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PREVENTION OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT AND ANTI-HARASSMENT POLICY STATEMENT
As Commander, Naval Surface Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, I expect each member of the Surface Force team to foster a culture of dignity and respect. It is our collective and individual responsibility to ensure our Navy is free from all forms of harassment (sexual and non-sexual) and retaliation. Sexual Harassment involves unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature when: (1) submission to such conduct is made explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of a person’s job, pay, career, or employment; (2) submission to or rejection of such conduct is used as a basis for career or employment decisions; or (3) such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual's work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive working environment. Harassment is behavior that is unwelcome or offensive to a reasonable person and that creates conditions that unreasonably interfere with work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment. Harassment also encompasses aggressive, menacing, malicious, insulting, or bullying behavior involving the misuse of power that makes a reasonable person feel vulnerable, upset, humiliated, undermined, or threatened. Harassment can be oral, written, physical, occur through electronic communications, including social media, other forms of communication, and in-person. Harassment prohibited by this policy includes, but is not limited to, harassing behavior based on protected Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) categories of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age (40 or older), disability, genetic information (e.g., genetic tests or family medical history), or reprisal for protected EEO activity (i.e., opposition to prohibited discrimination or participation in the statutory complaint process). Examples of prohibited conduct include, but are not limited to, unwanted physical contact; offensive jokes or stories; epithets; ridicule or mockery; insults or put-downs; displays of offensive objects or imagery; stereotyping; intimidating acts; veiled threats of violence; threatening or provoking remarks; racial or other slurs; derogatory remarks about a person's accent or disability, displays of racially offensive symbols; hazing; bullying; cyber harassment; making obscene or lewd comments or gestures; or commenting on a person's body or sexual characteristics. Retaliation against individuals for reporting or filing a complaint of harassment or providing information as part of an inquiry or lawsuit; refusing to follow orders that would result in harassment; or resisting sexual advances or intervening to protect others, is prohibited. Prohibited retaliatory behaviors include, but are not limited to: reprisal (taking, threatening, or recommending to take an unfavorable personnel action or withholding, threatening, or recommending withholding a favorable personnel action), ostracism, maltreatment, and criminal acts for a retaliatory purpose. Anyone who engages in retaliatory behavior will be subject to appropriate corrective action. Responsibilities of Managers and Supervisors. Managers and supervisors shall: (1) Immediately report all incidents of harassment or retaliation to the Human Resources Office (HRO) Anti-Harassment Coordinator; (2) Consult with the servicing Human Resource Office (HRO) Labor and Employee Relations (LER) Division on whether interim relief is necessary to prevent further incidents pending the outcome of the inquiry; (3) Take prompt and effective corrective or disciplinary action against individuals who violate this policy and take other necessary steps to keep the workplace free of harassment; (4) Document all incidents of harassment they witness, or are brought to their attention, and their efforts to address them; (5) Refrain from taking and allowing others to take any action in reprisal/retaliation against individuals for making a report or providing information related to such a report; (6) Communicate this policy and their own intolerance of harassment and retaliation to their subordinates; and (7) Monitor their work environments on an ongoing basis for inappropriate conduct.
Responsibilities of all Sailors and Civilians. If comfortable doing so, individuals who believe they are being harassed are encouraged to inform the individual(s) engaging in the behavior that it is unwelcome and should stop immediately. All command personnel shall enforce this policy and shall not condone or ignore harassment or retaliation of which they are aware. Harassing conduct cannot be corrected if it is not known. It is thus imperative that harassment be immediately reported to the chain of command or one of the other avenues of redress below. Any Sailor or Civilian found to have engaged in harassment or retaliation in violation of this policy will be subject to appropriate corrective and/or disciplinary action. Avenue of redress. Sailors and Marines may use Informal Resolution Systems, request mast or formal complaint processes by contacting the Command Managed Equal Opportunity Officer, MAC(SW/EXW/AW) Natasha Gomez, (619) 437-2485. The Navy’s Sexual Harassment and Equal Opportunity Advice Line is also available at 1-800-253-0931. Civilian employees may report harassment to the COMPACFLT HRO Workforce Relations office by emailing HRO_ANTIHARASSMENTCOORD@navy.mil. They may also use the negotiated or administrative grievance procedures by contacting the HRO LER Division at (619) 705-4030 or the Navy’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Program by calling (619) 705-6156. Civilians employees may also initiate a discrimination complaint pursuant to 29 C.F.R. § 1614 is the harassment or retaliation is based on one of the EEO protected categories (and/or a complaint of sexual harassment pursuant to 10 U.S.C. § 1561) by contacting the USPACFLT EEO Southwest Intake line at (619) 705-6157.
B. R. McLANE Vice Admiral, U.S. Navy
Required by Department of Defense Instruction Number 1020.04, effective 30 June 2020.