual favors, lewd or derogatory comments or jokes, comments regarding sexual behavior or the body of another employee; sexual innuendo and other vocal activity such as catcalls or whistles.
- Obscene letters, notes, invitations, photographs, cartoons, articles or other written or pictorial materials of a sexual nature.
- Continuing to express sexual interest after being informed the interest is unwelcome.
- Retaliating against an employee for refusing a sexual advance or for reporting an incident of possible sexual harassment to the company or any government agency.
- Offering or providing favors or employment benefits such as promotions, favorable evaluations, favorable assignment duties, etc., in return for sexual favors.
- Any unwanted physical touching or assault, or blocking of impending movements.
IV. INTERNAL COMPLAINT PROCESS
Any individual who feels harassed on the basis of race, skin color, religion, gender, national origin, age or disability by a supervisor, manager, co-worker, subordinate or other person should take the following course of action.
- Tell the offending individual(s) to stop the harassment. State your objection to the action and the specific behavior to which you object. If this discussion does not resolve the problem or if you fear reprisals will result from such discussion, or if you feel uncomfortable confronting the harassing individual, proceed to the next step.
- Inform your supervisor of the situation, or if the supervisor is the harasser or if you feel uncomfortable telling your supervisor, inform Human Resources.
Complaints received by management generally will be directed to the Human Resources Department for investigation. During the course of the investigation, the Company will attempt to protect the privacy of the complaining employee and the integrity of any individual who may have been wrongfully accused of sexual harassment.
After the investigation is completed, the Company will inform the complaining party of the outcome and resulting action.
The Company will not retaliate or tolerate retaliation against any employee who uses the internal complaint process in good faith. Any employee who engages in retaliation may be subject to discipline, up to and including discharge.
The Company recognizes that false allegations of harassment can have serious effects on the lives and careers of innocent people. Since The Company will not tolerate unlawful harassment, the Company asks that all employees continue to act responsibly to establish a pleasant working environment free of discrimination. You are encouraged to raise any questions you may have regarding the Company’s non-harassment policy with your Supervisor or the Human Resources Department.