(a) Findings and Purpose.
(1) In federal Fiscal Year 2017, over 84,000 workplace discrimination charges were filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”), approximately 30% of those charges were related to sex discrimination, and over 6,500 of those charges were for sexual harassment.
(2) A 2016 EEOC Report by the Select Task Force on the Study of Harassment in the Workplace concluded that workplace harassment remains a persistent problem, particularly sex-based harassment. The vast majority, as much as 70%, of individuals who experience workplace harassment, never report or discuss the harassment with a superior. Even fewer individuals among the minority who report or discuss harassment with a supervisor file a formal complaint.
(3) Harassment in the workplace results in physical and emotional harm to employees who experience the harassment directly as well as to those who witness the harassment. Additionally, employers suffer as a result of workplace harassment, which causes decreased productivity and imposes financial costs on employers.
(4) Under California Government Code Section 12950.1, all supervisors and managers are required to complete a biennial online harassment prevention training, which is provided by the Department of Human Resources (“DHR”). By February 2018, DHR had trained nearly 12,000 employees in Fiscal Year 2016-2017. Expanding this requirement to all City employees – approximately 34,000 as of 2018 – would significantly expand the training’s reach and impact.
(5) In February 2018, DHR projected receiving an increased number of sexual harassment complaints in Fiscal Year 2017-2018 as compared to prior fiscal years because the existing required harassment prevention training has increased awareness among employees of their obligation to report harassment and their right to a harassment-free workplace, and has deepened their understanding of what constitutes workplace harassment.
(6) Administrative Code Section
16.9-25(e)(2) requires DHR to provide an annual report on the number of sexual harassment claims filed by City employees, including information as to number of claims pending, and the City departments in which claims have been filed. Expanding this reporting requirement to include all forms of harassment complaints, not only sexual harassment claims, will provide increased transparency and accountability for addressing harassment in the workplace.
(b) Definitions. For purposes of this Section 16.9-27
, the following definitions apply: “City” means the City and County of San Francisco.
“Covered Employee” means the following:
(1) An individual appointed to a permanent or exempt position with the City with a regular schedule of at least 20 hours per week; or
(2) An individual appointed to a provisional or temporary position with the City where there is a reasonable expectation that the employee will work at least 960 hours over a fiscal year or where the employee does work at least 960 hours over a fiscal year.
“EEO Complaint” means a complaint filed by a City employee, an applicant for City employment, a person providing services to the City by contract, an intern, or a volunteer claiming a violation of the City’s Equal Employment Opportunity Policy, which prohibits discrimination and harassment on the basis of characteristics protected by federal law, state law, or ordinance, and further prohibits retaliation against an individual who reports, files a complaint of, or otherwise opposes, conduct he or she reasonably believes to be unlawful discrimination, harassment, or retaliation, or assists in the investigation of a complaint.
(c) Training. All Covered Employees shall participate in harassment prevention training annually. The harassment prevention training shall educate Covered Employees on City policies prohibiting harassment. The harassment prevention training shall include bystander intervention training that will teach employees how to intervene and address harassment that they may observe in the workplace.
(1) The requirement that Covered Employees participate in harassment prevention training shall begin in Fiscal Year 2019-2020 unless the Board of Supervisors appropriates money for the training in Fiscal Year 2018-2019 and the Controller certifies the departments have sufficient funds to provide the training.
(2) Once the City begins providing harassment prevention training to Covered Employees, a Covered Employee shall participate in harassment prevention training within 30 days of the date the Covered Employee begins working.
(3) DHR shall prepare and administer the harassment prevention training program.
(4) Training that meets the requirements of California Government Code Section 12950.1 shall satisfy this Section
16.9-27, provided that the training includes bystander intervention training. Training under Section
16.9-27 shall satisfy the City entities’ obligations under Section
16.9-25(d) to provide education and training to supervisors regarding the prevention of sexual harassment.
(6)1
This Section 16.9-27
does not preclude any board, commission, department, or other City entity or official from taking additional reasonable steps to train City managers, officials, and/or employees regarding the City’s sexual harassment policy and issues pertaining to sexual harassment, in accordance with Section 16.9-25
(a)(4). (1) Annual Reports on Training. Beginning July 15, 2019, DHR shall annually post on its website the number of employees in each department who have completed harassment prevention training.
(2) Quarterly and Annual Reports on Harassment Complaints. Beginning April 15, 2019, DHR shall post on its website on a quarterly and annual basis a report on the number of harassment complaints filed with DHR, the number of complaints by department, and the status of complaints and disposition of complaints in composite numbers. The reports shall not include names or other individually identifying information disclosed in the complaints or subsequent investigations. DHR shall submit its first quarterly report on by1
April 15, 2019, and shall submit its first annual report on July 15, 2019.
(3) Posting Reports. DOSW shall post to its website the quarterly and annual reports regarding complaints described in subsection (d)(2), and the reports of settlements required under Section 33.7 of this Code. (4) This Section
16.9-27 does not relieve DHR of its reporting requirements under Section
16.9-25(e) regarding sexual harassment.
(e) Undertaking for the General Welfare. In enacting and implementing this Section 16.9-27
, the City is assuming an undertaking only to promote the general welfare. It is not assuming, nor is it imposing on its officers and employees, an obligation for breach of which it is liable in money damages to any person who claims that such breach proximately caused injury. (f) No Conflict with Federal or State Law. Nothing in this Section 16.9-27
shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any requirement, power, or duty in conflict with any federal or state law, or any provision of the City Charter. (Added by Ord. , File No. 180546, App. 2/6/2019, Eff. 3/9/2019)
