TITLE
Recommendation to request City Manager to provide to the City Council a review of the City's Unlawful Harassment Complaints policy and procedures, how city employees are informed of how they can file a complaint, a breakdown of the complaints the City has received over the past 5 years, and to reexamine the existing policies and make recommendations on any possible changes to the policy to ensure it is victim friendly.
DISCUSSION
During the past two months, numerous high-profile reports of inappropriate sexual conduct in the workplace, including harassment and abuse, have prompted a national discussion about the magnitude and pervasiveness of the problem of sexual harassment.
Many victims who have recently come forward to report inappropriate conduct in fields such as media, entertainment, hospitality and government, as well as through the #MeToo social media campaign, have indicated that they did not feel there was a safe environment in their workplace for them to come forward to report this harassment.
This has prompted many institutions to reexamine their policies and procedures, and work to implement policies to support women and men who speak out, to promote a safe work environment, and to prevent and address any systemic workplace harassment.
The City of Long Beach has a comprehensive policy on unlawful harassment complaints that was last updated in March 2015. This policy establishes the Equal Employment Opportunity Office in the Department of Human Resources as a neutral third party in a complaint, which is responsible for investigating, examining the facts, and determining whether unlawful harassment occurred.
Given the current dialogue on the issue, and the need to ensure that all employees have a safe work environment and feel safe to report incidents, it is important for us to reexamine the City's policy and procedures.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is not a significant fiscal impact with this recommendation.
SUGGESTED ACTION
Approve re...
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