harassment policy

Discrimination/Harassment Investigation Policy and Procedure

(Drivers and Users)

Dispatchit, Inc. is committed to ensuring an organization and independent network free of harassment, discrimination, and retaliation for all of our stakeholders, including the users of our services and our independent drivers. To uphold this commitment, Dispatch takes all allegations of harassment, discrimination, or retaliation seriously and will conduct a thorough and impartial investigation process in response to all reports of harassment or discrimination.

The term “harassment” refers to conduct relating to or directed at a person because of the person’s race, color, religion, creed, sex, gender or gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability, marital status, familial status, national origin, status with regard to public assistance, membership or activity in a local commission, or any other basis protected by applicable law, which is sufficiently severe or pervasive to alter the conditions of the employee’s workplace or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment. Harassment that is forbidden by this policy can take several forms, including but not limited to the following:

Sexual Harassment:

Sexual harassment may include a range of subtle and not so subtle behaviors and may involve individuals of the same or different sex or gender/gender identity. The following are examples of inappropriate conduct:

Unwanted sexual advances
Retaliating or threatening reprisals after a negative response to sexual harassment
Visual conduct such as leering, making sexual gestures, displaying or distributing sexually suggestive objects or pictures, cartoons or posters
Verbal conduct such as making or using sexually derogatory comments, epithets, slurs, and jokes
Verbal sexual advances or propositions
Verbal abuse of a sexual nature, graphic verbal commentaries about an individual’s body, sexually degrading words, suggestive or obscene letters, notes or invitations
Physical conduct such as touching, assaulting, impeding or blocking movements

Other Harassment:

In addition to sexual harassment, the Company also prohibits harassment that is based upon other characteristics set forth in this policy, including:

race, sex, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, color, creed, religion, sexual orientation, marital status, familial status, age, national origin, status with regard to public assistance, disability, membership or activity in a local commission, or any other legally protected category. Examples of such inappropriate conduct with regard to these characteristics may include, but are not limited to:

Offensive physical conduct or intimidating threats of physical harm
Verbal conduct such as making or using derogatory comments, epithets, slurs, offensive jokes
Visual conduct such as inappropriate gestures, or the distribution or display of pictures, drawings, photographs, jokes or other written materials of a derogatory or biased nature
Other unwelcome behavior or words directed at an individual because of a person’s membership in any of the groups identified above

Investigation Procedure:

All complaints received regarding users of our service or our independent drivers will be investigated using the following procedure:

An initial report form will be completed by either the reporting party or a trained Dispatch designated representative.
Dispatch will contact the reporting party to obtain a written statement, including any photos or video of the incident, if available. This is in addition to the initial report and contains a detailed description in the reporter’s own words. This may be a handwritten note, text message, or email. This should be received as soon as possible, no more than 1-2 business days of the initial report. If the claim involves a Dispatch employee, Human Resources will conduct the initial investigation.
A Dispatch Representative will attempt to obtain all of the following information, if possible: a. Written or recorded statement of any Dispatch employee(s) who may have initially spoken to the complainant at the initial notice of a complaint. b. Written or recorded statement from the subject(s) of the complaint. c. Written or recorded statement from any additional witnesses to the incident(s) if available. d. Written or recorded statement from any conversation between the Dispatch representative and other Dispatch employees, management, owners, investors, Independent Contractors or customer(s) concerning the incident and/or other possibly related incident(s).
A Dispatch representative will review all of the available information and will make a determination of what actions should be taken by Dispatch. This determination will be recorded with the initial report and investigation. All reports and findings will be maintained for a period of not less than three years from the date of the initial complaint. Reports may be maintained longer than 3 years if there is any pending litigation on ongoing discussion regarding the complaint.
A Dispatch representative will follow up with both the complainant and the accused party to share findings of the investigation. Generally, the complete investigation should be concluded as soon as possible, as long as doing so will not negatively impact the integrity of the investigation.

All information and evidence received and compiled as well as the final determination and actions of Dispatch will be made available to legal representation as required by law.

Penalties:

Penalties for violation of this Policy are in the sole and absolute discretion of Dispatch and may include, but are not limited to, suspension of the driver or user’s ability to use our network or termination of our commercial relationship.

Dispatch retains the absolute right to end the business relationship with any person(s) or organization who it believes has violated the intent of this policy as well as any Federal, State, Local, or Tribal laws governing the areas covered by Dispatch or any of its independent contractors now or in the future.