Pittsburg State University
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Jamie Brooksher
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PSU Director of Equal Opportunity
Associate General Counsel
Russ Hall, room 218
jbrooksh@pittstate.edu
620-235-4189
http://www.pittstate.edu/office/eoaa/
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Investigate sexual harassment and discrimination
claims, and do trainings, provide accommodations for
students and employees with disabilities
DISCRIMINATION and
HARASSMENT
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What do you think of when someone talks
about discrimination?
Do you think discrimination is common?
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Pittsburg State University is committed to a
policy of educational equity. Accordingly, the
University admits students, grants financial
aid and scholarships, conducts all educational
programs, activities, and employment
practices without regard to race, color,
religion, sex, national origin, sexual
orientation, age, marital status, ancestry or
disabilities.
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Federal Laws
 Title VII
 U.S. Constitution
 Federal Executive Orders
 Equal Pay Act
 Americans with Disabilities Act
 Pregnancy Discrimination Act
 Title IX
 Age Discrimination in Employment Act
 Plus Others…
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State Law
 Kansas Act Against Discrimination
 Kansas Age Discrimination In Employment Act
 Kansas Human Rights Commission
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People discriminate every day, but not all
discrimination is illegal.
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What is illegal discrimination?
 Protected classes.
 Race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age,
marital status, ancestry or disabilities.
 Sexual orientation.
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The employee must show that an adverse
employment action was motivated by the
individual’s protected class, rather than by a
neutral reason, unrelated to the protected
class.
OR
Harassment on the basis of the protected
class that is so severe and pervasive that it
changes the nature of the environment.
Examples:
 A less qualified white employee is promoted over a more
qualified black employee, because of his race.
 Several factory workers get together and hang a noose to
insult a black worker.
 Black workers with dark skin who start a fight at work are
punished but black workers with lighter skin who start a fight
at work are not, because the supervisor prefers lighter skin.
 A black employee’s coworkers make daily racial jokes and
use racist language when talking to the employee.
Examples:
 A supervisor finds out one of her employees is Jewish and
she doesn’t like Jews, so she doesn’t give the employee a
good evaluation, even th0ugh the employee did a good job.
 A LDS worker’s co-workers repeatedly make derogatory
comments about Mormon’s all being polygamists.
 A Muslim worker asks to take a vacation day for a Holy day
and is denied by his supervisor because the supervisor
doesn’t think Muslims should be allowed to practice in the
US.
Examples*:
 The employer requires female workers to wear an
uncomfortable uniform, but male workers can wear normal
office attire.
 A female employee applies for a promotion and a less
qualified male employee is promoted instead.
 A supervisor doesn’t offer plum work assignments that
require traveling to married women with children.
 The women in the company are paid less than the men, even
though they have the same qualifications and job duties.
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*These are examples of sex discrimination only, not sexual harassment, which we
will discuss later.
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Treating someone less favorably because he or she comes from a
particular place, because of his or her ethnicity or accent, or because it is
believed that he or she has a particular ethnic background.
Examples:
 An Arab-American’s coworkers regularly call him names like "camel
jockey“ and "the local terrorist," and intentionally embarrass him in front
of customers by claiming that he is incompetent.
 A Hispanic man with a few years of experience as a waiter, is hired at a
restaurant and states a preference for a server position. Believing that
Hispanic employees would be better suited for positions with limited
public contact the manager offers Carlos a position in food preparation
even though he is as well qualified to be a server.
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Persons who are over the age of 40 are in this protected
class.
Examples:
 A 60 year old employee is fired and replaced with a 25 year
old because the company wants young thinkers.
 A 49 year old woman is fired for something insignificant after
working 9.5 of the 10 years needed to earn her pension.
 A well qualified 50 year old is overlooked for a promotion in
favor of a 25 year old, less qualified individual because it is
cheaper to promote the 25 year old.
Not a federally protected class, but PSU has designated it as
such.
Examples:
 A gay employee is repeatedly sent emails from co-workers
with jokes about “fags.”
 A lesbian employee is fired from her job for surfing the
internet while at work. Other non-homosexual employees
surfed the internet and did not get fired. Her supervisor fired
her because she doesn’t want to work with a lesbian.
 A homosexual supervisor does not give a raise to the
heterosexual employee in his division, but does give one to
the other homosexual employee. Both employees had the
same work performance.
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Examples:
 A supervisor does not provide an accommodation* when the
employee requests it.
 Co-workers make rude comments about an employee’s
disability at work.
 A disabled employee is not offered an assignment that he is
qualified for because the supervisor does not want to provide
the necessary accommodation it would take for the
employee to do the job.
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*We’ll discuss accommodations later in the presentation.
If you are a supervisor:
You have a duty to report it ASAP.
