System Administration is committed to a policy of providing equal employment opportunity to all qualified persons regardless of race, religion, creed, color, national origin, ancestry, age, sex, marital status, pregnancy, sexual orientation, use or nonuse of lawful products off the employer’s premises during nonworking hours, genetic testing, gender identity or expression, political affiliation, arrest or conviction record, physical disability, mental disability, veterans status, or membership in the national guard, state defense force or any other reserve component of the military forces of the United States or this state.
System Administration’s legal obligations for equal employment opportunity and affirmative action (EEO/AA) arise pursuant to the following laws: the Wisconsin Fair Employment Law; U.S. Executive Order 11246, as amended; the Equal Pay Act of 1963, as amended; Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended; the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967; the Vietnam Era Veterans” Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974, as amended; the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended; and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Equal opportunity and affirmative action principles are applicable to university staff, academic staff, faculty, limited appointees, university staff temporary, and project positions of employment and to all employment practices including, but not limited to: recruiting, hiring, certification, transfers, promotions, assignments, training, compensation, fringe benefits, layoffs, terminations, and retention.
System Administration ensures physical accessibility to work environments for persons with disabilities and will provide reasonable accommodations to ensure equal access to employment and all benefits associated with employment. System Administration also provides reasonable accommodations for religious observances and practices.
System Administration is committed to providing a workplace free of sexual harassment, intimidation, threats, coercion or discrimination (which includes harassment based on gender, pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions) as well as harassment, intimidation, threats, coercion or discrimination based on such factors as race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, family care leave status, or veteran status. Further, System Administration strongly disapproves of and will not tolerate harassment by its employees of non-employees with whom the organization has an academic, service or professional relationship.
Harassment includes verbal, physical, and visual conduct that creates an intimidating, offensive, or hostile working environment or that interferes with work performance. Such conduct constitutes harassment when (1) submission to the conduct is made either an explicit or implicit condition of employment; (2) submission to or rejection of the conduct is used as the basis for an employment decision; or (3) the harassment interferes with an employee’s work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment.
Harassing conduct can take many forms and includes, but is not limited to, slurs, jokes, statements, gestures, pictures or cartoons regarding an employee’s sex, race, color, national origin, religion, age, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, ancestry, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, family care leave status or veteran status. Sexually harassing conduct in particular includes all of these prohibited actions as well as other unwelcome conduct such as requests for sexual favors, conversation containing sexual comments and unwelcome sexual advances.
Employees should report any incident of harassment, by System Administration personnel or by any other person, promptly to their supervisor, to any member of management, or to a UW System Human Resources (UWSHR) staff. Any supervisor or manager who receives a complaint or who observes harassing conduct should inform an UWSHR staff member of the complaint. System Administration emphasizes that an employee is not required to complain first to a supervisor, especially if that is the individual who is harassing the employee.
UWSHR is responsible for investigating complaints of harassment. Reported complaints of harassment will be investigated thoroughly, promptly, and in a confidential manner.
Harassment and retaliation for opposing harassment or for participating in an investigation of harassment are illegal if the harassment is based on a legally protected status (for example, such as sex or disability). System Administration will not tolerate retaliation against any employee who makes a complaint or who cooperates in an investigation.
In the case of employees, if harassment is established, System Administration will take appropriate action against the offender. Appropriate action can range from verbal or written warnings up to and including termination, depending upon the circumstances.
The President assumes overall responsibility for the implementation of System Administration’s EEO/AA programs, while senior executives are responsible for implementation within their areas and units. The Affirmative Action Officer for System Administration is responsible for the development of affirmative action and equal employment opportunity programs, for monitoring their implementation and reporting on progress achieved, and for handling complaints of discrimination and harassment.
Related Documents
Regent Policy Document 14-6, Discrimination, Harassment, and Retaliation
SYS 1202: Equal Employment Opportunity
Practice Directive EEO B: Discrimination Harassment, and Retaliation
Practice Directive Gen J: Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment