§ 35.23 SEXUAL HARASSMENT POLICY.

   (A)   General provisions.

      (1)   The city is committed to maintaining a work environment that encourages and fosters appropriate conduct among colleagues and respect for individual values and sensibilities. Accordingly, the city’s officers and administration are committed to enforcing its sexual harassment policy at all levels within the workplace and creating an environment free from discrimination of any kind, including sexual harassment.

      (2)   Sexual harassment, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Illinois Department of Human Rights, and for purposes of this policy, consists of unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors or other verbal or non-verbal or physical acts of a sexual or sex-based nature, where:

         (a)   Submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual’s employment;

         (b)   An employment decision affecting an employee is based on that individual’s acceptance or rejection of such conduct; or

         (c)   Such conduct interferes with an individual’s work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment.

      (3)   Sexual harassment can occur between men and women, or between members of the same gender. Such conduct is unlawful under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, age, religion or national origin.

      (4)   It is unlawful to retaliate in any way against anyone who has complained about sexual harassment or discrimination, whether that complaint relates to harassment of or discrimination against the individual submitting the complaint or against other individual.

      (5)   Sexual harassment affects the victim and other employees as well. Each incident of harassment contributes to a general atmosphere in which everyone suffers the consequences. Sexually-oriented acts or sex-based conduct have no legitimate business purpose. Where such conducts is directed by a supervisor (or someone in a management position) toward a subordinate, the former will be held to a higher standard of accountability because of the degree of control and influence he or she has or is perceived to have over the employment conditions and benefits of the subordinate.

   (B)   Prohibited conduct.

      (1)   Prohibited acts of sexual harassment can take a variety of forms ranging from subtle pressure for sexual activity or contact to physical contact. At times the offender may be unaware that his or her conduct is offensive or harassing to others. Examples of conduct which would be considered sexual harassment include:

         (a)   Persistent or repeated unwelcome flirting, pressure for dates, sexual comments or touching;

         (b)   Sexually suggestive jokes, gestures or sounds directed toward another or sexually oriented comments about another;

         (c)   Preferential treatment of an employee, or a promise of preferential treatment to an employee, in exchange for dates or sexual conduct; or the denial or threat of denial of employment, benefits or advancement for refusal to consent to sexual advances;

         (d)   The open display of sexually oriented pictures or posters offensive to others;

         (e)   Retaliation against an individual for reporting or complaining about sexually harassing conduct.

      (2)   All employees are encouraged to express displeasure at any conduct which might be sexually harassing, to tell the individual engaging in the conduct that it is unwelcome, to report that conduct, and to use the complaint procedure set forth in this policy.

   (C)   Complaint procedure. While the city encourages individuals who believe they are being harassed to firmly and promptly notify the offender that his or her behavior is unwelcome, the city also recognized that power and status disparities between an alleged harasser and a target may make such a confrontation impossible. In the event that such informal, direct communication between individuals is either ineffective or impossible, or even which such communication has occurred, the following steps should be taken to report a sexual harassment complaint.

      (1)   Reporting of incident. All employees are urged to report any suspected sexual harassment by another employee to the Mayor except where that person is the individual accused of harassment. In that case, the complaint should be reported to the Superintendent of Public Works. If the aggrieved employee or other complainant prefers to report the suspected harassment to someone of the opposite gender from that of the Mayor, the complaint can be reported to the City Clerk. The report may be made initially either orally or in writing, but reports made orally must be reduced to writing before an investigation can be initiated either by the complainant or by the person taking the report.

      (2)   Investigation of complaint. When a complaint is received, the Mayor or the individual informed pursuant to division (C)(1) above will initiate an investigation of the suspected sexual harassment within 5 working days of notification. If necessary, the Mayor may designate another supervisory or management employee of the opposite sex to assist him or her or the alternate individual in division (C)(1) above in the investigation. If the Mayor is the subject of the investigation, the investigation will be conducted by the Superintendent of Public Works. The investigation will include an interview with the employee(s) who made the initial report, the person(s) towards whom the suspected harassment was directed if such person(s) is someone other than the complainant, and the individual(s) accused of the harassment. Any other person who may have information regarding the alleged sexual harassment may also be interviewed.