You have a duty to stop harassment.
Document everything.
If you are a victim or a co-worker of a victim:
Report the discrimination/harassment.
If it is harassment, make it known it is not
welcome.
Document everything.
A person with a disability:
1. has a mental or physical impairment which substantially
limits one or more of such person's major life activities.
2. has a record of such an impairment; or
3. is regarded as having such an impairment.
"Major life activities" includes functions such as caring for
one's self, performing manual tasks, walking, seeing,
hearing, speaking, breathing, learning and working.
The Equal Opportunity Office provides accommodations and
makes the analysis of whether or not there is a disability.
If you are a supervisor:
Be cautious any time an employee mentions any
kind of sickness or medical issue, even if you don’t
think it is a disability.
Contact me at the Equal Opportunity office right
away.
If an employee requests any type of
accommodation, direct them to the Equal
Opportunity office.
If you have a disability or think you might have a
disability:
 Contact the EO office by phone, email or stopping
by.
 All inquiries can remain confidential initially.
See our webpage about disability accommodation:
http://www.pittstate.edu/office/eoaa/disabilityservices.dot
 I’ll meet with the employee/student to discuss what
the disability is, then have the employee/student
get documentation from their doctor.
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SEXUAL HARASSMENT
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What do you think of when you hear “sexual
harassment”?
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A supervisor implies to an employee that the
employee must sleep with him to keep a job
An office clerk makes demeaning comments
about female customers to his coworkers
A manager is made uncomfortable by an
employee who tells sexually explicit jokes
A secretary’s coworkers refer to her by sexist
terms, like “Hey baby.”
An employee send out a joke email with
sexually explicit language.
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Complicated definition.
Two different kinds of sexual harassment.
Basically…
 Sexual harassment is UNWANTED, UNWELCOME
attention directed toward a person’s sexuality or
sexual identity
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Federal Law
State Law
PSU policy
Kansas Board of Regents Policy
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“Sexual discrimination in the form of sexual
harassment, defined as the use of one's authority
or power to coerce another into unwanted sexual
relations or to punish another for his/her refusal,
or the creation by a member of the University
community of an intimidating, hostile, or offensive
working education environment through repetitive
verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature, shall
be a violation of Pittsburg State University's
Affirmative Action Policy.”
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In other words…
 Using your authority to
▪ Coerce someone into UNWANTED sexual
relations; or
▪ Punishing them for refusing to participate
OR
 Creating with your repetitive actions an
intimidating, hostile, or offensive
environment.
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Federal and State Law:
 Ordered to pay damages in a lawsuit that is public
record.
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PSU:
 Terminated from job at the worst, severe
sanctions at the least.
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Quid Pro Quo
 Use of one’s authority or power to coerce another
into unwanted sexual relations or to punish
another for his/her refusal.
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Hostile Work Environment
 Creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive
working or education environment through
repetitive verbal or physical conduct- of a sexual
nature.
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Often seen on movies, like Disclosure with
Demi Moore.
A threat that an educational or employment
decision may be affected by an unwillingness
to tolerate or accept sexual attentions; OR
Submission to or rejection of such conduct is
used as the basis for educational or
employment decisions.
Illegal whether the victim resists or submits
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Sexual Bribery- soliciting sexual favor by promise of
reward
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Promotions, raises, preferential use of equipment, valued
assignment, favorable recommendation
Threatened termination.
Threatened or given:
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Negative recommendations or references
Negative performance evaluations
Withholding promotions
Disciplinary action
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“If you don’t go out on a date with me, I won’t
let you go to that conference you want to go
to this year.”
If you don’t flirt with me I won’t tell you about
important meetings that you need to be at to
succeed here.
If you let me touch you inappropriately I will
give you an “A” in this class.
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Classic example in movie, North Country with
Charlize Theron
Conduct so pervasive it changes the nature of
the environment
Usually more than one occasion, but if severe
enough, one occasion is sufficient
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Seductive Behavior-unwanted, inappropriate
and offensive sexual advances
 Repeated unwanted sexual invitations, insistent
requests for dinner, drinks or dates, persistent letters,
giving personal gifts, phone calls
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Gender Harassment- generalized sexist
statements and behavior about women
 Insulting remarks, offensive graffiti, whistling at
someone, cat calls, obscene jokes or humor about sex
or women in general
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Sexual Comments or Gestures- have sexual
content or implications
 Remarks or questions about sexual life, simulating
sexual acts, talking about one’s own sex life,
staring, elevator eyes, sexual teasing, sexual jokes
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Sexual Imposition- unwanted touching
 Including grabbing, hugging, feeling, kissing,
patting, stroking, neck massage or sexual assault
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“Hey baby, you look good in that skirt.”
