We are committed to equal employment and volunteer opportunity without regard to age, ancestry, disability, national or ethnic origin, race, religious belief, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, political belief, or veteran status. This policy applies to all areas of employment and volunteer participation, including recruitment, hiring, training and development, promotion, transfer, termination, layoff, compensation, benefits, social and recreational programs, all other conditions and privileges of employment in accordance with applicable federal, state and local laws.
Complaint Procedure
People who have experienced any harassment, or discrimination, who have witnessed such behavior, or who have credible information about such behavior occurring, are expected and should bring the matter to the attention of the City Manager or City Recorder. People are strongly encouraged to document the information or incident in any written or electronic form, or with a voice mail message (or phone call).
City Manager, Melanie Wagner, wagner@cityofestacada.org 503-360-8275
City Recorder, Sadie Main, main@cityofestacada.org 503-630-8290
Investigation and Confidentiality
All complaints and reports will be promptly and impartially investigated and will be kept confidential to the extent possible, consistent with the City of Estacada’s need to investigate the complaint and address the situation. If conduct in violation of this policy is found to have occurred, the City of Estacada will take prompt, appropriate corrective action, and any employee found to have violated this policy will be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment.
Protection Against Retaliation
The City of Estacada prohibits retaliation in any way against anyone who has made a good-faith complaint pursuant to this policy or the law, has reported (in good faith) sexual harassment, harassing or discriminatory conduct, or has participated in an investigation of such conduct.
People who believe they have been retaliated against in violation of this policy should immediately report it to the City Manager or City Recorder or any supervisor or member of management. Any employee who is found to have retaliated against a reporter in violation of this policy will be subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination of employment.
See also the No-Discrimination, No-Retaliation Policy, below, and the Reporting Improper and Unlawful Activity Policy, below.
The City of Estacada cannot provide legal resources or referrals to specific attorneys. People may contact the Oregon State Bar for more information: https://www.osbar.org/public/.
No-Bullying Policy – The City of Estacada strives to promote a positive, professional work environment free of physical or verbal harassment, “bullying,” or discriminatory conduct of any kind. City of Estacada, therefore, prohibits employees and volunteers from bullying one another or engaging in any conduct that is disrespectful, insubordinate, or that creates a hostile work environment for another employee for any reason. For purposes of this policy, “bullying” refers to repeated, unreasonable actions of individuals (or a group) directed towards an individual or a group, which is intended to intimidate and that creates a risk to the health and safety of the employee(s). Examples of bullying include:
- Verbal Bullying: Slandering, ridiculing or maligning a person or his/her family; persistent name calling which is hurtful, insulting or humiliating; making jokes about a person; abusive and offensive remarks.
- Physical Bullying: Pushing; shoving; kicking; poking; tripping; assault, or threat of physical assault; damage to a person’s work area or property.
- Gesture Bullying: Non-verbal threatening gestures, glances that can convey threatening messages.
- Exclusion Bullying: Socially or physically excluding or disregarding a person in work-related activities. In some cases, failing to be cooperative and working well with co-workers may be viewed as bullying.
- Cyber Bullying: Bullying that takes place using electronic technology, which includes devices and equipment such as cell phones, computers, and tablets as well as communication tools including social media sites, text messages, chat, and websites. Examples of cyber bullying include transmitting or showing mean-spirited text messages, emails, embarrassing pictures, videos or graphics, rumors sent by email or posted on social networking sites, or creating fake profiles on web sites for co-workers, managers or supervisors or elected officials.
This is not a complete list.
People who have experienced bullying in violation of this policy, who have witnessed an incident of bullying, or who have credible information about an incident, are expected and should bring the matter to the attention to the members of management listed above as soon as possible. If conduct in violation of this policy is found to have occurred the City of Estacada will take prompt, appropriate action, and any employee found to have violated this policy will be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment.
Disability Accommodation Policy
The City of Estacada is committed to complying fully with the Americans with Disabilities Act and Oregon’s disability accommodation and discrimination laws. We are also committed to ensuring equal opportunity in employment for qualified persons with disabilities.
Accommodations
The City of Estacada will make reasonable efforts to accommodate a qualified applicant, employee, or visitor with a disability or difficulty accessing information and services, unless such accommodation creates an undue hardship on the operation of the City of Estacada.
Requesting an Accommodation
A reasonable accommodation is any change or adjustment to the environment that does not cause an undue hardship on the department or unit (or, in some cases, the City) and that permits a person with a disability to participate in the job application process, or to enjoy benefits and privileges equal to those enjoyed by employees without disabilities. For example, a reasonable accommodation may include providing or modifying equipment or devices, providing readers and interpreters or making the information readily accessible to and usable by all people.
All requests for accommodation should be made with the City Manager.
Reporting Improper or Unlawful Conduct
People may report reasonable concerns about the City’s compliance with any law, regulation or policy, using one of the methods identified in this policy. City of Estacada will not retaliate against people who disclose information that the employee reasonably believes is evidence of:
- A violation of any federal, Oregon, local law, or rules or regulations of the City of Estacada;
- Mismanagement, gross waste of funds, abuse of authority, or substantial and specific danger to public health resulting from action of the City of Estacada;
- A substantial and specific danger to public health and safety resulting from actions of the City of Estacada; or
- The fact that a recipient of government services is subject to a felony or misdemeanor arrest warrant.
Further, in accordance with Oregon law, the City of Estacada will not prohibit an employee from discussing the activities of a public body or a person authorized to act on behalf of a public body with a member of the Legislative Assembly, legislative committee staff acting under the direction of a member of the Legislative Assembly, any member of the elected governing body of a political subdivision, or an elected auditor of a city, county or metropolitan service district.
Additional Protection for Reporting Employees
Oregon law provides that, in some circumstances, an employee who discloses a good faith and objectively reasonable belief of the City of Estacada’s violation of law will have an “affirmative defense” to any civil or criminal charges related to the disclosure. For this defense to apply, the disclosure must relate to the conduct of a co-worker or supervisor acting within the course and scope of his or her employment. The disclosure must have been made to either: (1) a state or federal regulatory agency; (2) a law enforcement agency; (3) a manager with the City of Estacada or (4) an Oregon-licensed attorney who represents the employee making the report/disclosure. The defense also only applies in situations where the information disclosed was lawfully accessed by the reporting employee.
Policy Against Retaliation
City of Estacada will not retaliate against employees who make reports or disclosures of information of the type described above when the employee reasonably believes he or she is disclosing information about conduct that is improper or unlawful.
In addition, the City of Estacada prohibits retaliation against an employee because he or she participates in good faith in any investigation or proceeding resulting from a report made pursuant to this policy. Further, no City of Estacada employee will be adversely affected because they refused to carry out a directive that constitutes fraud or is a violation of local, Oregon, federal or other applicable laws and regulations. City of Estacada may take disciplinary action (up to and including termination of employment) against an employee who has engaged in retaliatory conduct in violation of this policy.
This policy is not intended to protect an employee from the consequences of his or her own misconduct or inadequate performance simply by reporting the misconduct or inadequate performance. Furthermore, an employee is not entitled to protections under this policy if the City of Estacada determines that the report was known to be false, or information was disclosed with reckless disregard for its truth or falsity. If such a determination is made, an employee may be subject to discipline up to and including termination of employment.