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18-R-18 - Employee Policies approvalRESOLUTION NO. 18 -R -18 A RESOLUTION BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SCHERTZ, TEXAS APPROVING EMPLOYEE POLICIES RELATED TO EMPLOYEE CONDUCT AND DISCIPLINE IN THE WORKPLACE AND OTHER MATTERS IN CONNECTION THEREWITH WHEREAS, the City staff of the City of Schertz (the "City ") has determined that four new policies are necessary to ensure appropriate conduct in the workplace; and WHEREAS, City staff and the City Attorney have determined that these policies are necessary to establish appropriate workplace conduct expectations and to lower the risk to the City from behavior that is prohibited by these policies; and WHEREAS, these policies are the Fraternization Policy, Prohibition of Harassment Policy, Prohibition of Sexual Harassment Policy, and Reporting of Sexual Harassment or Harassment Policy; and WHEREAS, City employees who choose to not follow these policies will be subject to discipline up to and including termination of employment; and WHEREAS, the City Charter, Section 6.02 Operational and Personnel Policies states that personnel policies which affect the budget and employee discipline and/or adverse actions shall be approved by the City Council; WHEREAS, the City Council has determined that it is in the best interest of the City to approve these polices attached hereto as Exhibit A; therefore BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SCHERTZ, TEXAS THAT: Section 1. The City Council hereby approves the Fraternization Policy, Prohibition of Harassment Policy, Prohibition of Sexual Harassment Policy, and Reporting of Sexual Harassment or Harassment Policy as set forth on Exhibit A. Section 2. The recitals contained in the preamble hereof are hereby found to be true, and such recitals are hereby made a part of this Resolution for all purposes and are adopted as a part of the judgment and findings of the City Council. Section 3. All resolutions, or parts thereof, which are in conflict or inconsistent with any provision of this Resolution are hereby repealed to the extent of such conflict, and the provisions of this Resolution shall be and remain controlling as to the matters resolved herein. Section 4. This Resolution shall be construed and enforced in accordance with the laws of the State of Texas and the United States of America. Section 5. If any provision of this Resolution or the application thereof to any person or circumstance shall be held to be invalid, the remainder of this Resolution and the application of such provision to other persons and circumstances shall nevertheless be valid, and the City Council hereby declares that this Resolution would have been enacted without such invalid provision. Section 6. It is officially found, determined, and declared that the meeting at which this Resolution is adopted was open to the public and public notice of the time, place, and subject matter of the public business to be considered at such meeting, including this Resolution, was given, all as required by Chapter 551, Texas Government Code, as amended. Section 7. This Resolution shall be in force and effect from and after its final passage, and it is so resolved. PASSED AND ADOPTED, this 13th day of February, 2018. CITY OF SCHERTZ, TEXAS , Michael R. Carpenter ATTEST: 1 Bren a Dennis, City Secretary (CITY SEAL) Exhibit A Fraternization Policy Prohibition of Harassment Policy Prohibition of Sexual Harassment Policy Reporting of Sexual Harassment or Harassment Policy A -1 SERME CITY OF SCHERTZ EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK Interpersonal Relationships and Fraternization PREPARED BY: Human Resources APPROVED BY: City Manager DATE APPROVED: EFFECTIVE DATE: REPLACES VERSION: 2.1.4 (last paragraph) Policy While the City of Schertz encourages amicable relationships between management personnel (supervisors) and their subordinates, it recognizes that involvement in a romantic relationship may compromise a manager or supervisor's ability to perform his or her job. Any involvement of a romantic nature between a manager or supervisor and anyone he or she supervises, either directly or indirectly, is prohibited. Violation of this policy will result in either (1) the transfer of the manager or supervisor's employment to another City department or (2) disciplinary action, up to and including termination of the manager or supervisor's employment. C 11FI \ TZ OPPORTUN CITY OF SCHERTZ EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK Harassment Prohibited PREPARED BY: Human Resources APPROVED Council DATE: DATE APPROVED: EFFECTIVE REPLACES Harassment 1. It is the policy of the city to provide and maintain a m forms of harassment based on race, age, gender, relig city will not tolerate such harassing behavior at any 1 2. No city employee may engage in conduct harassment toward any city employee, r gender, religion, color, disability, or nati that involves customer, or ronment that is free of any and all , disability, or national origin. The it any reason. be construed as involving ?n the basis of race, age, 3. Employees shall report harassment pursuant to the Reporting Sexual Harassment or Other Types of Harassment policy. SCHIE RITZ I OPPORTUNITY COMMUNMY CITY OF SCIIERTZ EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK Sexual Harassment Prohibited PREPARED ; Y: Human Resources APPROVED Council DATE APPROVED: DATE: EFFECTIVE REPLACES Harassment 1. It is against the policies of this employer, and illegal under state and federal law, for any employee to sexually harass another employee. The City o -f Schertz is committed to providing a workplace free from this unlawful conduct. It is -,a vioratiozr of this policy for an employee to engage in sexual harassment. 