SEXUAL HARASSMENT POLICY
AND
I.
INTRODUCTION
The County of Imperial recognizes that a productive
working environment includes one that is free from sexual harassment, whether
verbal, visual, or physical in nature.
Every supervisor and department head is responsible for ensuring that
their employees demonstrate a mutual respect for each other, and that conduct
such as unlawful sexual innuendo, intimidation, and solicitation are absent.
II.
POLICY
This Sexual Harassment Prevention Policy is derived
from the County’s Equal Employment Opportunity Policy which prohibits
discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin,
ancestry, disability, medical condition, sex (gender), marital status, sexual orientation,
or Vietnam-era veteran status. It is the policy of the County of Imperial to
ensure that its offices and activities are conducted in an environment free of
sexual harassment.
This policy extends to all forms
of communication, physical contact, and/or other gestures of a sexual nature that
are unwanted and are explicitly or implicitly exploitative, intimidating,
demeaning, and/or derogatory. Sexual
harassment is an exercise of power expressed by forcing someone to grant or
tolerate familiarity or intimacy they otherwise would not. Personality conflicts should not be
misconstrued as sexual harassment and should be reported to the immediate
supervisor for resolution.
No supervisor, co-worker, or
other person shall cause a county employee to be in jeopardy of losing a job or
promotion, be subject to adverse action or retaliation, or otherwise be placed
in an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment, as the result of
being subjected to rejecting, or reporting sexual harassment.
No person shall promise or grant favored treatment in
hiring, promotion, discipline, or other employment decision, to an individual on
the condition that such individual participate in or tolerate otherwise
unwelcome sexual behavior. The County will take preventative, corrective and
disciplinary action for any behavior that violates this policy. Disciplinary action up to and including termination
will be imposed for unlawful behavior.
III.
POLICY DISSEMINATION
The Equal Employment Opportunity
Officer is responsible for ensuring that the policy and complaint procedures
relating to sexual harassment are disseminated and implemented.
The Human Resources Director is responsible for
ensuring that this information is included in the Employee Personnel Handbook
and in orientation sessions with new employees (permanent, extra-help, and
seasonal employees).
IV.
RESPONSIBILITIES
It is the responsibility of
every supervisor and department head to take any sexual harassment complaint
seriously and to respond immediately.
The department head is responsible for verbally notifying the Equal Employment
Opportunity Office immediately upon receipt of a sexual harassment allegation.
The department shall submit an incident report form to the Equal Employment
Opportunity Officer on all sexual harassment complaints reported to department
supervisors or management personnel. The incident report form is to be
submitted to the Equal Employment Opportunity Officer within five days of
receipt of said complaint. Blank
incident report forms are available in the Equal Employment Opportunity
Office.
The Equal Employment Opportunity
Officer shall follow up with the department head on the progress of the
investigation and resolution within two weeks.
All incident report forms shall be kept confidential and will remain in
the Equal Employment Opportunity Office.
V.
APPLICABILITY
This policy applies to all
County employees, elected and appointed County officers and department heads,
and to those who are agents of a public or private institution doing business
with the County. This policy also extends to conduct towards members of the
public.
This policy does not supersede
County of Imperial grievance procedures.
VI.
DEFINITIONS
A.
Sexual harassment is unwelcome
behavior directed at the opposite sex that is deliberate or repeated, not asked
for or returned and which affects the terms and conditions of employment. Sexual harassment can take any or all of the
following three forms:
1.
Verbal Harassment--Epithets, derogatory jokes or comments, slurs or unwanted sexual
talk. It also includes verbal abuse of
a sexual nature such as graphic verbal commentaries about a person’s body,
sexually degrading words used to describe an individual, propositioning,
suggestive or sexually graphic letters, notes and invitations.
2.
Physical Harassment--Assault, battery, impeding or blocking normal movement or interfering
with work, and unwanted touching such as, pinching, grabbing, patting.
3.
Visual Harassment--Derogatory posters, notices, cards, calendars, bulletins, cartoons,
graffiti, photographs, signs, drawings, protracted staring or gestures.
B.
The three forms of sexual
harassment, described in A. above, can be exhibited as one of two types of
sexual harassment: Quid Pro Quo
Harassment or Environmental
Harassment.
1.
Quid Pro Quo Harassment--Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for favors, and other verbal,
physical or visual conduct of a sexual nature when:
a)
Submission to such conduct is made a
term or condition of a person's employment,
b)
Submission to or rejection of such
conduct is used as a basis for employment decisions affecting such person.
2.
Hostile Work Environment--Any of the forms of unwelcome behaviors of a sexual nature that are severe
or pervasive enough that it either alters a condition of employment or creates
a hostile or abusive work environment.
VII.
PROCEDURES
A complaint alleging sexual
harassment shall be filed according to standard complaint procedures given in
the Employee Personnel Handbook, or may be filed directly with the Equal
Employment Opportunity Officer. The Human
Resources Director shall refer requests for Employment Appeals Board hearings
of sexual harassment complaints to the Equal Employment Opportunity Officer,
just as for one alleging any other form of discrimination.
If complaint is directly filed
with the Equal Employment Opportunity Officer, he/she shall investigate, conciliate,
resolve, and/or make appropriate recommendations to Human Resources and the Department
in order to ensure that situation is remedied. A written report of the
investigation will be prepared and coordinated with County Counsel. All cases shall be evaluated on an
individual basis taking into consideration all the facts and circumstances
pertaining thereto. Human Resources and
Department Head shall be given a summary of findings, recommendations, and
required actions. The complainant and
alleged harasser will also be informed of the results.
If the Equal Employment
Opportunity Officer cannot conciliate matter, then he/she shall recommend a
hearing by the Employment Appeals Board (EAB). In that case, the Equal
Employment Opportunity Officer shall brief the EAB on the findings of the
original investigation and County Counsel shall brief on pertinent law and
guidelines. If parties reach a
conciliated agreement, the Equal Employment Opportunity Officer shall so inform
the Human Resources Department in writing, and shall monitor all actions until
completed.
VIII.
PROTECTIONS
If an individual accused of
sexual harassment under this policy considers such claim to be malicious or
fraudulent, said individual will have the opportunity to present evidence
during the normal course of the complaint investigation. When introduced into the basic complaint,
the Equal Employment Opportunity Officer shall make a determination on this
issue specifically and concurrently. If
the sexual harassment allegation is determined to be malicious or fraudulent,
the Equal Employment Opportunity Officer shall make appropriate recommendations
as to the disposition of the case.
The County will not tolerate
retaliation against any individual who rejects sexual advance(s), complains of
sexual harassment or files a good faith sexual harassment complaint. The County
will not tolerate retaliation against any person who participated in an
investigation covered under this policy.
If retaliation is alleged, it shall be processed as a separate complaint
that shall be filed directly with Equal Employment Opportunity. The law prohibits such acts of
retaliation. Any employees found to be
retaliating against another employee shall be subject to disciplinary action up
to and including termination.