Dream of Detroit strives to offer an environment where everyone is treated with dignity and respect. We do not tolerate bullying and or harassment, racism or any other forms of discrimination, such as towards the D/deaf and disabled community.
We have a duty of care to protect you. We will make it our priority to support you if you experience problems with bullying, harassment, or discrimination and this policy is designed to help us do that. If you have a problem with bullying, harassment or discrimination we encourage you to use the support available to try to resolve it as early as possible. We will investigate any complaint that you bring to our attention in a fair, independent and confidential way and, after considering all the facts, we will take prompt and appropriate action. Informal resolution is also a route available to you to deal with bullying or harassment or discrimination.
This policy applies to everybody working for Dream of Detroit. This includes full- time and part-time staff, freelancers, sub-contractors and agency workers. It can be used by anyone experieancing bullying or harassment at work, work-related events such as social functions or business trips, as well as via telephone, email, text messages and online. All those working with Dream of Detroit are expected to comply fully with the terms of this bullying and harassment policy.
Dream of Detroit regards acts of bullying and harassment and discrimination as a serious disciplinary matter. Those found to be acting in an unacceptable manner towards others may find their continued employment or engagement at risk. Those who wish to make a complaint should contact the Human Resources Representatives for Dream of Detroit. These are:
Tyris Jones, Finance and Operations Director, Dream of Detroit
(260) 348-1718
Bullying or harassment can take place face-to-face, behind your back, by telephone, email, text, social media or any other form of communication.
Bullying is defined as offensive, intimidating, malicious or insulting behavior, an abuse or misuse of power through means that undermine, humiliate, denigrate or injure the recipient.
Harassment is defined as unwanted conduct which is related to identity features such as: age, sex, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, and sexual orientation, which has the purpose or effect of violating a person’s dignity, or creating for that person an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment.
Discrimination is defined as treating someone differently related to identity features such as: age, sex, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, and sexual orientation.
Bullying, harassment, and discrimination can be:
Intentional or unintentional, targeted at an individual or a group.
Not specifically targeted but have an overall impact that creates a negative work environment.
Repeated behavior over a period of time, or one isolated incident.
Between workers and/or managers at the same or different levels in the organization.
In the same or different departments or areas of work within or outside of the organization.
Between employees, workers and external contractors and/or clients within or outside of the organization.
Mobbing – when more than one person is involved.
Neglect or marginalization.
During daily work activities, at work-organized events held on-site or off-site, inside and outside of working hours.
Face-to face, over the telephone, by email, text messages. And online, e.g. social media platforms.
The following is by no means an exhaustive list but it can be used to highlight the range of ‘unwanted conduct’ or inappropriate behavior.
Shouting, swearing, intimidating, threatening or throwing things.
Belittling a person’s input or not letting them express their opinion in the first place.
Unfairly blaming others – e.g. for the failures of technology; humiliation and ridicule either in private, at meetings or in front of colleagues/customers/clients.
Spreading malicious rumors, or insulting someone by word or behavior.
Copying memos that are critical about someone to others who do not need to know.
Ridiculing or demeaning someone or picking on them.
Innuendo or mockery.
Threats, abuse, teasing, gossip, banter or practical jokes/pranks.
Unwelcome sexual advances – touching, standing too close, the display of offensive materials, asking for sexual favors, making decisions on the basis of sexual advances being accepted or rejected.
Homophobic, racist or sexist comments, offensive gestures.
Excluding individuals or groups or socially isolating them.
Unfair treatment, such as tasks with unachievable deadlines.
Overbearing supervision.
Making threats or comments about job security without foundation.
Deliberately undermining a competent worker by overloading them.
Undermining with constant criticism.
Preventing individuals progressing by intentionally blocking promotion or training opportunities.
Intruding on a person’s privacy by pestering, spying or stalking.
Tampering with a person’s personal belongings or work equipment.
Cyber-bullying conducted online by email, online messaging, online gaming or social media channels, e.g. offensive language, embarrassing pictures or videos, fake profiles, death threats.