“You got a boyfriend? Does he satisfy you?”
“Women are all bitches when they are on
diets.”
“You need a real man.”
“When is the last time you got laid?”
Giving a co-worker an unwanted, offensive
shoulder rub when you walk by.
Showing co-workers pornography.
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First, tell the harasser to stop.
 Explain that the conduct or conversation is not
welcome.
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Second, document the behavior.
 Write down who, what, where, when and how.
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Report the behavior to someone you feel
comfortable telling, like your supervisor or
the director of equal opportunity.
 DO NOT WORRY ABOUT RETALIATION!
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Retaliation against persons who file a sexual
harassment complaint is a violation of PSU’s
policy and the law
If your supervisor does not address the
problem, or if your supervisor is the harasser,
report the incidents directly to the Director of
Equal Opportunity.
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A conscientious effort will be made to redress
through this process and resolve difficulties
at the lowest level possible.
Whenever possible, however, students,
employees and supervisors are encouraged
to discuss freely any potential problems or
misunderstandings with concerned parties as
they arise in an effort to avoid the necessity
of activating this Grievance Procedure.
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Step A:
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Contact the Director of Equal Opportunity to air your
grievance. This discussion should include the specific alleged
act(s) of discrimination and related incidents and the names
of persons involved.
If possible, the Director will then supply information
concerning policies, procedures which will resolve the
complaint or bring about a satisfactory understanding, such
that further action is not required.
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Step B:
If further investigation is in order, the grievant will
be informed, and the Director of Equal Opportunity
will conduct an informal investigation, discussing
the problem with the involved parties.
 The grievant may be called upon during this process
to meet with the Director of Equal Opportunity and
and the individual(s) against whom the grievance is
charged.
 Attempts will be made at this point to satisfactorily
resolve the complaint.
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Step C:
Failing resolution through Steps A and B, the
Director of Equal Opportunity shall notify the
grievant of investigation results.
The grievant has the option of accepting said
results or proceeding to the next step.
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Step D:
The grievant then has 10 class days to submit to the Director
of Equal Opportunity a written Request for Hearing giving
full details of the alleged act(s) of discrimination.
The Director of Equal Opportunity will offer assistance if
needed in preparation of the Request, which will be
presented to the Discrimination Grievance Committee.
Every effort will be made to conduct a hearing at the earliest
time, no more than 15 class days from the time of the
request.
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Step E:
The grievant and the individual(s) charged will be notified of the time and
date of said hearing and will be given ample time to prepare a
presentation, if they so choose.
Either party may seek advice concerning the hearing from any person
such as a faculty member, parent, department chairperson, and they
may also be accompanied to the hearing by an advisor of their choice.
The advisor(s) may speak if so desired.
Either party may request removal of any one voting member of the
committee by showing evidence of bias, in writing, to the Chairperson,
two days prior to the time of the hearing. The consideration of the
alleged biased member will be upheld if a majority of the committee
supports the claim.
The Director of Equal Opportunity will be present at all hearings, but will
vote only in case of a deadlock.
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Step F:
The Discrimination Grievance Committee will conduct an appropriate
hearing to gather additional evidence pertaining to the issue. The
Director of Equal Opportunity shall present background information,
citing investigation findings and results. No other member of the
committee shall be involved in the investigation of the incident.
During the hearing, all parties shall have the opportunity to testify.
Hearings are evaluations by members of the college community and are
not legal courts. Cross examination is the prerogative of the grievant, the
charged party, and the committee.
The actual proceedings of the committee after these presentations,
however, shall be closed and confidential. The Director of Equal
Opportunity will give recommendations for solutions and will advise the
committee of applicable laws and federal regulations.
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Step G:
Within five (5) class days of the conclusion of
the hearing, the committee will render a
written decision concerning its findings, will
make recommendations to the President for
redress, if necessary, and will inform all
involved parties of the same.
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Step H:
If the recommendation(s) reached is
acceptable, the grievant will notify the
Director of Equal Opportunity of same, and
the matter will be considered resolved.
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Step I:
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The grievant has the right to appeal the recommendation(s)
of the Discrimination Grievance Committee to the President.
Notification of this intent should be made to the Director of
Equal Opportunity within five (5) class days of the
committee’s option. The President shall receive the appealed
case and will make the final ruling on campus. This decision
will be communicated to all interested parties within five (5)
class days.
Provided the decision of the President is unacceptable to the
grievant, he/she may appeal to the appropriate federal/state
reviewing agencies and/or to the courts.
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Jamie Brooksher
 PSU Director of Equal Opportunity
 Associate General Counsel
 Russ Hall, room 218
 jbrooksh@pittstate.edu
 620-235-4189
 http://www.pittstate.edu/office/eoaa/