Procedure: Unlawful Harassment of Staff
I. PURPOSE:
A. It is the policy of the Technical College System of Georgia that all employees shall be provided an environment free of unlawful harassment (including sexual harassment) and intimidation.
B. All employees are expressly prohibited from engaging in any form of harassing behavior or conduct.
C. Any employee who has engaged in harassing behavior or conduct will be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including dismissal.
D. All employees are required to report any act of unlawful harassment. Reports of unlawful harassment will be treated in an expeditious and confidential manner.
E. The Department will not tolerate retaliation for having filed a good faith harassment complaint or for having provided any information in a harassment investigation. Any employee who retaliates against a complainant or witness in an investigation will be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including dismissal.
F. Any employee who knowingly makes a false charge of harassment or retaliation, or any employee who is untruthful during an investigation is guilty of misconduct and may be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including dismissal.
G. Employees in a supervisory or managerial capacity are prohibited from knowingly permitting harassing conduct or behavior in assigned work unit(s) and from making sexual advances, welcome or unwelcome, toward any subordinate.
H. The harassment of a Department employee by a non-employee (e.g. vendor, contractor, etc.) in conjunction with the performance of his/her assigned duties and responsibilities and the harassment of a non-employee by a Department employee will not be tolerated.II. APPLICABILITY:This procedure shall uniformly apply to all Department employees and govern behavior during normal work hours, at departmental functions at or away from the primary work site before or after normal work hours, and/or while off duty.
III. DEFINITIONS:For purposes of this procedure, the words listed below are defined as follows:
A. Unlawful Harassment (Other Than Sexual Harassment): Verbal or physical conduct that disparages or shows hostility or aversion toward an individual because of that person’s race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, or disability. Harassment does one or more of the following:
1. Has the purpose or effect of creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment; or
2. Has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual’s work performance.
B. Examples of Unlawfully Harassing Conduct or Behavior (Other Than Sexual Harassment) or Generally Offensive Behavior/Conduct:
1. Offensive remarks, jokes, epithets, slurs, negative stereotyping, or threatening, intimidating or hostile acts that relate to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age or disability;
2. Displaying offensive written or graphic material, pictures, photographs, or drawings on walls, bulletin boards, computers, or other work locations, or which are circulated in the work place;
3. Offensive e-mail or voice mail message(s), or inappropriate use of the internet (e.g. downloading sexually explicit websites and/or information); and
4. Foul or obscene language.
This is a representative list of harassing conduct or behavior and is not intended to be exhaustive.C. Sexual Harassment (a form of unlawful harassment): Sexual harassment is defined as unwelcome sexual advances, unwelcome requests for sexual favors, and other unwelcome verbal, written, electronic or physical conduct of a sexual nature when:Submission to such conduct is made, either explicitly or implicitly, 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; orSuch conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual’s work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive working environment.
D. Examples of Sexually Harassing Conduct or Behavior: Sexually harassing conduct or behavior (regardless of the gender of the persons involved) includes:
1. Physical touching;
2. Sexual comments of a provocative or suggestive nature;
3. Suggestive looks or gestures;
4. Jokes, printed material or innuendoes; or
5. Making acceptance of unwelcome sexual conduct, advances, or requests for sexual favors of any nature a condition for employment, employment decisions, or continued employment (pressure for sexual favors).
This is a representative list of harassing conduct or behavior and is not intended to be exhaustive.E. Retaliation: Unfavorable employment action taken, unfavorable employment condition created, or other action taken for the purpose of intimidation that is directed toward an employee because the employee initiated an allegation of unlawful harassment/retaliation or who participates in an investigation.
F. Department: All Technical College System of Georgia work units, including associated technical colleges.
G. Employees: Any individual employed in a full or part time capacity in any Department work unit.
H. Non-Employee: Any third party, (e.g. volunteer, vendor, contractor, etc.) who conducts business with or on behalf of a Department work unit.
I. President: The President of the technical college where the accused violator is currently employed.
J. Human Resources Director: The person holding the position of Human Resources Director at the DTAE Central Office or that person’s designee.
K. Local Investigator: The person at the technical college who is responsible for the investigation of unlawful harassment/retaliation complaints.
L. Compliance Officer: The person designated by the Commissioner to conduct investigations.
M. Intimate Parts of the Body: Intimate parts of the body mean the primary genital area, anus, groin, inner thighs, or buttocks of a male or female and the breasts of a female.
IV. ATTACHMENTS: Attachment 1 -Commissioner’s Statement Prohibiting Unlawful Harassment
Attachment 2 – Employee acknowledgment of prohibition of unlawful harassment
Attachment 3 – Supervisor’s acknowledgment of prohibition of unlawful harassmentV. PROCEDURE:A. Policy AdministrationThe Commissioner’s Statement Prohibiting Unlawful Harassment should be permanently displayed on official bulletin boards of the Department.As a condition of employment, all employees (current and future) in a non-supervisory/managerial capacity are required to read and sign the employee acknowledgment of prohibition of harassment statement (Attachment 2), which will become a permanent part of the employee’s personnel record.Employees serving in a supervisory/managerial capacity and employees appointed to a position with supervisory/managerial responsibilities are required to read and sign a supervisor’s acknowledgment statement (Attachment 3), which will become a permanent part of the employee’s personnel record.Any employee, student, contractor or volunteer who has any questions concerning this procedure should direct those questions to the Executive Director, Legal Services at (404) 679-1605, Human Resources Director at (404)327-6927, or the Deputy Commissioner at (404) 679-1706.B. Reporting and Management Action
- Supervisors must take ongoing proactive steps to ensure their work environments are free from any type of unlawful harassment and to educate their staff on appropriate conduct.
