POLICY AGAINST HARASSMENT

POLICY AGAINST HARASSMENT

It is the policy of the SCC that harassment based on an individual’s sex, age, race, color, national origin, disability, marital status, creed, citizenship status, sexual orientation or any other basis protected by applicable local, state, or federal law is prohibited and will not be tolerated. The purpose of this policy is to define harassment, including sexual harassment, and to describe methods of avoiding and resolving complaints. It is also the purpose of this policy to stress that the SCC will not tolerate harassment by employees, supervisors, managers, temporary employees, visitors or vendors.

Prohibited harassment includes, but is not limited to:

– Verbal harassment, such as making a joke or comment that refers to a certain sex, age, race, color, national origin, disability, marital status, creed, citizenship status, sexual orientation or any other basis protected by applicable local, state, or federal law epithets, derogatory comments, vulgar or profane words and expressions, or slurs;

– Physical harassment, such as unwelcome touching, assault, blocking, impairing or otherwise physically interfering with an individual’s normal work or movement.

– Visual forms of harassment, such as derogatory posters, cartoons, drawings, e-mail, computer screen savers

– Sexual harassment. Examples of sexual harassment may include, but are not limited to:

• Unwelcome or unwanted sexual advances. This includes physical contact and verbal conduct of a sexual nature which is considered unacceptable or unwelcome by another individual.

• Requests or demands for sexual favors. This includes expressed and implied, subtle or blatant, pressure or requests for sexual favors accompanied by any implied or expressed promise of preferential treatment or negative consequences concerning employment status.

• Verbal abuse or comments which are sexually oriented and considered unacceptable by another individual. This includes comments or compliments which extend beyond mere courtesy, jokes which are clearly unwelcome or considered offensive, and other comments, innuendo or actions of a sexual nature which are offensive to others.

• Sexually oriented conduct which interferes with the work performance of another. This includes unwanted sexual attention which reduces personal productivity or interferes with the performance of assigned tasks.

• Creating a work environment which is intimidating, hostile or offensive because of unwelcome or unwanted sexually oriented conversation, suggestions, requests, demands, physical contact or attention.

Normal, courteous, respectful, pleasant and non-coercive interaction between individuals, which conforms to this policy and is acceptable to both, is not considered to be sexual harassment.

Reporting Complaints of Discrimination

All employees are encouraged to report any incident of harassment directly to their supervisor. If an employee is not comfortable speaking directly to his or her supervisor, the employee may report any incident of harassment to the SCC’s CFO/Personnel Administrator or the Executive Director. Upon receipt of the complaint, the SCC will conduct an investigation, and take corrective action as may be warranted.

Employers are legally prohibited from retaliating against employees for reporting a discrimination or harassment claim. Any employee who feels he or she has been subjected to any acts of retaliation should immediately report such conduct to his or her supervisor or to the Finance Director/Personnel Administrator or the Executive Director. Any person who retaliates against another individual for reporting any perceived acts of harassment will be subject to disciplinary action up to and including discharge.