      (3)   Report. The Mayor or designated person responsible for investigating the complaint shall prepare a written report within 10 working days from notification of the suspected harassment unless extenuating circumstances prevent him or her from doing so, in which case the report shall be prepared as promptly as possible and the complainant shall be notified as to the reason for the delay. The report shall include a finding that sexual harassment occurred, sexual harassment did not occur, or there is the inconclusive evidence as to whether sexual harassment occurred. A copy of the report will be given to the employee(s) who made the initial report, the employee(s) to whom the suspected harassment was directed, and the employee(s) suspected of the harassment.

      (4)   Records/Confidentiality. Employees who report incidents of sexual harassment are encouraged to keep written notes in order to accurately record the offensive conduct. Every effort shall be made to keep all matters related to the investigation and various reports confidential. In the event of a lawsuit or a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request, however, the city advises that records it maintains and the complainant maintains may not be considered privileged from disclosure. Written records will be maintained for 5 years from the date of the resolution unless new circumstances dictate that the file should be kept for a longer period of time.

      (5)   Prohibition against retaliation. In addition, the Illinois Whistle Blower Act, ILCS Ch. 740, Act 174, § 5 prohibits retaliation against any employee for reporting or disclosing information that the employee has reasonable cause to believe discloses a violation of a state or federal law, rule or regulation.

      (6)   Internal appeals process. If either party directly involved in a sexual harassment investigation is dissatisfied within the outcome or resolution, that individual has the right to appeal the decision. The dissatisfied party should submit his or her written comments in a timely manner to the City Council.

      (7)   Further legal recourse.

         (a)   Additional legal recourse, investigative and complaint process is available through the Illinois Department of Human Rights (IDHR), who may be contacted as follows:

100 West Randolph Street      222 South College Street

Suite 10-100            Room 101

Chicago, Illinois 60601      Springfield, Illinois 62704

Telephone: [phone]      Telephone: [phone]

TDD: [phone]

         (b)   Additionally, the Department of Human Rights Commission’s website is www2.illinois.gov/dhr.

         (c)   The Illinois Human Rights Commission can be contacted as follows:

James R. Thompson Center   William G. Stratton Office Building

100 West Randolph Street   Suite 802

Suite 5-100         Springfield, Illinois 62706

Chicago, Illinois 60601   Telephone: [phone]

Telephone: [phone]   TTD: [phone]

TDD: [phone]

         (d)   Additionally, the Illinois Human Rights Commission’s website is www.illinois.gov/ihrc.

         (e)   Further, an Illinois Department of Human Rights Complaint must be filed within 300 days of the alleged incident(s) unless it is a continuing offense.

         (f)   Additional potential legal recourse, investigative and complaint process is also available through the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The address of the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission is as follows:

            500 West Madison Street

            Suite 2000

            Chicago, Illinois 60661

            Telephone: [phone]

         (g)   Additionally, complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission must be filed within 300 days.

   (D)   Disciplines/sanctions.

      (1)   Disciplinary action will be taken against any employee found to have engaged in sexual harassment of any other employee. The extent of sanctions may depend in part upon the length and conditions of employment of the particular employee and the nature of the offense. The city has the right to apply any sanction or combination of sanctions, up to and including discharge, to deal with the unreasonable conduct or discrimination.

      (2)   Where a hostile work environment has been found to exist, the city will take all reasonable steps to eliminate the conduct creating such an environment.

      (3)   Additionally, false or frivolous complaints refer to cases in which the accuser is acting in bad faith and using a sexual harassment complaint to accomplish some and other than stopping sexual harassment. False accusations of sexual harassment can have serious effects on innocent men and women. Given the seriousness of the consequences for the accused, a false or frivolous charge is a severe offense that can result in disciplinary action up to and including termination.

   (E)   The city reserves the right to amend the policy from time to time.

(Ord. 2187, passed 7-27-2009; Am. Ord. 2585, passed 7-6-2015; Am. Ord. 2713, passed 12-18-2017; Am. Ord. 2769, passed 11-5-2018)