Sexual Harassment Policy
All Access Arts policies relate to all Staff as well as Members.
Access Arts Inc. defines a Member as any person who has filled out a membership
form to join the organisation.
Staff are defined as persons engaged in Office, workshop/project or program,
Volunteer or Student placement work at Access Arts Inc.
Definition:
Sexual harassment is described as an unwelcome sexual advance, request
for sexual favours or unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature. Sexual Harassment is a term used in human rights legislation which
refers primarily to harassment in employment situations, related to sex or gender,
which detrimentally affects the working environment. Sexual harassment may be verbal, visual, written, or physical. It can
occur between people of different genders or those of the same sex. Harassing
behaviours may occur in a variety of relationships including those among peers,
and those where there is an imbalance of power between two individuals, such
as between employer and employee.
Purpose:
To ensure that all Staff and Members are aware that Access Arts Inc. does not
tolerate sexual harassment of any form.
Policy:
All Staff and Members must be aware of the procedure for reporting sexual
harassment. All Staff must receive regular training on sexual harassment policy
and procedure. No Staff or Member is to be disadvantaged or discriminated against if
they make a sexual harassment complaint. All complaints of sexual harassment must be kept confidential. Information
on the complainant must only be supplied to the appointed people (such as the
Executive Director, Sexual Harassment Officer and Disability Services Queensland)
and only if it is relevant to the case. Any information relating to a complaint will be kept in a secure file.
For more information please refer to ‘Sexual Harassment: A Code of Practice’
a document prepared by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. This
document can be found at www.humanrights.gov.au/sex_discrimination/workplace/code_practice/index.html.
Sexual Harassment Procedure
The Access Arts Inc. Management Committee must appoint a member of the Committee
to be responsible for dealing with matters relating to sexual harassment, and
under whose direction, conciliation and redress will be sought within the guidelines
of procedures similar to those of the Grievance Policy. This person must be
appointed at the first board meeting after the Annual General Meeting (AGM). All complaints of sexual harassment are to be brought to the Executive Director’s
attention. If the sexual harassment involves the Executive Director, then the
matter must be reported to the Chairperson of the Access Arts Inc. Management
Committee. The complaint then becomes the responsibility of the Sexual Harassment
Officer on the Access Arts Inc. Management Committee. Before any formal action can be taken the complaint must be written, signed,
and logged with the Sexual Harassment Officer and filed in a lockable cabinet. The role of the Sexual Harassment Officer in such instances is to arrange
a meeting with the complainant and his/her advocate as the initial step to resolution
of the complaint. Members and Staff lodging a complaint, shall, within a month of the initial
complaint to Access Arts Inc., receive a written response advising or confirming
the action to be taken. Should the meeting with the Sexual Harassment Officer fail to resolve the
matter to the satisfaction of both parties, then the matter shall be referred
to an independent arbitrator for assistance. If one (1) month after the independent arbitrator has been appointed the
complaint has not been resolved to the satisfaction of both parties, the complaint
must be reported to the Disability Services Queensland.
Complies with Queensland Disability Service Standards: 4,7,8,9
Update Responsibility: John Armstrong
Date of last update: 06/08/2007
|
