Harassment or discrimination against an applicant, volunteer, student employee, or employee by a supervisor, management employee, elected or appointed official, co-worker, member of the public, or contractor on the basis of race, religion, creed, color, sex (including gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender, pregnancy, and breastfeeding), national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, disability, medical condition, genetic characteristics or information, marital status, age (40 and over), denial of family care leave, sexual orientation, military or veteran status, reproductive health decision-making (a decision to use or access a particular drug, device, product, or medical service for reproductive health) or any other protected classification as defined by law, will not be tolerated.  The Districts encourages all individuals to report—as soon as possible— any conduct that is believed to violate the terms of the Policy and Complaint Procedure Against Harassment, Discrimination, and Retaliation.

An employee, job applicant, student employee, volunteer, or contractor who believes they have been harassed may make a complaint verbally or in writing with any of the individuals listed below (there is no need to follow the chain of command):

• Immediate supervisor;
• Any supervisor or manager within or outside of the department;
• Any department head; or
• Human Resources Director or designee (which includes the liaison, Senior Human Resources Analyst)

An individual has the option to report harassment, discrimination, or retaliation to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) or the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH). These administrative agencies offer legal remedies and a complaint process.

Every possible effort will be made to assure the confidentiality of complaints made. Complete confidentiality cannot occur, however, due to the need to fully investigate and the duty to take effective remedial action. As a result, confidentiality will be maintained to the extent possible.  A report may be submitted anonymously; however, without providing contact information we are unable to follow-up directly.