An Administrator's Guide to California Private School Law

Chapter 7 - Recognizing And Preventing Harassment, Discrimination And Retaliation

A policy and complaint procedure should do all of the following:  Be in writing;

 Prohibit discrimination, harassment and retaliation from both employees and non-employees based upon any protected status;  List all groups protected under the FEHA;  Describe prohibited harassment, and provide examples of the types of harassment;  Protect applicants, independent contractors, and employees from harassment, discrimination, and retaliation. Unpaid interns and volunteers are protected from harassment and unpaid interns are protected from discrimination;  Prohibit retaliation for reporting alleged violations, participating in the complaint investigation process, or supporting those who complain or participate in an investigation;  Give supervisory employees the duty to report all complaints of discrimination and harassment and allow employees to report to someone other than a direct supervisor;  State that complaints will be followed by a thorough, prompt and objective/non-judgmental investigation procedure;  State that remedial action will be taken if misconduct is found;  Provide confidentiality to the greatest extent possible given the need to investigate and discipline, if necessary, and take other appropriate remedial actions;  Provide closure to the complainant after the conclusion of the investigation; and  Provide a reference to the remedies and complaint processes available from the EEOC and the DFEH, and directions regarding how to contact those offices. 1022

A school’s complaint procedure must provide a meaningful mechanism through which an aggrieved employee may inform the school of discriminatory, harassing or retaliatory conduct. To be meaningful, the complaint procedure must be designed to encourage victims to come forward. Therefore, if the procedure requires an aggrieved employee to complain first to his or her supervisor, it should also provide an alternative route for an employee who feels he or she is being harassed to file a complaint when the alleged harasser is the supervisor. Otherwise, in that situation, the employee would likely feel powerless and discouraged from complaining. Complainants should be informed their complaints will be conveyed only to those who need to know about it, such as those investigating the complaint and any others involved in remedial or disciplinary action. While the school should maintain confidentiality to the greatest extent

An Administrator’s Guide to California Private School Law ©2019 Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 250