Town of Walpole, MA Policies

The Town will comply with Title 1 of the Americans with Disabilities Acts of 1990. The Town of Walpole will provide for, under Sec. 102(b)(5) of the Americans with Disabilities Act (P.L. 101-366), reasonable accommodations as needed, to enable qualified handicapped persons to perform the essential functions of the job unless it is shown that the accommodations would impose an "undue hardship" on the operations of the Town.

The Town of Walpole adheres to the principles and practices of Equal Employment Opportunity in compliance with Title VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Executive Order No. 11246 as amended, Executive Order No. 74 as amended and revised by No. 116, MGL c. 151B and other applicable federal and state laws and regulations. The Town of Walpole is dedicated to Equal Employment Opportunity and shall continue to recruit, hire and promote all job classifications regardless of race, color, national origin, religion, age, ancestry or sex. Also, the Town of Walpole shall continue to ensure that all other personnel actions will be administered in accordance with the principles of Equal Employment Opportunity.

Posting.

(1)

All positions must be posted in Town Hall for 10 calendar days before being filled.

(2)

Additional advertising or longer periods of posting may be utilized at the discretion of Town Administration.

(3)

Acting appointments may be made without posting with the approval of the Town Administrator for positions that report to the Town Administrator, and of the Select Board for positions that report to the Select Board.

[Amended 5-7-2022 SATM by Art. 16]

The Town of Walpole is committed to the provision of a safe and nondiscriminatory workplace for all of its employees. Pursuant to this commitment the Select Board endorses and adopts the following policy and its adjunct procedures to educate employees, to comply with statutory mandates, to address real and potential incidents and to strive to secure a harassment-free work environment.

[Amended 10-21-2019 FATM, Art. 20; 5-7-2022 SATM by Art. 16]

It is illegal and against the policies of the Town of Walpole for any employee or Town Official, male or female, to sexually harass another employee by:

(1)

Making unwelcome sexual advances or requests for sexual favors or other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature, a condition of the employee's continuing employment, or

(2)

Making submission to or rejection of such conduct the basis for employment decisions affecting the employee, or

(3)

Creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive working environment by such conduct.

Examples of conduct which may constitute sexual harassment includes but is not limited to:

(1)

Using one's position or authority, either implicitly or explicitly, to coerce an employee into complying with sexual favor;

(2)

Unwanted touching, fondling, patting, hugging, pinching, kissing, comering or brushing;

(3)

Questions and compliments about a person's sexual behavior, sexually oriented jokes, or comments about a person's body or conversations filled with sexual innuendo and double meanings; and

(4)

Displaying sexually suggestive pictures or objects in the workplace, leering or ogling in a sexually explicit manner, or gesturing and making lewd motions with one's body.

(5)

Viewing sexually explicit websites, sending sexually explicit emails or voicemails to or from the workplace.

Any employee who believes he or she has been the subject of sexual harassment should report the alleged act(s) and/or behavior to his or her department head and/or the Town Administrator, Assistant Town Administrator or Human Resource Administrator at Walpole Town Hall, 135 School Street, Walpole, MA 02081, (508) 660-7289. Complaints should be made within a timely manner.

[Amended 5-7-2022 SATM by Art. 16]

An investigation of all complaints will be undertaken immediately and in compliance with the Sexual Harassment Complaint Procedure. Any supervisor, agent or other employee who has been found by the administration after appropriate investigation to have sexually harassed another employee will be subject to appropriate sanctions, which range, depending upon the circumstances, from remedial training up to and including termination.

Any retaliation for filing a complaint or cooperating in an investigation is unlawful and is prohibited by the Town. Retaliatory action shall be regarded as a separate and distinct cause for complaint under the Sexual Harassment Complaint Procedure, and as a basis for disciplinary action against the offending employee should investigation validate said complaint.

The complaint procedure shall be implemented in instances of the alleged sexual harassment of employees by nonemployees and on nonemployees by employees occurring in the workplace and within the jurisdiction of the complaint procedure of the Town of Walpole. Alleged occurrences which are not within the jurisdiction of the complaint procedure will be referred to an enforcement agency, if applicable. If there is no available enforcement agency, Administration will take reasonable steps to prevent such conduct.

The Select Board affirms its responsibility to provide a work environment free of sexual harassment and recognizes that such an environment is the result of continued responsible action and behavior by all employees. Any employee is encouraged to raise questions regarding sexual harassment or other barriers to equal employment opportunity with the Assistant Town Administrator.

[Amended 10-21-2019 FATM, Art. 20; 5-7-2022 SATM by Art. 16]

Submitted for approval as part of the Town of Walpole Personnel Bylaw and adopted by Select Board.

[Amended 10-21-2019 FATM, Art. 20; 5-7-2022 SATM by Art. 16]

Sexual Harassment Complaint Procedure is on file in the Town Clerk's Office, Human Resources and Town Administration.

[Amended 5-7-2022 SATM by Art. 16]