Last update: 9/12/05

(Company name) is committed to maintaining a work environment that is free of discrimination. This policy forbids any discriminatory employment action or any unwelcome conduct that is based on a person's race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, ancestry, marital status, veteran status, citizenship status, sexual orientation, or any other protected status of anyone's associates or relatives. (Company name) will not tolerate any form of harassment of our employees or other persons performing services for our company by anyone, including any supervisor, co-worker, vendor, client, or customer.

Harassment consists of unwelcome conduct, whether verbal, physical, or visual, that is based on a protected group status.

(Company name) will not tolerate harassing conduct that:

-- Affects tangible job benefits
-- Interferes unreasonably with an employee's work performance
-- Creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment

Harassment may include, for example:

-- Jokes about another person's protected status
-- Kidding, teasing or practical jokes directed at a person based on their protected status

Sex harassment deserves special mention. Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other physical, verbal, or visual conduct based on sex constitute sexual harassment when:

-- Submission to the conduct is an explicit (clear) or implicit (implied) term or condition of employment

-- Submission to or rejection of the conduct is used as the basis for an employment decision the conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with a person's work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment

Sex harassment is conduct based on sex, whether directed towards a person of the opposite or same sex, and may include:

-- Explicit sexual proposals
-- Sexual innuendo 
-- Suggestive comments
-- Sexually-oriented "kidding" or "teasing," practical jokes, and obscene visual material (including e-mail)
-- Physical contact such as patting, pinching, or brushing against another person
-- Treating people differently, even in non-sexual ways, solely because of their gender

All employees are responsible to help assure that we avoid discrimination and harassment. If you feel that you have experienced or witnessed any conduct that is inconsistent with this Policy, you are to notify the Human Resources Manager, your department head, or your supervisor.

(Company name) forbids retaliation against (getting even with) anyone for reporting discrimination or harassment, assisting in making a discrimination or harassment complaint, cooperating in a discrimination or harassment investigation, or filing and EEOC claim. If you feel you have been retaliated against, you are to notify the Human Resources Manager, your department head, or your manager or supervisor.

(Company name) policy is to investigate all discrimination and harassment complaints thoroughly and promptly. To the fullest practical extent, (Company name) will keep complaints and the terms of their resolution confidential. If an investigation confirms that a violation of our policy has occurred, (Company name) will take corrective action, including discipline, up to and including immediate termination of employment.

Purpose
(Company name) believes in respecting the dignity of every employee and expects every employee to show respect for all of our colleagues, customers, and vendors. Respectful, professional conduct furthers (Company name’s) mission, promotes productivity, minimizes disputes, and enhances our reputation. This policy forbids any discrimination or unwelcome conduct that is based on an individual's race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, ancestry, medical condition, marital status, veteran status, citizenship status, sexual orientation, or any other protected status of an individual or that individual's associates or relatives. (Company name) is committed to providing a work environment that is free of unlawful discrimination, including harassment that is based on any legally protected status. (Company name) will not tolerate any form of discrimination or harassment that violates this policy.

Coverage
This policy absolutely forbids any employee, supervisor, partner, officer, director, vendor, client, or agent of (Company name) to discriminate against or harass any Company employee or applicant.

Prohibited Conduct
The conduct prohibited by this policy, whether verbal, physical, or visual, includes any discriminatory employment action and any unwelcome conduct that affects someone because of that individual's protected status. Among the types of unwelcome conduct prohibited by this policy are epithets, slurs, negative stereotyping, intimidating acts, and the circulation or posting of written or graphic materials that show hostility toward individuals because of their protected status. Even where the conduct is not sufficiently severe or pervasive to constitute actionable harassment, (Company name) discourages any such conduct in the workplace.

Sex Harassment
Sex harassment is a problem that deserves special mention. Harassing conduct based on gender often is sexual in nature but sometimes is not. Our policy forbids harassment based on gender regardless of whether the offensive conduct is sexual in nature. Any unwelcome conduct based on gender is also forbidden by this policy regardless of whether the individual engaged in harassment and the person being harassed are of the same or are of different genders.

Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal, physical or visual conduct based on sex constitute unlawful sex harassment when (1) submission becomes an implicit or explicit term or condition of employment, (2) submission to or rejection of the conduct is used as the basis for any employment decision, or (3) the conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with a person’s work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive working environment.

(Company name) forbids harassment based on gender regardless of whether it rises to the level of a legal violation. Examples of gender-based harassment forbidden by (Company name) include (1) offensive sex-oriented verbal kidding, teasing or jokes; (2) repeated unwanted sexual flirtations, advances or propositions; (3) continued or repeated verbal abuse of a sexual nature; (4) graphic or degrading comments about a person’s appearance or sexual activity; (5) offensive visual conduct, including leering, making sexual gestures, the display of offensive sexually suggestive objects or pictures, cartoons or posters; (6) unwelcome pressure for sexual activity; (7) offensively suggestive or obscene letters, notes or invitations; or (8) offensive physical contact such as patting, grabbing, pinching, or brushing against another's body.

Employee Responsibility
Everyone at (Company name) can help assure that our workplace is free from prohibited discrimination or harassment. Everyone is expected to avoid any behavior or conduct that could reasonably be interpreted as prohibited discrimination or harassment; no employees, not even the highest ranking people at (Company name) are exempt from the requirements of this policy. Every employee is expected to inform any person in the workplace whose conduct the employee finds unwelcome. Any manager or supervisor who is aware of conduct inconsistent with this policy or who receives a report of conduct inconsistent with this policy is to report immediately to the Human Resources Manager or ______________ or ____________. Every employee who reports harassment should make every effort to make that report directly to the Human Resources Manager or _____________ or ______________________.

Reporting Procedures
If you feel you have experienced or witnessed any conduct that violates this policy, you are to immediately notify the Human Resources Manager or _____________ or ______________________. Those management officials are authorized by this policy to receive and act upon complaints of discrimination or harassment on behalf of (Company name). This policy does not require reporting harassment or discrimination to any person who is creating the harassment or discrimination.

(Company name) Response
All reports describing conduct that is inconsistent with this policy will be investigated promptly. (Company name) may put reasonable interim measures in place, such as a leave of absence or a transfer, while the investigation takes place. (Company name) will take further appropriate action once the report has been thoroughly investigated. That action may be a conclusion that a violation occurred, or (Company name's top management official) might also conclude, depending on the circumstances, either that no violation of policy occurred or that the Company cannot conclude whether or not a violation occurred.

Where an investigation reveals that a violation of this policy or other inappropriate conduct has occurred, then (Company name) will take corrective action, including discipline up to and including dismissal, as is appropriate under the circumstances, regardless of the positions of the parties involved. (Company name) may discipline any employee for any inappropriate conduct discovered in investigating reports made under this policy, regardless of whether the conduct amounts to a violation of law or even a violation of this policy. If the person who engaged in harassment is not employed by (Company name), then we will take whatever corrective action is reasonable and appropriate under the circumstances.

Procedures
Consistent with this policy against workplace discrimination and harassment, (Company name) maintains posters on bulletin boards that refer to legal definitions of discrimination and harassment. Those posters identify government agencies to contact for information on how and when to file administrative claims. Using (Company name’s) complaint process does not keep an employee from filing a claim with a government agency. The time period for a federal complaint is 180 or 300 days from the harassment. The time period for filing a claim continues to run during (Company name) investigation. Our policy provides for immediate notice of problems to (Company name) officials listed above, so that we may resolve any problems without waiting for any legal proceedings to run their course.

Policy Against Retaliation
(Company name) forbids that any employee treat any other employee or former employee or applicant adversely for reporting discrimination or harassment, for assisting another employee or applicant in making a report, for cooperating in a discrimination or harassment investigation, or for filing an administrative claim with a government agency. All employees who experience or witness any conduct they believe to be retaliatory should immediately follow the reporting procedures stated above.

Confidentiality
In investigating and in imposing any discipline, (Company name) will attempt to preserve confidentiality to the extent that the needs of the situation permit.

Acknowledgment
All (Company name) employees have a personal responsibility to conduct themselves in compliance with this policy and to report any observations of conduct inconsistent with this policy.  If you have any questions about this policy, then please contact _________________.

I agree to comply with this policy.

_____________________
Name

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