SEXUAL HARASSMENT Policy

It is the policy of the Board to prohibit sexual harassment of its employees in the workplace by any person in any form.

MANDATORY POLICY (R.S. 42:342)

Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal, physical or inappropriate conduct of a sexual nature constitute sexual harassment when the conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual's employment or the holding of office, unreasonable interferes with an individual's work performance, or creates an intimidation, hostile, or offensive work environment and shall not be tolerated.

  • It is unlawful to harass an applicant or employee because of that's person's sex. Harassment can include "sexual harassment" or unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature.

  • Harassment does not have to be of a sexual nature, however, and can include offensive remarks about a person's sex. For example, it is illegal to harass a woman by making offensive comments about women in general.

  • Both victim and the harasser can be either a woman or man, and the victim and harasser can be the same sex.

  • Although the law doesn't prohibit simple teasing, offhand comments, or isolated incidents that are not very serious, harassment is illegal when it is so frequent or severe that it creates a hostile or offensive work environment or when it results in an adverse employment decision.

  • The harasser can be the victim's supervisor, a supervisor in another area, a co-worker, or someone who is not an employee of the district, such as a client or customer.

Sexual harassment can happen once or many times and may include physical, verbal or non- verbal actions. This form of harassment may make the victim feel offended, humiliated or offended.

Most sexual harassment is subjective and circumstantial which is why there is no definitive, exhaustive list of inappropriate behaviors.

Instead, here are some examples of conduct that may constitute sexual harassment:

  • Sexual pranks, teasing, jokes

  • Verbal abuse of a sexual nature

  • Physical touching of a sexual nature

  • Giving sexually-suggestive gifts

  • Making sexually-suggestive gestures

  • Posting sexually-suggestive pictures

*One exception is exchanging work-related benefits (or threatening work-related detriments) for sexual favors. This is always sexual harassment, regardless of the circumstances.

Any employee who believes that he has been the subject of sexual harassment should follow the grievance procedure outlined in this manual. The "Sexual Harassment Complaint Form" in the appendix should be used to file a a sexual harassment complaint. All complaints shall be
investigated in a prompt, confidential manner and the employee initiating the complaint will be advised of the findings.

Any employee who is found to have engaged in sexual harassment of another employee will be subject to appropriate sanctions depending on the circumstances, up to and including termination.

Each supervisor has an affirmative duty to maintain his workplace free of sexual harassment. This duty includes discussing this policy with all employees and assuring them that they are not required to endure insulting, degrading, or exploitative sexual treatment and that no employee shall threaten or insinuate, either, explicitly or implicitly, that another employees refusal to submit to sexual advances will adversely affect the employee's employment, evaluation, wages, advancement, assigned duties, shifts or any other conditions of employment or career development.

MANDATORY TRAINING REQUIREMENTS (R.S. 42:343)

  • Each public servant shall receive a minimum of one hour of education and training on preventing sexual harassment during each full calendar year of his public employment or term of office, as the case may be.

  • The Director shall require supervisors and any persons designated by the district to accept or investigate a complaint of sexual harassment to receive additional education and training.

  • The education and training may be received either in person or via the internet through training and education materials approved by the Director.

  • The Director shall ensure that each public servant in the district is notified of the district's policy against sexual harassment and the mandatory training requirement on preventing sexual harassment. The Director, or his designee, shall be a public record and available to the public in accordance with the Public Records Law.

  • The Director shall ensure that its policy against sexual harassment and its complaint procedure or a notice on how to obtain the information is prominently posted in a conspicuous location.

MANDATORY REPORTS (R.S. 42:344)

The director shall compile an annual report by February first of each year containing information from the previous calendar year regarding the district's compliance, including:

  • The number and percentage of public servants in the district who have completed the training requirements;

  • The number of sexual harassment complaints received by the district;

  • The number of complaints in which resulted in a finding that sexual harassment occurred;

  • The number of complaints in which the finding of sexual harassment resulted in discipline or corrective action; and

  • The amount of time it took to resolve each complaint.

These reports shall be public record and available to the public in the manner provided by the Public Records Law.

Procedures

Tangipahoa Communications District #1 will not tolerate retaliation against an individual for filing a discrimination or harassment charge, testifying, or participating in any way in an investigation, proceeding, or litigation.

Team Leaders are responsible for recognizing, preventing, and reporting sexual harassment in their areas.

All incidents and suspected violations should be reported immediately. Employees may report to a team leader or to the director, or designee, to bypass the immediate supervisor.