SEXUAL HARASSMENT POLICY

TAHMO has a zero-tolerance policy for any form of sexual harassment in the workplace and is committed to ensuring all its employees are provided with a safe work environment free from sexual harassment without discrimination. Disciplinary action will be considered if any person is found to sexually harass another person including termination of work contract from the organization.

This policy applies to all TAHMO staff including Directors, managers, interns, contractors, and subcontractors. Complaints can be lodged with complaints@tahmo.org.

Definition of Sexual harassment: “is any unwelcoming advance, request for sexual favor, verbal or physical conduct gesture of a sexual way, or any behaviors of a sexual way that might be reasonably expected or be perceived to cause offense or humiliation to another, when such conduct interferes with work, is made a condition of employment, or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment.” (According to UN Women, 2008)

Examples of sexual harassment acts or behaviors are;

Physical contact like unwelcoming touching, pinching, sexual assaults inappropriate touching, kissing, patting, and stroking.

Verbal conduct like;  sexual advances, repeated unwanted social invitations for a date or physical intimacy, sexual comments, stories and jokes, and comments on workers’ appearance, age, and private life.

TAHMO recognizes that anyone can be a victim of sexual harassment regardless of their sex if sexual conduct is unwanted and unwelcoming by the person against whom the conduct is directed.

It is strictly prohibited to conduct any form of sexual harassment, whether verbal, physical, or non-verbal.

Consensual relationships between employees should not interfere with work dynamics and may require disclosures.

Complaints mechanism

All sexual harassment cases/complaints will be treated respectfully and confidential.  

Sexual harassment complaints should be reported (complaints@tahmo.org) and following organization procedures of reporting for dispensary action, the victim is advised to report to one of the CEO, director, supervisor, or administrators for serious action.

All sexual harassment complaints will be taken into the kin investigation to familiarize with the case reported. TAHMO will respect the victim’s choices and keep confidential all matters discussed.

Investigation process

After the victim has reported, the complaint(s) will be received, the victim will be assured that his or her matter will be taken seriously and handled with confidentiality.

Human resources or administrative staff, CEO, or/and externally appointed parties with experience in such cases will oversee the handling and investigation of the case.

HR (admin) with the appointed external party will conduct a meeting with the victim to gather evidence of the case details including the name of any witnesses, time, date, and any other form of evidence if available.

The accused person of a sexual harassment case will be informed of complaints against him or her and furnished with the investigation processes.

The investigation will gather evidence by collecting relevant evidence like emails, text messages, and pictures if available and any collaboration from witnesses and assessment of all parties will be conducted without bias to evaluate the credibility of each other’s account.

The investigation based on the evidence gathered will determine whether the sexual harassment occurred and if so, what action(s) will be taken.

All parties will be given feedback on the investigation and the outcome.

During the investigation, the HR (Admin) team is advised to seek guidance from legal experts.

Action

After proper investigation, and anyone found to be sexually harassing another person, the following action(s) will be taken depending on the gravity of the harassment; Verbal or written warning, demotion, suspension, termination of work, transfer, and reduction in salary.

TAHMO allows a victim of sexual harassment to formally report complaints outside the organization according to the legal framework of the country of operations or residence.

Policy implementation

All TAHMO staff must be handed the handbook and understand this policy before working for the organization.

Before signing an employment contract, human resources, and administrators must ensure the employees are aware of the sexual harassment policy.

This policy will be periodically reviewed and updated to provide effectiveness.