The Board of Education is committed
to maintaining an employment, educational, and
business environment free from harassment,
intimidation or insult on the basis of an
individual’s sex. Positive action will be taken
when necessary to eliminate such practices or remedy
their effects. Sexual harassment as defined and
otherwise prohibited by state and federal statutes,
constitutes an unlawful form of sex discrimination in
violation of Title IX of the Education Amendments Act
of 1972 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of
1964. In addition, sexual harassment constitutes
violation of the California Education Code,
regulations of the State Board of Education, and
District Policy. As such, sexual harassment may
constitute just cause for discipline pursuant to
applicable Education Code Sections.
It is the policy of the Irvine
Unified School District that sexual harassment in the work place is unacceptable and will not be condoned or
tolerated.
Definition
Sexual harassment consists of
unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual
favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a
sexual nature. It includes, but is not limited to,
circumstances in which:
- 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 employee is used as the
basis for employment decisions affecting such
employee; or
- such conduct has the purpose
or effect of unreasonable interference with
an employee’s work performance or
creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive
working environment.
Forms of Sexual Harassment
Forms of sexual harassment include,
but are not limited to, the following:
- verbal harassment: derogatory
comments, jokes or slurs;
- physical harassment:
unnecessary or offensive touching or impeding
or blocking movement;
- visual harassment: derogatory
or offensive posters, cards, cartoons,
graffiti, drawings, or gestures; and
- sexual favors: unwelcome
sexual advances, requests for sexual favors,
and other verbal or physical conduct of a
sexual nature.
Activities such as:
- comments repeatedly
emphasizing the sexuality or sexual identity
of an individual;
- persistent requests for
social-sexual encounters and favors;
- physical contact of a lewd
type;
- indecent exposure; and
realized sexual encounters
constitute sexual harassment when
they are accompanied by one or more of the following
terms or conditions:
- explicit or implicit promises
or rewards for cooperation via misuse of
institutional authority;
- explicit or implicit threats
of punishment for non-cooperation via misuse
of institutional authority;
- intimidation which creates a
hostile or offensive working environment;
interferes with an employee’s work
performance; prevents an employee’s
enjoyment of employment opportunities; or
induces conformance, stress, anxiety, fear,
or sickness on the part of the harassed
employee.
Resolution Process
Informal Process:
To accommodate the unique nature of
sexual harassment complaints, an informal process is
provided for the primary purpose of resolution of a
complaint at the earliest possible date. Elements of
this process are:
- Employees may submit sexual
harassment complaints to their immediate
supervisor, the Deputy Superintendent, Human Resources, or the Superintendent of
Schools.
- The Deputy Superintendent, Human Resources, will
a. inform the complainant of
any rights under any relevant complaint
procedure, policy, or collective bargaining
agreement;
b. authorize the investigation
of the complaint and supervise and/or investigate
the complaint.
The investigation will include
interviews with:
- the complainant
- the alleged harasser, and
- any other persons who
reasonably may have relevant knowledge
concerning the complaint, such as witnesses
and victims of similar conduct.
c. review factual information
gathered through the investigation to determine
whether the alleged conduct constitutes harassment, giving consideration to all factual
information, the totality of the circumstances,
including the nature of the verbal, physical or
visual aspects of the conduct and the context in
which the alleged incidents occurred;
d. if harassment occurred, take
prompt remedial action against the harasser; such
action shall be commensurate with the severity of
the offense in accordance with any contractual
and statutory due process requirements.
Formal Process
Complaints which are not resolved
through the above informal procedure may be processed
through the formal complaint procedures specified in Board Policy
4030.
Legal References Education Code
sections 212.5, 230 , 231.5
Title Vll of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972
Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson 477 U.S. 57 (1986)
Franklin v. Gwinett County Schools, 112 S.Ct. 1028
(1992)
Policy Adopted: August 25, 1992
Revised: August 7, 1997
Revised: July 13, 2004