Be particularly vigilant and sensitive about such behavior at ‘crunch times’ – when everyone is working long hours to meet a deadline, tempers can be short, people may be exhausted.
Direct discrimination: This happens when someone treats you worse than another person in a similar situation because of your identity.
Indirect discrimination: This happens when an organization has a particular policy or way of working that puts people of your identity group at a disadvantage.
Harassment on the grounds of discrimination: Harassment occurs when someone makes you feel humiliated, offended or degraded because of your identity. For example, a young Muslim American man at work keeps being called a racist or Islamophobic name by colleagues. His colleagues say it is just banter, but the employee is insulted and offended by it.
This is when you are treated badly because you have made a complaint of bullying, harassment, or discrimination, or if you are supporting someone who has made such a complaint. For example:
The young man in the example above wants to make a formal complaint about his treatment. His manager threatens to sack him unless he drops the complaint.
There are some circumstances when being treated differently due to one’s identity is acceptable. A difference in treatment may be lawful in employment situations if:
belonging to a particular race or religion is essential for the job.
This is called an occupational requirement. For example, an organization wants to recruit a support worker for a domestic violence advice service for South Asian women. The organization can say that it only wants to employ someone with South Asian origins.
an organization is taking positive action to encourage or develop people in a racial or religious group that is under-represented or
disadvantaged in a role or activity. For example, an organization gets hardly any applicants for its graduate recruitment program from Hispanic American candidates. It sets up a work experience and mentoring program for Hispanic American students to encourage them into the industry.
It is important to note that not all harassment is sexual but keep in mind that, with sexual harassment:
A hug, kiss on the cheek, or casual touch is not necessarily sexual harassment. The key is whether the behavior was unwanted or offensive.
It does not matter if a person has sexual feelings towards the recipient, only that the behavior is of a sexual nature and that it was unwanted and/or offensive.
Sexual harassment is gender neutral and orientation neutral. It can be perpetrated by any gender against any gender.
We believe everybody deserves to be treated with respect. We value inclusivity, appreciate difference, welcome learning from others, and consider people equal without prejudice or favor. We will not tolerate any behavior that does not answer to these values, including bullying or harassment in any form. We will work to the best of our ability to ensure everybody who works with is treated according to these beliefs.
We will never victimize, unfairly treat or discipline anybody who makes a genuine formal or informal complaint about bullying and harassment. We will respect and maintain your confidentiality and will speak to anybody involved about their responsibility to maintain confidentiality on the issue. As we have a duty to protect you and your colleagues, there may be times we decide to act on your complaint independently. In these situations, we will encourage you to use our support services and will inform you of the outcome of our investigations if you wish to know. We aim to offer the best possible support to those working with or for us that experience bullying and harassment. You can use our informal or formal processes to resolve your complaint although where possible, we encourage you to try to resolve any problems informally in the first instance.
Anyone with a complaint regarding bullying and harassment can choose to pursue it via either an informal or a formal process.
Using informal processes: If you have a complaint about bullying and harassment or discrimination, you may want to resolve problems informally where appropriate, before using the formal process. It is important to remember that the other person may be unaware of their behavior and the impact it has on you, and your informal feedback may give the person a better understanding and opportunity to change or stop their behavior. We advise you to try to resolve your complaint as early as possible, if you feel able, to reduce stress and worry for you and possibly the other person involved.
To address a complaint informally, you should speak to anyone involved in the situation about how their behavior is affecting you. It can be helpful to describe particular instances of this behavior, including times, places, events or conversations in order to clearly illustrate your point. You should use the opportunity to ask the person to change or stop their behavior. If you feel unable to speak to the person yourself, you can approach our identified Human Resources Representative, your manager, or if the complaint is about your manager, the next level of management.
