It is the policy of the Board of Education to provide equal opportunity without regard to race, color, creed, age, sex, including sexual harassment, marital status, military status, veteran status, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, predisposing genetic characteristics, domestic violence victim status or other legally protected status. As such, the Board has a strong commitment to providing a work environment conducive to maintaining the dignity of all its workers and encouraging efficient, productive and creative work.
Employees are prohibited from engaging in discriminatory acts. The Board considers compliance with this discrimination policy to be essential and hereby instructs all employees of the Board to conduct themselves in accordance with this policy. The Board gives notice to its employees that there exists a clear recourse under the policies and procedures of the Board to address their complaints of discrimination. The Board encourages all employees to bring to the attention of the compliance officer any incident or incidents which the employee views as prohibited, discriminatory conduct.
Complaints and Investigation
Any employee of the Board who believes that he/she has been subject to discrimination shall submit a complaint in writing all incidents of such conduct to the Board’s designated compliance officer giving the specifics the complaint as to who, what, where and when, to the extent practicable.
Furthermore, the Board encourages any employee to make a written or verbal complaint to the compliance officer using the specifics of the complaint, as referred to above, if that employee believes that he/she has witnessed the discrimination of another employee or has witnessed an admission of discrimination, whether the discrimination to be complained of was committed by a Board official or Board employee against another Board employee.
In order to be able to investigate while evidence is available, it is very important that complaints be made soon after the occurrence of the conduct complained of. In the event that the compliance officer is the offender, the complainant shall report his/her complaint to the next level of supervisory authority.
Upon receipt of a complaint, the compliance officer, or alternate, will conduct a thorough investigation of the charges. All reports are to be fully investigated even if the complainant does not wish to have that done. All investigations are to be completed within a reasonable period of time and kept confidential to the extent practicable.
Both the complainant and the respondent are entitled to fair treatment in the handling of the complaint, as well as to privacy and discretion to the extent practicable. The Board views any retaliatory behavior directed against complainants and/or witnesses as misconduct. Whether or not the following are considered to be discrimination, any attempt to retaliate against an individual for bringing a complaint may itself be treated as misconduct; similarly, a complaint that is malicious and groundless may be treated as misconduct. In all of the proceedings described below, the complainant and the respondent are each free to designate one other Board employee to accompany him or her to provide advice and moral support.
Responsive Action
Generally speaking, sexual harassment is defined as unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature when: (a) submission to such conduct is made, either explicitly or implicitly, a term or condition of an individual’s employment; (b) submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as the basis for employment decisions affecting such individual; or (c) such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual’s work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive working environment.
Based upon the results of the investigation, immediate corrective action will be taken when warranted, up to and including termination of the offender’s employment in accordance with the appropriate contract, if any, and the law. Follow-up inquiries shall be made to ensure that the prohibited conduct has not resumed and that the victim and/or witnesses have not suffered retaliation.
In the case of complaints that might potentially involve criminal charges against the respondent, the compliance officer shall take steps to have the pertinent information transmitted to law enforcement authorities. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the complainant may also bring a complaint to the law enforcement authorities.
Employee Complaints to Agencies
The Board acknowledges that while it would like employees to raise issues of discrimination pursuant to this policy and regulations so that they can be addressed by the Board, any employee also has the legal right to immediately make a complaint to the appropriate governmental entity which includes the following:
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
New York District Office
33 White Hall Street
New York, NY 10004
Tel. (212) 336-3620
New York State Division of Human Rights
8 John Walsh Blvd, Suite 204
Peekskill, NY 10566
Tel: (914) 788-8050
PLEASE TAKE NOTE THAT THE FAILURE TO FILE A COMPLAINT WITH THESE AGENCIES WITHIN THE STATUTORY PERIOD MAY RESULT IN THE LOSS OF YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS.
Cross-ref:
- 0100, Equal Opportunity
- 9010, Equal Employment Opportunity
Ref:
- Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VII
- NY State Executive Law, §290, et seq.
- 29 CFR 1604
- Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008
- Executive Law §290 et seq. (New York State Human Rights Law);
- Education Law §3201-a
- The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA)
Adoption date: May 27, 1997
Revised: August 11, 2003
Revised: July 13, 2004
Revised: July 12, 2010
Reviewed: November 27, 2017