It is the objective of the (insert name of bank here) to provide a work environment free from harassment of an employee based on race, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, disability or because an employee opposes job discrimination or participates in an investigation or complaint proceeding under federal or state laws. For the purposes of this policy, harassment is defined as unsolicited and unwelcome verbal or physical misconduct towards another person, based upon such person’s protected status and which affects tangible work benefits or opportunities, reasonably interferes with an person’s work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive environment for that person’s work at the bank.
The bank will not tolerate verbal or physical conduct or communication constituting harassment. Furthermore, the bank will not tolerate any adverse employment action or retaliation against an employee for refusing unwelcome harassment, for reporting incidents of harassment or for providing evidence or statements regarding alleged complaints of harassment. The purpose of this policy is to establish clearly and unequivocally that the bank prohibits harassment by and of its employees.
A bank employee has the right an any time to raise the issue of harassment without fear of reprisal. Behavior that amounts to harassment may result in disciplinary action, up to and including termination.
Although the bank is responsible for enforcing this policy against 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 harassment, bank management must be informed of 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 harassment nor should such person assume that it is someone else’s duty to report. The bank policy is that harassment situations are so detrimental that it requires everyone with any knowledge of harassment to report it immediately.
If an employee experiences or witnesses harassment in the workplace, the aggrieved person or witness may directly inform the person engaging in 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 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 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 harassment or who speaks as a witness or provides evidence in the investigation of a complaint of harassment.