Employee Complaint

Harassment is unwelcome conduct that is based on race, color, religion, sex (including sexual orientation, gender identity, or pregnancy), national origin, older age (beginning at age 40), disability, or genetic information (including family medical history). Harassment becomes unlawful where 1) enduring the offensive conduct becomes a condition of continued employment, or 2) the conduct is severe or pervasive enough to create a work environment that a reasonable person would consider intimidating, hostile, or abusive.

Offensive conduct may include, but is not limited to, offensive jokes, slurs, epithets or name calling, physical assaults or threats, intimidation, ridicule or mockery, insults or put-downs, offensive objects or pictures, and interference with work performance.

Unlawful Harassment Complaint Form

Unlawful discrimination involves unfair treatment because of your race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), national origin, disability, age (age 40 or older), or genetic information. Some real examples of unlawful discrimination may include denying computer training to certain employees because of their age, failing to promote certain groups because of their race, or paying someone less based on gender.

Unlawful Discrimination Complaint Form

Sexual harassment can be defined as unwelcomed sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature when:

• Submission to such conduct is a term or condition of an individual’s employment. The requirement may be stated outright or may be implicit, or implied.
• Submission to or rejection of the conduct is a basis for employment decisions
• Conduct of a sexual nature has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with work performance
• Conduct of a sexual nature creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment.
• Unwelcome is the critical word. Unwelcome means unwanted. Sexual conduct is unwelcome whenever the person subjected to it considers it unwelcome.

A hostile work environment is a workplace in which the conduct of supervisors or coworkers has created a discriminatory environment that a reasonable person would find so abusive or intimidating that it impacts the ability to work. Typically, a hostile work environment is defined by behavior is discriminatory against gender, race, religion, age, orientation, disability, or nation of origin when:

• A reasonable person would find the work environment hostile or abusive
• The conduct has become a pervasive and long-lasting problem
• The employer has failed to investigate and address the issue
• The victim’s desire or ability to work has been affected
• The employer knew about the hostile behavior but did not adequately intervene

Hostile Work Environment Complaint Form

Retaliation occurs when an employer takes an adverse action against an employee for engaging in or exercising their rights that are protected under the law. Some examples of retaliation might include:

• Demotion – Losing status, responsibilities or seniority privileges associated with a position, or being assigned a lower-ranking position
• Termination – Being let go from employment
• Salary reductions or loss of hours – Receiving a pay cut or losing regularly scheduled hours
• Exclusion – Being intentionally kept out of staff meetings, trainings, or other activities made available to fellow employees
• Reassignment – Being reassigned duties or rescheduled in a way that cause undue hardship

Other common retaliatory tactics include sudden unwarranted negative performance reviews, warnings, or performance improvement plans (to build the case for eventual termination), and likewise, citing poor performance as a reason to deny a deserved promotion.

Retaliation Complaint Form

While some behaviors may not rise to the level of unlawful discrimination, unlawful harassment, or sexual harassment, DJJ is committed to ensuring a fair and respectful workplace. Valid complaints may include:

• Retaliation for filing a complaint or participating in the complaint process, erroneous, arbitrary, or capricious interpretation or application of policies, procedures, rules, regulations, ordinances, and statutes, unsafe or unhealthy working conditions.
• Workplace incivility, while hard to define can include rude or disruptive behavior, gossip, favoritism, exclusion, and bullying or unprofessional conduct which may not be based on your race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), national origin, disability, age (age 40 or older), or genetic information.

Other Complaint Form