Policy ?

ScorpioHR

Anyone have an "Anti Retalitory" policy in their handbook and /or Policy & Procedures manual? It has come up more than once or twice during this symposium and I know ours does not have one. Would really appreciate your thoughts and opinions. New ee handbook must be ready for Board approval by Monday and I am scrambling..as usual! Thanks!
scorpio

p.s. forgive spelling errors, spell check is brokex:'(

AnneHa

We don't have a 'retaliatory' policy per se in the handbook, but several of our policies (harassment, filing complaints, investigations) have the following language attached:


"Retaliation against any employee for filing a complaint or participation in an investigation is strictly prohibited and will result in disciplinary action up to and including dismissal."

"The company prohibits any retaliation against employees for bringing bona fide complaints or providing information about harassment. However, if an investigation of a complaint shows that the complaint or information was false, the individual who provided the false information will be subject to disciplinary action up to and including dismissal."

Anne in Ohio

marc

Our approach is similar to Anne's with similar language.

lnelson

Ditto

Don D

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 10-11-04 AT 05:43AM (CST)[/font][br][br]I agree that an anti-retaliatory statement might be a good idea as in the example given (retaliation against someone participating in a company investigation).

But, aren't most forms of retaliation already illegal? Retaliation against someone for having filed a Title VII complaint for example, FMLA retaliation, retaliation against one for filing a grievance under a collective bargaining agreement, whistleblower retaliation, workers' comp retaliation (in some states)....already illegal. So, is it really necessary to state that in a handbook? If so, you might want to consider adding 10 more pages to your handbook 'cause that's about how much paper it will take to detail all of the types of illegal retaliation a company or its employees could engage in.

AJ SPHR

Perhaps you're looking for a whistleblower protection policy? We added a statement to one of our policies (ethics) to ensure protection for whistleblowers (per SOX). It is as follows (and modified from the sample verbiage I found on a SOX website since we are not a publicly traded company):
"Employees are encouraged to report violations of this policy or any other [company name] policy and to assist in an investigation regarding conduct that they reasonably believe to be a violation of [company name]’s policies. The complaining employee may not be discharged, demoted, suspended, harassed, or discriminated against or otherwise retaliated against in any way because he/she reported a violation."