(A) The village is committed to maintaining a professional and collegial work environment. Harassment interferes with this desired environment because it is unwarranted and unwanted verbal or nonverbal conduct which threatens, intimidates, or insults another person, where such conduct has the effect of creating an offensive, intimidating, or hostile environment, or interferes with or adversely affects a person's work performance.
(B) The village will not tolerate harassment. All employees are prohibited from engaging in the harassment of any other employee or other person in the course of their employment or at village-sponsored functions.
(C) Sexual harassment. Sexual harassment includes unwelcome and unwanted sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical advances of a sexual nature. It is village policy to fully support enforcement of state and federal anti-discrimination laws which provide that sexual harassment is prohibited where:
(1) Submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as the basis for employment decisions (hiring, evaluating, promoting) affecting such individuals; or
(2) Such conduct has the purpose or effect of interfering with an individual's work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment.
(D) Examples of sexual harassment include, but are not limited to, unwanted sexual advances; demands for sexual favors in exchange for favorable treatment or continued employment; sexual jokes, flirtations, advances, or propositions; verbal abuse of a sexual nature; graphic, verbal commentary about an individual's body, sexual prowess or sexual deficiencies; touching; pinching; assault; coerced sexual acts; suggestive insulting, obscene comments, or gestures; and display in the workplace of sexually suggestive objects or images.
(E) The village will investigate all allegations of harassment and encourages reporting of all incidents as soon as possible, regardless of who the offender may be.
(F) In any case in which the supervisor is witness to or confronted with a situation of harassment, the supervisor shall immediately notify the offending party that the harassment is not appropriate and will not be tolerated. A supervisor shall report harassment cases to his/her department head, who in turn, shall report the matter to the Mayor.
(G) How to report a complaint:
(1) The employee who believes that they are being harassed is encouraged to confront the individual and let them know the behavior is unwelcome and ask them to stop.
(2) If for any reason, a person being harassed does not wish to approach the offender directly, or if such action proves unproductive, then the employee should promptly report the conduct to his or her non-involved supervisor, department head, or the Mayor. If the accused offender is the Mayor, then the employee may contact the Law Director.
(3) All complaints will be handled in a timely and confidential manner. Anyone involved should not discuss the subject outside the investigation in order that the confidentiality of the employee who filed a complaint will be protected and to encourage the reporting of any incidents of harassment, as well as to protect the reputation of any employee wrongfully charged with harassment. Confidentiality cannot be guaranteed, however, as applicable state and federal sunshine and freedom of information laws makes it impossible to maintain confidentiality.
(4) Protection against retaliation. No employee shall intimidate, coerce, threaten, retaliate or discriminate against any other employee for filing a complaint of harassment or for participating in the investigation of a complaint.
(H) An employee may be guilty of abusing this process if the employee maliciously makes a false claim of unlawful harassment. Abuse of this process may subject an employee to disciplinary action up to and including termination.
(Ord. 49-2017, passed 11-21-2017; Ord. 42-2018, passed 10-16-2018)