HARASSMENT

Techmation is committed to a healthy, harassment-free work environment for all our employees and will not tolerate workplace harassment. Harassment occurs when an employee is subjected to unwelcome verbal or physical conduct because of race, religious beliefs, color, gender, mental or physical disability, ancestry, marital status, family status or source of income.

Harassment includes derogatory, condescending, insulting, belittling, aggressive, angry, or antagonistic conduct or comments that are known or ought to reasonably be known to be offensive or unwelcome, including without limitation, actions or comments directed at no person in particular, but which create an intimidating, demeaning or offensive work environment. Bullying is a form of harassment.

DISCRIMINATION

Any act, comment or omission that results in unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people. Techmation does not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, age, national origin, religion, disability, sexual orientation, marital status or any other characteristic protected by law.

SEXUAL HARASSMENT

Unwanted sexual advances, requests for sexual favors and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature, where: terms or condition of employment are threatened, work performance is interfered with or an intimidating or hostile work environment is created.

UNACCEPTABLE CONDUCT

• Acting in a way that diminishes the credibility of another employee, supplier or client.
• Abusive, profane, lewd or demeaning language.
• Threatening bullying, intimidation or yelling in respect of another person.
• Fighting or explicit or implicit threats of physical violence.
• Jokes which demean or belittle others, even when no offence is intended.
• Yelling, swearing, using insulting or abusive language and fighting are strictly forbidden in all work related situations.

May take the form of:

• Written or electronic form: including cartoons, posters, photos, calendars, notes, letters and e-mail.
• Verbal including comments or derogatory remarks, jokes, foul and obscene language and unwanted sexual advances.
• Physical gestures including unwelcome touching, violent altercations, hand gestures, stalking and leering.

This policy prohibits all forms of bullying, harassment and violence by management, supervisors, workers, subcontractors, suppliers and clients.

VIOLATIONS AND REPORTING

It is the responsibility of each employee to take immediate and appropriate action to report or deal with incidents of Unacceptable Conduct of any type whether brought to their attention or personally observed or experienced. This also includes any illegal, fraudulent, dishonest, negligent or unethical actions. Under no circumstances should a legitimate complaint be dismissed or downplayed nor should the complainant be told to deal with it personally.

Violations of this policy can result in serious damage to Techmation, its reputation and/or the reputations of its employees. Accordingly, in the event that an employee has knowledge of any violations of this policy, he/she has the obligation of reporting it to their respective supervisor and/or another supervisor within Techmation, without fear of reprisal. To report a complaint, complete the Harassment Complaint Form 5.3 and Complaint Investigation Timeline Form 5.5 in Section 5 of the Health and Safety Manual and submit to your supervisor. A formal Complaint Investigation will then be initiated.

In the event that a violation of this policy involves, or is with the concurrence of, one or more supervisors of Techmation, such violations should be reported directly to the President.

Violations will be handled on a strictly confidential basis and may be submitted anonymously. Each violation shall be thoroughly investigated to collect all relevant information and facts in relation thereto. Upon confirmation of the violation, the matter will be resolved by appropriate actions.

Provided that the reporting individual acts in good faith, he/she shall be protected against any retaliation for reporting the violation, including any disciplinary action, harassment or termination of employment.

Acting in good faith means that the reporting individual should have evidence or reasonable grounds for believing that a violation has occurred and must act without malicious intent or personal agenda. Except in cases of harassment, complaints should not be used to resolve conflicts between individuals. Allegations that prove to have been made maliciously or when known to be false will be viewed as a serious disciplinary offence.

RESOLUTION PROCESS

Violations of Unacceptable Conduct shall be investigated and, if substantiated, will be dealt with expeditiously. To support the objective of providing all employees with a healthy safe workplace, it is required that managers, supervisors and workers take preventative action to ensure that risks to an individual’s health and safety due to violations of Unacceptable Conduct are eliminated or reported.

Employees are encouraged to seek resolution of the incident. Investigations shall be conducted with as much confidentiality as can practicably be afforded. Investigators will advise workers involved or consulted through the course of the investigation that discretion is an important part of the process.

The filing of false or vexatious complaints will not be tolerated and shall be subject to disciplinary action.