It is the objective of the village to ensure the safety and well being of its workforce and the persons with whom the village does business. Therefore, the village has established a zero tolerance for any violent acts or threats directed by or towards any village employee.
(A) Definition.
(1) VIOLENCE IN THE WORKPLACE includes, but is not limited to:
(a) Any physical behavior involving aggressive physical contact with any other person, including pushing, hitting, fighting, throwing objects, or otherwise intentionally injuring another person or attempting to injure another person;
(b) Any physical behavior which places a reasonable person in fear of receiving imminent physical injury or other aggressive physical contact of the sort described above;
(c) Verbal behavior which involves threatening physical harm, either directly or implicitly, against any person; and,
(d) Any act of vandalism or other intentional damage or destruction of village property or personal belongings on village property.
(2) Workplace violence also includes instances where these sorts of acts or threats are made against an employee by a non-employee.
(3) Workplace violence does not include activities covered by the Police Department regulations concerning the use of force by members in the performance of their law enforcement duties, which are treated separately under that Department's policies and procedures.
(B) Reporting workplace violence.
(1) Employees who become aware of any threat of violence in the workplace, whether by an employee or non-employee, are obligated to immediately report in writing such action to the employee's supervisor. In the supervisor's absence, or in cases involving the supervisor, the employee may bypass the supervisor and make a complaint directly to the department head or, in the department head's absence, to the Village Administrator. Employees should not confront the person against whom their complaint is lodged.
(2) If the supervisor receives a complaint, it shall be his/her responsibility to notify the department head as soon as is reasonably possible to determine validity. If it is a valid complaint, the department head shall notify the Village Administrator as soon as possible.
(3) The Village Administrator shall review all complaints and investigations. All complaints will be given a high priority and investigated as quickly as possible by the supervisor or other person as determined by the Village Administrator.
(C) Discipline for violations. Violations may result in discipline up to and including immediate discharge in accordance with village procedures. Employees should also understand that such behavior may be criminal and could result in criminal prosecution.
(D) Retaliation. Where an employee reasonably and in good faith opposes or reports any workplace violence or testifies, assists or participates in an investigation of or hearing concerning allegations or threats of violence, no person or group of persons may retaliate against the employee. Retaliation includes any act of harassment, verbal abuse, verbal threats, or any other or additional act of workplace violence.
Retaliation will also be considered a violation of this policy and may result in discipline up to and including discharge in accordance with village procedures.
(E) Guidelines for responding to risk situations.
(1) Report threat/violence to the supervisor, or in his/her absence, to the department head.
(2) Initiate investigation by department head or supervisor, if requested by department head:
(a) Interview personnel who made the report.
(b) Document the information.
(c) Review with department head, Village Attorney and/or Police Department representatives as appropriate.
(d) Report to Village Administrator.
(3) Village Administrator assesses need for additional information and determines immediate course of action:
(a) What immediate support can be provided to the employee?
(b) Is temporary discipline necessary, i.e., leave of absence?
(4) Meet with outside advisor (counselor) to develop plan for disciplining/assisting the employees involved.
(5) Meet with those who initially reported incident and victim, if any, to re-evaluate their current state of mind.
(6) Meet with employee to get response to charges.
(7) Document two preceding steps for review by response team (Village Administrator, counselor, department head, Village Attorney, police) and determine final course of action.
(8) Implement action.
(F) Suggestions for implementation/planning stages.
(1) Have employee safety committee address security concerns found in their workplace.
(2) Train employees to recognize and respond to violent or potentially violence incidents, i.e., emergency procedures, conflict resolution and non- violent response.
(3) Work site analysis by Police Department:
(a) Identify physical risk factors;
(b) Review current security measures.
(G) Post-incident review. Suggestions for dealing with employees after the occurrence of violent actions in the workplace:
(1) Debriefing by management for all village employees within 24-72 hours after the incident.
(2) Debriefing by management for immediate co-workers, prior to victim's return to work (i.e., address how workers should respond toward co- worker).
(3) Both debriefing sessions may be aided by a counselor.
(4) Assess what went wrong, and what could be improved.
(H) Counseling. At any point in this process, counseling is available to employees.
(Ord. 2000-02, passed 5-17-00)