Employees shall be provided a work environment free from discrimination/harassment. It shall be a violation of this policy for any employee or any student to discriminate against or harass an employee through disparaging conduct or communication. The following guidelines are set forth to protect employees from discrimination/harassment.
Employee discrimination/harassment will not be tolerated.1 Discrimination/harassment is defined as conduct, advances, gestures, or words either written or spoken which:
1. Unreasonably interfere with the individual’s work or performance; or
2. Create an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment; or
3. Imply that submission to such conduct is made an explicit or implicit term of employment; or
4. Imply that submission to or rejection of such conduct will be used as a basis for an employment decision affecting the harassed employee.
Alleged victims of discrimination/harassment shall report these incidents immediately.2 This report should be made to the immediate supervisor except when the immediate supervisor is the offending party. If the immediate supervisor is the offending party, the report may be made to the Director of Schools. Allegations of discrimination/harassment shall be fully investigated (as set forth in Complaints and Grievances GAE). An oral complaint may be submitted; however, such complaint must be reduced to writing to ensure a more complete investigation. The complaint should include the following information:
*Identity of the alleged victim and person accused;
*Location, date, time, and circumstances surrounding the alleged incident; *Description of what happened;
*Identity of witnesses; and
*Any other evidence available.
The privacy and anonymity of all parties and witnesses to complaints will be respected. However, because an individual’s need for confidentiality must be balanced with obligations to cooperate with police investigations or legal proceedings, to provide due process to the accused, to conduct a thorough investigation, or to take necessary action to resolve a complaint, the identity of parties and witnesses may be disclosed in appropriate circumstances to individuals with a need to know.
A substantiated charge against an employee shall result in disciplinary action up to and including termination.
There will be no retaliation against any person who reports discrimination/harassment or participates in an investigation. However, any employee who refuses to cooperate or gives false information during the course of any investigation may be subject to disciplinary action. The willful filing of a false report will itself be considered harassment and will be treated as such.
An employee disciplined for violation of this policy may appeal the decision by contacting the Director of Schools.
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