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R-2015-37 CITY OF CLERMONT RESOLUTION NO. 2015-37 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CLERMONT, LAKE COUNTY, FLORIDA, REPEALING THE HARASSMENT POLICY IN ITS ENTIRETY; REPLACING WITH THE HARASSMENT POLICY, INCLUDING THE SEXUAL HARASSMENT POLICY, AS ADOPTED HEREIN; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. WHEREAS, the Clermont City Council has determined that it is in the best interest of the City of Clermont, that an update and replacement of the Harassment Policy be made. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Clermont, Florida, Lake County, Florida as follows: Section 1 The City Council of the City of Clermont does hereby adopt and implement the replacement of the Harassment Policy with the Harassment Policy; including the Sexual Harassment Policy, as set forth in Attachment A, attached hereto and incorporated herein and attached to this Resolution; and Section 2 This resolution shall take effect immediately upon its adoption. I 1 CITY OF CLERMONT RESOLUTION NO.2015-37 DONE AND RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Clermont, Lake County, ,F1'or<ida; t1i s-,;, day of October, 2015. .,r.k.i 5'%..:1 -,,''':-•'''',,'I,Iif^ ` , 0[,,/ter ,,4 Y �. , CLERMONT ��F���,,,, ,,iu s.��� v,r� CITY OF 11' , / / / ,J,','7,-';4',"'!' 1.1:,,,,'$ / ,„ ,,o, m. .409:‘‘. /AP, 4,, , :,,,,.,:, „0,,., t R, pt .,.,' Gal L. Ash, Mayor ATTEST:-`' ja.47, 9 4400 Tracy Ackroyd, City Cle° Appro =d-as-toform and-legality: /41111116, Danie a _- : Cit Atto i, - C% CLER' '1'ONT Choice of Champions' Harassment (Including Sexual Harassment) Policy Replaces Harassment Policy Dated January 10, 2012 Effective October 13, 2015 A. Purpose To express the City's commitment to preventing and maintaining a working environment for employees (including applicants and volunteers) that is free from any form of harassment, including sexual harassment This procedure is developed in accordance with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII), Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA), Title I and Title V of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), and City policies and procedures on equal employment opportunity and recruitment B. Scope The provision set forth in this policy and procedure shall apply to all City employees, and for the purpose of this procedure volunteers shall be considered employees C. Directives The City's policy is that any form of harassment, including sexual harassment, is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated. Harassment is defined as unwelcome verbal, visual or physical offensive conduct towards an individual because of his or her race, color, national origin, sex (gender), religion, disability, age, sexual orientation, marital or veteran's status, pregnancy, genetic information, and any other basis of discrimination covered by applicable federal, state or local law Offensive conduct may include, but is not limited to, jokes, slurs, epithets or name calling, physical assaults or threats, intimidation, ridicule or mockery, insults or put-downs, and offensive objects or pictures Harassment becomes unlawful when 1) enduring the offensive conduct becomes a condition of continued employment, or 2) the conduct is severe or pervasive enough to create a work environment that a reasonable person would consider intimidating, hostile, or abusive Examples of sexual harassment include, but are not limited to unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, touching, and other verbal, visual or physical conduct of a sexual nature displayed, posted, or circulated in the workplace, such as graphic depictions, jokes, innuendos, suggestive/explicit objects, pictures/drawings, and demeaning written/graphic material that creates a hostile or offensive work environment Sexual harassment does not have to be of a sexual nature, it can include verbal, visual or physical offensive conduct about a person's sex/gender Both victim and the harasser can be either a woman or a man, and the victim and harasser can be the same sex Sexual harassment does not refer to occasional compliments of a socially acceptable nature Sexual 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 City strongly disapproves of and will not tolerate harassment of employees by supervisors or co-workers, and does not condone harassment of its employees in connection with their work by non-employees, e g , general public, vendors, professional contacts and customers Any supervisor, including managers and directors, do not have the authority to suggest to any employee that employment, continued employment, future advancement, or other term or condition of employment will be affected in any way by an employee's acceptance of a hostile or abusive work environment as described in this policy, or by any employee's entering into (or refusing to enter into) any form of personal relationship with the supervisor All employees are encouraged to report incidents of harassment utilizing established complaint procedures described below Any employee who makes a complaint of harassment or provides information related to such a complaint or incident of harassment will be protected against retaliation Violations of this policy and procedure by any employee shall subject that employee to corrective action, up to and including termination of employment D. Procedure 1 Reporting — Any employee, who feels that they are being harassed in violation of this policy, believes that his or her employment is being adversely affected by such conduct, or becomes aware of any harassment of an employee, should immediately report such concerns to any one or more of the following• their immediate supervisor, any Department Director, the Human Resources Director, Assistant City Manager, or the City Manager. It is emphasized that employees are not required to complain first to their supervisor Human Resources Director (325) 241-7380 or(352) 241-7382 Assistant City Manager. (352) 241-7356 City Manager (352) 241-7358 Complaints of harassment can be made verbally or in writing Complaints made in writing should be signed and dated by the reporting employee. Complaints made verbally should be documented by the individual receiving the complaint Any supervisor, including managers and directors, who knows or has reason to know of workplace harassment is required to immediately report such harassment to the Human Resources Director The Human Resources Director and the City Manager shall be notified of all harassment complaints unless the complaint involves the Human Resources Director or the City Manager Employees should not assume that the City is aware of any employee harassment problems Employees should immediately bring all complaints and concerns to the City's attention so that the concerns can be resolved 2 Investigation— All complaints of harassment shall be investigated Supervisors, managers, any Department Director, the Human Resources Director, Assistant City Manager, or the City Manager receiving a complaint is responsible for investigating all such incidents The Human Resources Director must be informed of all complaints no matter how insignificant they may seem Upon completion of the investigation, the employee/complainant will be advised of the findings All actions taken to resolve complaints of harassment through internal investigations shall be conducted confidentially, to the extent possible and allowable by law 3 Retaliation— The City emphasizes that retaliation against any employee for making a complaint or cooperating in an investigation will not be tolerated Employees will not be penalized in any way for making a report, in good faith, under this policy and procedure No management personnel, supervisor or other employee shall place an employee at a disadvantage or retaliate against an employee for having reported a complaint of harassment Any retaliation will result in corrective action up to and including termination Any employee who believes that he/she is being retaliated against for reporting or making a compliant of harassment or for participating in an investigation related to harassment should immediately report the alleged retaliatory action to his/her supervisor or to the Human Resources Director 4 Corrective Action— Any supervisor or employee who is found, after appropriate investigation, to have engaged in harassment of another employee will be subject to appropriate disciplinary action, up to and including termination, depending upon the circumstances Any employee who makes an intentional false allegation and/or report, under this policy and procedure, will be subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination 5 Acknowledgement& Maintenance of Records— Employees shall be advised of the contents of this policy and procedure and be required to acknowledge receipt of this policy and procedure The acknowledgement shall be placed in the personnel record The Human Resources Department shall maintain documentation related to this policy and procedure, including documents related to training, incident reporting and disciplinary action E. Authority The City Manager shall implement this policy and procedure Approved and adopted by the Clermont City Council by resolution number 2015-37 on October 13, 2015.