§ 41-1. Purpose.
Sexual
harassment is a form of gender discrimination and is a violation of state and
federal civil rights laws. It is the policy of this municipality to strongly
oppose and prevent any form of discrimination. We recognize that any employee's
ability to perform his or her job may be adversely affected by harassment based
on sex. Therefore, this policy has been prepared to aid our employees in
understanding and helping to prevent sexual harassment.
§ 41-2. Definition.
A. The
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission defines "sexual harassment"
as unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors and other verbal or
physical conduct of a sexual nature when:
(1) Submission
to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of
an individual's employment;
(2) Submission
to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as the basis for
employment decisions, such as promotion, transfer, or termination, affecting
such individual; or
(3) Such
conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an
individual's work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile or otherwise
offensive working environment.
B. Sexual
harassment can include abusive verbal language related to an employee's sex,
sexually oriented comments about an individual's body that are unwelcome and/or
reasonably interfere with an employee's work performance or create an
intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment; displays of obscene
printed or visual material; and physical contact, such that it unreasonably
interferes with an employee's work performance or creates an intimidating,
hostile, or offensive working environment.
§ 41-3. Complaint procedure.
Any employee
who believes that another employee is initiating sexual harassment shall file a
written complaint with the New York Mills Village Clerk, One Maple Street, New
York Mills, New York 13417, within 30 calendar days of the incident. Retaliation
against the complainant will not be tolerated. Due to the serious and private
nature of this offense, false accusations of sexual harassment are and will be
treated as a disciplinary offense and will result in the same level of
punishment as that applied to one who engages in such behavior.
§ 41-4. Investigation.
The policy
of the Village of New York Mills is to investigate all such complaints. If an
investigation confirms that harassment has occurred, the Village of New York
Mills will take corrective action, including any discipline that is
appropriate, up to and including immediate termination of employment.
§ 41-5. Construal of
provisions.
This
directive is for municipal use only and does not apply in any criminal or civil
proceeding. The municipal policy shall not be construed as a creation of a
higher legal standard of safety or care in an evidential sense with respect to
third-party claims. Violations of this directive will only form the basis for
municipal administrative sanctions. Violations of law will form the basis for
civil and criminal sanctions in a recognized judicial setting.