- All current and future employees shall be required to read and become familiar with the Department’s policy regarding harassment.
Allegations or suspicions of unlawful harassment/retaliation or other possible policy violations may be reported by the complainant within the chain of command, or he/she may bypass the normal chain of command and report an allegation/suspicion directly to the Human Resources Director at (404)327-6927, the Executive Director, Legal Services at (404)679-1605, the Commissioner’s Office at (404)679-1601, the Deputy Commissioner’s Office at (404)679-1706, or email at UnlawfulHarassment@tcsg.edu.Such reports can initially be expressed in writing, by telephone, or in person; however, the report will ultimately be required to be in writing.Supervisors who have reason to believe that unlawful harassment and/or retaliation may exist shall immediately inform their President, Assistant Commissioner, or one of the persons listed above in 1(a).
- All employees are required to report allegations of unlawful harassment/retaliation against themselves or others, or other possible policy violations.
An affected President or Assistant Commissioner may suspend with pay, temporarily transfer, or reassign personnel involved in order to prevent possible further harassment or to facilitate the investigation. In an emergency situation, a President or Assistant Commissioner or their designee may take appropriate actions to protect the complainant/alleged victim and/or to deter the alleged violator from any further harassment of the complainant/alleged victim. The affected President or Assistant Commissioner shall report all action of this nature and any subsequent change in status or assignment to the Human Resources Director.
- Other than reporting the information and discussing it with the investigator, he/she must keep the information confidential unless release is approved, or unless final action has been taken pursuant to this procedure.
All reports or allegations of unlawful harassment/retaliation by a central office employee, Vice President or President of a technical college shall be referred to the Executive Director, Legal Services for investigation by the Compliance Officer.
- Unless otherwise authorized by the Commissioner in writing, no disciplinary action shall be taken against the alleged violator until an investigation has been completed, a written report has been issued and action has been taken in accordance with this procedure.
The Compliance Officer/local investigator shall notify the affected Assistant Commissioner or President of the complaint and the pending investigation, unless otherwise directed.C. Investigations
- Any incident of potentially unlawful harassment/retaliation may be referred by the President of a technical college to the Executive Director, Legal Services for investigation by the Compliance Officer. Investigations by the Compliance Officer may be done in conjunction with the local investigator at the President’s request.
D. Review and Disposition
- All complaints shall be investigated thoroughly. Any President or local investigator is encouraged to consult with the Compliance Officer, Human Resources Director or Executive Director, Legal Services with any questions or concerns.
- If a complaint does not specify facts sufficient to support an allegation of unlawful harassment/retaliation or other conduct/behavior prohibited by this policy, the local investigator may determine that the allegations shall not be investigated. This determination will be done with joint approval by the local investigator and the President. In the case of an investigation being performed by the Compliance Officer this shall be done with joint approval of the Human Resources Director and the Executive Director, Legal Services.
- Investigations will be conducted by gathering relevant information and interviewing appropriate witnesses.
- The local investigator who conducts the investigation will present facts in a written report to their President. In instances of investigations performed by the Compliance Officer, the facts will be presented to the Assistant Commissioner, Human Resources Director and Executive Director, Legal Services.
- Reports or other investigative materials generated through the application of this policy will be processed and maintained confidentially to the extent permitted by law.
VI. RECORD RETENTION:
- After reviewing the final report, the Assistant Commissioner/President shall make a recommendation as to whether the facts support a finding that unlawful harassment/retaliation or other policy violation has occurred. In matters investigated by the Compliance Officer, the Human Resources Director and the Executive Director, Legal Services will confer and reach a joint finding regarding the existence of unlawful harassment/retaliation or other violation of this policy.
- If the recommendation does not support a finding of unlawful harassment or unlawful retaliation or other violation of this policy, the matter will be closed.
- If the recommendation supports a finding of unlawful harassment/retaliation or any other policy violation, appropriate disciplinary action will be recommended and taken.
- The local investigator/Compliance Officer will provide written notice to the complaining party and subject employee of the completion of the investigation. Notice should be given as soon as is reasonably practical, provided that if disciplinary action is to be initiated, no parties will be notified until all disciplinary actions are served.
Attachment 1 -
Technical College System of Georgia Commissioner’s Statement Prohibiting Unlawful Harassment
Attachment 2 -
Employee Acknowledgment Statement - Retain permanently in the official and local personnel file.
Attachment 3
Supervisor Acknowledgment Statement – Retain permanently in the official and local personnel file.
Investigative Files Shall Be Retained for 4 years after the close of the investigation and any adverse action hearings.
Approved March 9, 2007
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