Harassment is a form of discrimination and is a violation of law and policy. Harassment is defined as:
unwelcome verbal or physical conduct based on one’s membership in a protected category, as listed on the previous screen; conduct when the submission or rejection of such conduct is used as the basis for employment related decisions or actions; and conduct that has the intent or effect of unreasonably interfering with one’s work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment (also known as a hostile work environment). Petty slights, annoyances, and isolated incidents (unless extremely serious) do not rise to the level of prohibited harassment. To constitute harassment, the conduct must create a work environment that would be hostile or offensive to a reasonable person. Examples of behavior that may constitute harassment include:
racial or ethnic jokes or slurs; pictures, objects, or graphic material containing offensive content; threatening words or gestures directed at a person because of his or her membership in a protected class; obscene, vulgar, or abusive language; notes or e–mails containing slurs, jokes, or abusive language; stalking (waiting for the employee in the parking lot; hanging out near an employee’s home); and physical assault, such as twisting a co–worker’s arm, brushing a hand across their buttocks