2. Sexual harassment includes sexual advances, requests for sexu� =favors, and other verbal, nonverbal, or physical conduct of a sexual nature. This may include vien: a. submission to such ci an individual's emph b. submission to or rej employment decisior is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of 5i of such conduct by an individual is used as a basis for tins that verson. or pose or efeet ,bf unreasonably interfering with a person's work an intimidating, hostile, oroffensive work environment. includes `sexual harassment which occurs in work - related ,ch as busmes's trips, business meetings and business related duct which falls within the above definition and affects the 4. Examples of sexual harassment include, but are not limited to the following, when such acts or behaviors once within one if the above definitions: a. either' "e "'licitly o' Implicitly conditioning any term of employment (e.g. continued employment wages, evaluation, advancement, assigned duties or shifts) on the provision of sexual favn b. touching or grabbing a sexual part of an employee's body; c. touching or grabbing any part of an employee's body after that person has indicated, or it is known, that such physical contact was unwelcome; d. continuing to ask an employee to socialize on or off -duty when that person has indicated he /she is not interested; e. displaying or transmitting sexually suggestive pictures, objects, cartoons, or posters; C HE I Z OPP COMMUNITY SEVICE V RTUNIIY CITY OF SCHERTZ EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK f. continuing to write sexually suggestive notes or letters; g. referring to or calling a person a sexualized name; h. regularly telling sexual jokes or using sexually vulgar or explicit language in the presence of a person; i. retaliation of any kind for having filed or supported a complaint of sexual harassment (e.g. ostracizing the person, pressuring the person to drop or not support the complaint, adversely altering that person's duties or work environment, etc.); j. derogatory or provoking remarks about or relating to an employee's sex or sexual orientation; k. harassing acts or behavior directed against a person on the basis of his or her sex or sexual orientation; 5. Employees shall report harassment pursuant to the Reporting Sexual Harassment or Other Types of Harassment policy. S C IJERTZ OCOMMUNrrY PP RTUNM CITY OF SCHERTZ EMPLOYEE D i Reporting Sexual harassment or Other Types of Harassment PREPARED BY: Human Resources APPROVED BY: City Council DATE APPROVED: EFFECTIVE DATE: REPLACES VERSION: 5.2 harassment 1. In the event the City receives a complaint of sexual hay or otherwise has reason to believe that sexual harass occurring, it will take all necessary steps to ensure the and addressed. The employer is committed, and requir, potential sexual harassment or other type,ofharassmen not wish to formally file a complaint..' ssment or other type of harassment, lent or other type of harassment is the matter is promptly investigated i by law, to take action if it learns of even if the aggrieved employee does 2. Any employee who believes that she or he has been the target of sexual harassment or other type of harassment, or who believes she or he has been subjected to retaliation for having brought or supported a complaint of sexual harassment or other type of harassment, is encouraged, but not required, to directly inform the offending person or persons that such conduct is offensive and must stob. 3. Additionally,, the. erriploy all report such coinduct to =two responsible positions at the City as follows: employee:,' shall " imediately notify his or her immediate supervisor and the if the employee's immediate supervisor is the source of the alleged harassment, if the supervisor is unavailable;'or if the employee believes it would be inappropriate to contact that persaoIn, the employee shall immediately report the problem to their Executive Director and the Human Resources Director; or c. if the issue would be inappropriate to report to one or the other of those two positions, they >the employee shall report to the City Manager and either the Executive Director or the Human Resources Director, whichever of the two is appropriate. 4. Every supervisor is responsible for promptly reporting and/or responding to, any complaint or suspected acts of sexual or other harassment. Supervisors shall not disregard any complaint of sexual or other harassment. As soon as an employee reports an incident to the supervisor, the supervisor is responsible for reporting it to the Human Resources Director (even if the employee does not want you to say or do anything about it). a. Any employee who is told by a co- worker that the co- worker has been the target of sexual harassment, other type of harassment or retaliation is highly encouraged to COMMUNITY IRC Z CITY OF SCHERTZ EMPLOYEE ELzNDBOOK report this information to their supervisor, Executive Director, Human Resources and /or the City Manager immediately. 5. Human Resources shall investigate all allegations of sexual harassment or other types of harassment by following this basic plan: a. Contact the City Attorney and develop an approved investigation plan. b. Get written statements from both sides. The person accused of sexual harassment or other types of harassment will be advised of the allegations and given the chance to respond. c. Keep records of the investigation. Documentation must be kept of all phases of the investigation, including the initial complaint, interviews which may be recorded and other documentation including any disciplinary action that may be taken. d. Attempt to resolve the complaint. All attempts to resolve the complaint will follow appropriate City policies. e. Maintain confidentiality and privacy to the extent possible. All aspects of the investigation are confidential. Once the supervisor has contacted the Human Resources Director, any discussion regarding this issue should be limited to those directly involved in the investigation. 6. No employee will be subject to any form of retaliation or discipline for reporting asexual or other harassment complaint. 7. To emphasize the importance of this policy and ensure every employee's understanding, the city requires each employee to sign a statement acknowledging receipt and understanding of this policy. The signed acknowledgement is kept in the employee's personnel file.