It is the objective of the (insert name of bank here) to provide a work environment free from unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors and other verbal or physical conduct or communication constituting sexual harassment. The purpose of this statement is to establish clearly and unequivocally that the bank prohibits sexual harassment by and of its employees.
Sexual harassment is misconduct that interferes with work productivity and deprives employees of the opportunity to work in an environment free from unsolicited and unwelcome sexual overtones. Sexual harassment includes all unwelcome sexual advances and sexually oriented communication (including the use of e-mail, voicemail and other forms of electronic communications), requests for sexual favors and other such verbal or physical misconduct. Sexual harassment is a prohibited practice and is a violation of bank policy as well as the law. A bank employee has the right an any time to raise the issue of sexual harassment without fear of reprisal. Behavior that amounts to sexual harassment may result in disciplinary action, up to and including termination.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has issued guidelines interpreting Section 703 of Title VII as prohibiting sexual harassment. Sexual harassment is defined in those guidelines as follows:
Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors and other verbal or physical misconduct of a sexual nature constitutes sexual harassment when submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual’s employment, submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as the basis for employment decisions affecting such individual, or 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.
Although the bank is responsible for enforcing this policy against sexual harassment in the workplace, for taking immediate corrective action to stop sexual harassment in the workplace and for promptly investigating any allegation of work-related sexual harassment, BANK management must be informed of sexual harassment before the bank can stop it. An aggrieved person or witness should not assume that bank management is already aware of any situation involving alleged sexual harassment nor should such person assume that it is someone else’s duty to report. The bank policy is that sexual harassment situations are so detrimental that it requires everyone with any knowledge of sexual harassment to report it immediately.
If an employee experiences or witnesses sexual harassment in the workplace, the aggrieved person or witness may directly inform the person engaging in sexually harassing conduct or communication that such conduct or communication is offensive and must stop. If the aggrieved person or witness does not wish to communicate directly with the person whose conduct or communication is offensive or if direct communication with the offending person has been ineffective, the aggrieved person or witness should report the conduct or communication to his or her supervisor or any other supervisor. If the supervisor is the offending person, the aggrieved person or witness should report to the next higher level of management. All allegations or complaints of sexual harassment will be promptly investigated and to the extent possible, confidentiality of an aggrieved person or that of any witnesses and the alleged harasser will be protected against unnecessary disclosure. All bank employees have a duty to cooperate with any such investigation. When the investigation is completed, the aggrieved person will be informed of the outcome of that investigation.
Regardless of the means selected for resolving the problem, the initiation of a complaint of sexual harassment will not cause any reflection on the employee nor will it affect his or her employment, compensation or work assignments. The bank will permit no employment-based retaliation against anyone who brings a complaint of sexual harassment or who speaks as a witness in the investigation of a complaint of sexual harassment.