Dignity and Respect in the Workplace

Each District employee is owed dignity and respect.  In turn, each District employee is obligated to treat fellow employees, students and District visitors with dignity and respect.

In order to insure that dignity and respect are accorded each District employee, the District has adopted a number of regulations and policies.  First and foremost is the District’s EEO Policy found on page 34 of the Blue Book and the District’s website.  It provides that there will be no discrimination in employment decisions on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability or veteran status.  Complaints of violation of this policy can be made to the District’s EEO Office. 

Besides the implementation of the EEO policy, dignity and respect are fostered by the District by prohibiting the discharge of a Board-approved employee who has served his/her probationary period except for good cause.  In other words, most District employees are not at-will employees who are subject to the whim and fancy of his/her employer, a situation which is common in the private sector.  Pursuant to District Policy most employees can grieve employment-related decisions including discharge actions.

Dignity and respect can only exist in an environment in which District employees feel safe from physical violence.  Hence, the Board has adopted the Workplace Violence Prevention Policy which is located on page 17 of the Blue Book and on the District’s website.  Complaints of workplace violence should be made directly to an employee’s supervisor or to the District’s Legal Services Division.
The District’s Whistleblower Policy also encourages dignity and respect by protecting those employees who make allegations of violation of law, mismanagement, gross waste of monies or abuse of authority to a “public body” defined as the Arizona Attorney General, the Arizona Legislature, the Governor of Arizona, a federal, state or local law enforcement agency, or the Maricopa County Community College District Board.  See pages 15, 16 and 17 of the Blue Book and the District’s Website.  Whistleblower complaints need to be filed with the Chancellor or his designee.

Dignity and respect are further manifested by the District’s recently instituted Hotline (866-447-9819 or www.concernline.maricopa.edu) which allows District employees to voice concern about issues for which there are no other established avenues for redress.  Similarly,  ombuds services provides a communication channel for employees to complain about fraud, theft, misuse of public resources, threat of danger to a person or the institution, policy non-compliance, enrollment irregularities and conflict of interest.  Neither the Hotline nor ombuds processes deal with employment-related decisions that are otherwise subject to established employee grievance procedure.

In summary, District policies establish the standard of treating employees with dignity and respect.  Now it is incumbent on all of us to do the same and begin/continue treating one another with respect and dignity.

Published in the Spring 2008 Edition of In Brief