Kokosing Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

This Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Statement reaffirms the company’s policy and commitment to providing equal employment opportunities for all team members, job applicants and in all employment decisions.

The company recruits, hires, trains, and ensures that all personnel decisions and actions, including but not limited to compensation, benefits, transfers, promotions, layoffs, returns from layoff, discipline, terminations, company-sponsored training, education, tuition assistance and social and recreational programs are administered without regard to:

  • race
  • color
  • religion
  • sex
  • sexual orientation
  • gender identity
  • national origin
  • age
  • veteran status
  • physical or mental disability (except where the disability prevents the individual from being able to perform the essential functions of the job and cannot be reasonably accommodated in full compliance with the law)

All team members are expected to comply with this EEO Statement. Managers and supervisors who are responsible for meeting business objectives are expected to cooperate fully in meeting Kokosing’s equal employment opportunity objectives and their overall performance will be evaluated accordingly.

If you believe or suspect that you are being treated in violation of this EEO policy, you must immediately contact your HR Representative, your supervisor or any other member of management so that an investigation can immediately occur. The company will neither condone nor tolerate any act of discrimination and/or any violation of this EEO policy. Similarly, the company will not tolerate any act of retaliation against an individual who makes a complaint under this policy or aides in any investigation of such a complaint. Any team member found to have violated this policy in any manner will be subject to disciplinary action, including discharge.

POLICIES & PROCEDURES FOR PREVENTING SEXUAL & NON-SEXUAL HARASSMENT

The company prohibits:

  • sexual harassment of any team member either in the workplace or in any work-related setting.
  • harassment based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, veteran status or disability.

The company will not tolerate any team member conduct or activity, or display of graphic material, that has the purpose or effect of violating this policy. In addition, within the limits of the company’s power and control, the company will attempt to prevent any non-team member (including, but not limited to, anyone working for another contractor, an inspector, or a supplier) from repeating any reported conduct or activity, or display of graphic material, that has the purpose or effect of causing harassment either in the workplace or in any work-related setting.

DEFINITION OF HARASSMENT

It is sexual harassment for any manager or supervisor (or any other team member with the power to affect another team member’s terms or conditions of employment to:

  • promise a raise, a promotion or any other job benefit to another team member
  • threaten another team member with some kind of adverse action, in an effort to obtain sexual favors from that team member.

It is also sexual harassment for any team member to engage in any conduct or activity, or to display any graphic material, that fits the following descriptions:

  • it is sexual in nature
  • it is unwelcome
  • it reasonably interferes with a team member’s work performance or creates a hostile or offensive work environment.

Non-sexual harassment is based on a team member’s race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, veteran status or disability and shows hostility toward a team member and unreasonably interferes with a team member’s work performance, or creates a hostile or offensive work environment.

The conduct, activity and graphic materials that frequently cause harassment include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Abusive and vulgar comments
  • Insults
  • Obscene name-calling
  • Slurs and off-color jokes
  • Sexual advances, invitations and inquiries
  • Obscene gestures
  • Physically threatening acts, such as blocking an individual’s movement
  • Unwelcome physical contact
  • Sexual pin-ups, posters, photographs, calendars, cartoons, drawings or graffiti
  • Persistent prying into someone’s personal life
  • Following an individual

All such conduct, activity and graphic material can cause harassment. They violate this policy if they have the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with another Team member’s work performance, or they create an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment.

PROCEDURE FOR REPORTING HARASSMENT

The company not only insists on a work environment free of all harassment, but also urges all team members actively to support the company’s effort to create and maintain a positive work environment.

The company encourages any team member who believes that he or she is being harassed to promptly tell the harasser to stop. The company also encourages any team member who believes that he or she is being harassed to report the objectionable conduct, activity and/or graphic material to his or her immediate superior or to one of the following individuals by calling:

HR Representative at 740-848-4910 or Your Vice President

The company encourages all team members to report harassment promptly, so that the company can respond in a timely fashion. The person to whom the team member reports harassment should write a brief description of the problem. The team member should make his or her own written notes at the time of the problem, or shortly thereafter, to help the person prepare and support the report.

Any manager or supervisor who receives a report of harassment, or who suspects harassment for other reasons, shall have an affirmative duty to contact one of the company officials responsible for investigating whether harassment is occurring.

Any team member who observes harassment or suspects harassment is occurring is urged to report the activity to his or her supervisor or one of the company’s officials responsible for investigating harassment complaints.

COVERED INDIVIDUALS

This policy applies to all of the company’s team members. Although it has limited power and control over individuals working for other employers, and an equally limited ability to discipline such persons, the company also intends this policy to apply to anyone else who may be in a position to harass one or more of the company’s team members in the workplace or work-related setting.

The company encourages any team member who believes that he or she is being harassed by a non-team member to report that fact to his or her immediate superior, or to one of the designated individuals.

