Departments » Human Resources » Employee Sexual Harassment

Employee Sexual Harassment

Employee Sexual Harassment

The Board of Education prohibits sexual harassment of district employees and job applicants. The Board also prohibits retaliatory behavior or action against district employees or other persons who complain, testify or otherwise participate in the complaint process established pursuant to this policy and the administrative regulation.

 

All complaints and allegations of sexual harassment shall be kept confidential to the extent necessary to carry out the investigation or take other subsequent necessary action. (5 CCR 4964)

 

Any district employee or job applicant who feels that he/she has been sexually harassed, or who has knowledge of any incident of sexual harassment by or against another employee, a job applicant or a student, shall immediately report the incident to his/her supervisor, the principal, or the Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources in order to obtain procedures for reporting a complaint.

 

A supervisor, principal or other district administrator who receives a harassment complaint shall promptly notify the Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources, who will immediately log the complaint and shall ensure that the complaint is appropriately investigated.  The Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources is the District’s Sexual Harassment Officer.

 

Dr. Nick Stephany

Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources

1401 Inglewood Avenue

Redondo Beach, CA 90278

[email protected] 

(310) 379-5449, ext. 1211

 

Complaints of sexual harassment shall be filed in accordance with AR 4031 - Complaints Concerning Discrimination in Employment. An employee may bypass his/her supervisor in filing a complaint where the supervisor is the subject of the complaint.

 

Any district employee who engages or participates in sexual harassment, or who aids, abets, incites, compels or coerces another to commit sexual harassment against a district employee, job applicant or student, is in violation of this policy and is subject to disciplinary action, up to and including dismissal.

 

Board Policy 4119.11

The Board of Education prohibits sexual harassment of district employees. The Board also prohibits retaliatory behavior or action against district employees or other persons who complain, testify, or otherwise participate in the complaint process established pursuant to this policy and accompanying administrative regulation. This policy shall apply to all district employees and, when applicable, to interns, volunteers, and job applicants.

  1. Providing training to employees in accordance with law and administrative regulation
  2. Publicizing and disseminating the district's sexual harassment policy to staff
  3. Ensuring prompt, thorough, and fair investigation of complaints
  4. Taking timely and appropriate corrective/remedial action(s), which may require interim separation of the complainant and the alleged harasser and subsequent monitoring of developments

All complaints and allegations of sexual harassment shall be kept confidential to the extent necessary to carry out the investigation or to take other subsequent necessary actions. (2 CCR 11023)

 

Any district employee who feels that he/she has been sexually harassed or who has knowledge of any incident of sexual harassment by or against another employee shall immediately report the incident to his/her supervisor, the principal, district administrator, or Superintendent.

 

A supervisor, principal, or other district administrator who receives a harassment complaint shall promptly notify the Superintendent or designee.

 

Any district employee who engages or participates in sexual harassment or who aids, abets, incites, compels, or coerces another to commit sexual harassment in violation of this policy is subject to disciplinary action, up to and including dismissal.

 

Adopted: June 20, 2017 Redondo Beach, California

 

AR 4119.11

 

This administrative regulation shall apply to all allegations of sexual harassment involving employees, interns, volunteers, and job applicants, but shall not be used to resolve any complaint by or against a student.

 

Definitions

 

Prohibited sexual harassment includes, but is not limited to, unwelcome sexual advances, unwanted requests for sexual favors, or other unwanted verbal, visual, or physical conduct of a sexual nature made against another person of the same or opposite sex in the work or educational setting when: (Education Code 212.5; Government Code 12940; 2 CCR 11034)

  1. Submission to the conduct is made explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of the individual's employment.
  2. Submission to or rejection of the conduct is used as the basis for an employment decision affecting the individual.
  3. Submission to or rejection of the conduct is used as the basis for any decision affecting the individual regarding benefits, services, honors, programs, or activities available at or through the district.

Prohibited sexual harassment also includes conduct which, regardless of whether or not it is motivated by sexual desire, is so severe or pervasive as to unreasonably interfere with the victim's work performance or create an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment.

 

Examples of actions that might constitute sexual harassment in the work or educational setting, whether committed by a supervisor, a co-worker, or a non-employee, include, but are not limited to:

  1. Unwelcome verbal conduct such as sexual flirtations or propositions; graphic comments about an individual's body; overly personal conversations or pressure for sexual activity; sexual jokes or stories; unwelcome sexual slurs, epithets, threats, innuendoes, derogatory comments, sexually degrading descriptions, or the spreading of sexual rumors
  2. Unwelcome visual conduct such as drawings, pictures, graffiti, or gestures; sexually explicit emails; displaying sexually suggestive objects
  3. Unwelcome physical conduct such as massaging, grabbing, fondling, stroking, or brushing the body; touching an individual's body or clothes in a sexual way; cornering, blocking, leaning over, or impeding normal movements

Training

The Superintendent or designee shall ensure that all employees receive training regarding the district's sexual harassment policies when hired and periodically thereafter. The training shall include the procedures for reporting and/or filing complaints involving an employee, employees' duty to use the district's complaint procedures, and employee obligations when a sexual harassment report involving a student is made to the employee.

 

Every two years, the Superintendent or designee shall ensure that supervisory employees receive at least two hours of classroom or other effective interactive training and education regarding sexual harassment. All such newly hired or promoted employees shall receive training within six months of their assumption of the new position. (Government Code 12950.1)

 

A supervisory employee is any employee having the authority, in the interest of the district, to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, promote, discharge, assign, reward, or discipline other employees, or the responsibility to direct them, adjust their grievances, or effectively recommend such action, when the exercise of the authority is not of a merely routine or clerical nature, but requires the use of independent judgment. (Government Code 12926)

 

The district's sexual harassment training and education program for supervisory employees shall be aimed at assisting them in preventing and effectively responding to incidents of sexual harassment, as well as implementing mechanisms to promptly address and correct wrongful behavior. The training shall include, but is not limited to, the following: (Government Code 12950.1; 2 CCR 11024)

  1. Information and practical guidance regarding federal and state laws on the prohibition, prevention, and correction of sexual harassment, the remedies available to sexual harassment victims in civil actions, and potential district and/or individual exposure or liability
  2. The types of conduct that constitute sexual harassment and practical examples which illustrate sexual harassment, discrimination, and retaliation using training modalities such as role plays, case studies, and group discussions, based on factual scenarios taken from case law, news and media accounts, and hypotheticals based on workplace situations and other sources
  3. A supervisor's obligation to report sexual harassment, discrimination, and retaliation of which he/she becomes aware and what to do if the supervisor himself/herself is personally accused of harassment
  4. Strategies for preventing harassment, discrimination, and retaliation and appropriate steps to ensure that remedial measures are taken to correct harassing behavior, including an effective process for investigation of a complaint
  5. The essential elements of the district's anti-harassment policy, including the limited confidentiality of the complaint process and resources for victims of unlawful sexual harassment, such as to whom they should report any alleged sexual harassment, and how to use the policy if a harassment complaint is filed
  6. A copy of the district's sexual harassment policy and administrative regulation, which each participant shall acknowledge in writing that he/she has received
  7. The definition and prevention of abusive conduct that addresses the use of derogatory remarks, insults, or epithets, other verbal or physical conduct that a reasonable person would find threatening, intimidating, or humiliating, and the gratuitous sabotage or undermining of a person's work performance

The Superintendent or designee shall retain for at least two years the records of any training provided to supervisory employees. Such records shall include the names of trained employees, date of the training, the type of training, and the name of the training provider. (2 CCR 11024)

 

Notifications

A copy of the Board policy and this administrative regulation shall: (Education Code 231.5)

  1. Be displayed in a prominent location in the main administrative building, district office, or other area of the school where notices of district rules, regulations, procedures, and standards of conduct are posted
  2. Be provided to every district employee at the beginning of the first quarter or semester of the school year or whenever a new employee is hired
  3. Appear in any school or district publication that sets forth the school's or district's comprehensive rules, regulations, procedures, and standards of conduct

All employees shall receive either a copy of information sheets prepared by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) or a copy of district information sheets that contain, at a minimum, components on: (Government Code 12950)

  1. The illegality of sexual harassment
  2. The definition of sexual harassment under applicable state and federal law
  3. A description of sexual harassment, with examples
  4. The district's complaint process available to the employee
  5. The legal remedies and complaint process available through DFEH and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
  6. Directions on how to contact DFEH and the EEOC
  7. The protection against retaliation provided by 2 CCR 11021for opposing harassment prohibited by law or for filing a complaint with or otherwise participating in an investigation, proceeding, or hearing conducted by DFEH and the EEOC

In addition, the district shall post, in a prominent and accessible location, DFEH's poster on discrimination in employment and the illegality of sexual harassment. (Government Code 12950)

 

Approved: June 20, 2017 Redondo Beach, California