The company will also apply this policy to any outside complaints from other employers or their Team members about the conduct or activity of any one or more of the company’s team members in the workplace or any work-related setting.

INVESTIGATIONS

The company will promptly investigate and attempt to resolve all reports of harassment. The scope and other details of each investigation will depend on the nature of the report and the related circumstances. In each instance, the company will handle the matter with as much discretion as the circumstances permit, in an effort to protect the privacy of the persons involved.

All managers and supervisors, including but not limited to the company’s investigators, shall keep all reports of harassment confidential, except as necessary to investigate and resolve such matters, and/or to respond to any related legal or administrative proceedings. Because of the sensitive nature of these matters, the company also encourages all team members to help keep all reports, investigations, and related matters confidential. Two individuals will be designated to conduct the investigation.

While a team member’s wishes will be taken into consideration, the investigators have an independent duty to conduct a thorough investigation as they see fit. In any event, the investigator will keep the reporting team member and the alleged harasser informed of the progress of their investigation, and the investigator will notify both parties of any final decisions.

Among the first steps investigators will normally take are the following:

  • Inform the reporting team member of his or her rights under this policy
  • Inform the reporting team member of the company’s procedures for investigating and resolving reports of harassment and/or retaliation
  • Confirm the reporting team member’s name and position
  • Confirm the alleged harasser’s name and position
  • Check the company’s records to determine whether the reporting team member or the alleged harasser has complained of harassment or been charged with harassment in the past
  • Upon interviewing the alleged harasser, remind him or her of the company’s policy on any retaliation against a team member for reporting harassment.

Among the facts that the investigator will normally try to gather are these:

  • The frequency and type of the alleged harassment and, if possible, the exact dates, times and locations
  • Whether there were witnesses to the alleged harassment, and, if so, what they observed
  • How the reporting team member responded to the alleged harassment
  • Whether the reporting team member has talked to any other team member about the alleged harassment – and in particular, whether the team member has talked to any other manager or supervisor, and, if so, how that individual responded
  • Whether the alleged harasser has made (or carried out) any threats against the reporting team member
  • Whether the reporting team member knows or suspects that other team members have been harassed by the same individual

RESULTS

Once the investigator finishes looking into the matter, he or she will communicate the results of the investigation and any related decision to the reporting team member and to the alleged harasser.

If a violation of this policy is found, the investigator will:

  • communicate that finding to the reporting team member (and, if someone else, to the victim of the harassment)
  • inform the victim of the remedial steps and the disciplinary action that the company intends to take
  • inform the harasser of the results of the investigation. Unless it terminates the harasser, the company will, in addition to any other disciplinary action, direct a letter to the harasser informing that individual that the company is likely to terminate their employment if they are later found to have engaged in any further harassment.

If no violation of the policy is found, the investigator will:

  • communicate that fact to the reporting team member and to the alleged harasser
  • remind both parties that this policy remains in full force
  • inform the parties that the company will retain a record of this investigation, and that the record may be used in any future investigations involving the same individuals

Investigators will weigh the credibility of different team members. Investigators will not automatically decline to find a violation of this policy because there were no witnesses to the alleged conduct or activity and/or the alleged harasser denies any wrongdoing.

REMEDIES

The company will provide a prompt and effective remedy for any harassment that it can verify. Remedies may include:

  • Transfer the harasser to a new position where he or she will have little or no further contact with the victim
  • If the victim agrees, transfer the victim to an equivalent position where he or she may limit or avoid contact with the harasser
  • Require the harasser to apologize to the victim
  • Remind all witnesses not to discuss the details of the investigation or identify anyone who may have been involved
  • Refer victim to Team Member Assistance Program
  • Refer harasser to Team Member Assistance Program

DISCIPLINARY ACTION

The company will also take disciplinary action against any team member found to have violated this policy. At a minimum, the company will reprimand such a team member. Additional discipline may include, but need not be limited to:

  • Written reprimand
  • Temporary suspension without pay
  • Transfer (to an equivalent or less desirable position)
  • Discharge

The company may discharge a first offender, depending on the nature and severity of the harassment. The penalty for a second offense will be more severe than the penalty for a first offense, and discharge is a likely result.

RETALIATION

No manager, supervisor or other team member may in any way retaliate against any other team member for making a report of sexual harassment, or a report of any other harassment based on race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age or disability. The company will treat retaliation by the alleged harasser or any other team member as a separate and independent violation of this policy. If the company finds that a team member retaliated, the company will take disciplinary action against that team member.

The procedure for reporting retaliation is the same as the procedure for reporting harassment. The company strongly encourages team members to report any retaliation immediately.

FALSE ACCUSATIONS

The company recognizes that false accusations of harassment can have serious effects on innocent persons. If an investigation leads the company to conclude that a team member has knowingly made false accusations of harassment, the company may also take disciplinary action against that team member.

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