Using the formal process: If you do not feel that the informal process is a viable option for addressing your complaint, or if you have already pursued the informal process and your issue persists, you may decide to follow the formal process for addressing complaints. We ask you to put your formal complaint in writing and send it to your manager. If the complaint is against your manager, please send it to your Human Relations Representatives. It should include full details of your complaint including a detailed account of the incident, the date it took place, who was involved including any witnesses, and any action you may have taken. This will provide the best opportunityto fairly and reasonably investigate your complaint while details of what took place can readily be remembered by anyone involved. We understand this may not be possible in all cases and will investigate any complaint made in good faith. Once a formal complaint has been submitted the manager will send you written acknowledgement of the complaint. The procedure for investigating a formal complaint is outlined below.
We will arrange a meeting with you to discuss the problem.
You have the right to be accompanied at the meeting.
We may need to speak to other witnesses.
The decision about your case will be made and communicated to you including any associated recommendations or appropriate action.
If you are unhappy with the result you will have the right to appeal.
Dream of Detroit shares responsibility for ensuring a safe working environment for ourselves and others. You may not have experienced bullying or harassment directly, but have witnessed someone else being bullied or harassed. If this has occurred, you should raise your concerns in order to protect the safety and wellbeing of the other person.
We understand you may feel worried about getting involved in a situation that does not directly affect you. We will support you in raising your concerns in an informal or formal way, so the bullying or harassment can stop. We will not victimize, unfairly treat or discipline you for raising a genuine concern.
If you decide to raise a formal complaint we ask you to send this in writing to your manager, or if the complaint is about your manager, the next level of management as soon as possible after the time of the incident. A formal complaint will be investigated in accordance with the process outlined above.
It is not possible to list all the forms of behavior that are considered unacceptable. Generally, no conduct which is dishonest, unethical, or illegal will be tolerated. The following are examples of behaviors that may result in disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment:
Inadequate work performance
Conduct that may endanger the safety or well-being of an employee
Theft, negligent destruction or inappropriate removal or possession of Dream of Detroit property or records
Possession of dangerous weapons or explosives in the workplace
Release of confidential or proprietary information
Falsification of records (including time records and job applications)
Sexual and other unlawful harassment
Excessive absenteeism or tardiness
Violation of any of the policies put forth in this handbook
The Dream of Detroit provides equal employment opportunity and treatment for all applicants and staff in recruitment, hiring, retention, assignment, transfer, promotion and training, and does not discriminate in any programs or activities on the basis of race, color, national origin or ethnicity, religion, creed, sex or gender, sexual orientation, gender expression or identity, age, marital or family status, veteran or military status; disability, or the use of a trained dog guide or service animal. If you have questions or complaints regarding alleged discrimination please contact Tyris Jones, at 1605 Davison Freeway, Detroit, MI 48238, via email at tyris@dreamofdetroit.org or phone at (260) 348-1718.
All Dream of Detroit personnel are employed on an at-will basis. Employment at-will may be terminated with or without cause and with or without notice at any time by the employee or Dream of Detroit.
Nothing in this handbook shall limit the right to terminate at-will employment. No manager, supervisor, or employee of Dream of Detroit has any authority to enter into an agreement for employment for any specified period of time or to make an agreement for employment on other than at-will terms. Only the Executive Director of Dream of Detroit has the authority to make any such agreement, which is binding only if it is in writing.
At the Dream of Detroit, we see diversity as everything that makes an employee who they are, and we want all employees to be comfortable bringing their entire selves to work every day. We believe our individual backgrounds, perspectives, and passions help us grow and solve problems that move us all forward. We encourage and support both positive and learning interactions through workforce diversity that will help all employees feel comfortable encountering individuals with different life experiences. We define diversity as the characteristics and attributes that make each one of us unique.
Diversity has many dimensions that may include, but are not limited to, ethnicity, national origin, religion, military status, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, and age. Even more broadly, diversity includes geographic location, work experience, family status, socio-economic class, and diversity of political thought. Our goal is to leverage the varied experiences and ideas that each individual brings for the good of the organization overall.
We also recognize that diversity is a cultural ethos – a way of thinking or acting that fosters inclusion and enhances our work lives and the quality of life in our communities. By embracing a culture of diversity, our programs and initiatives will consider whether it reflects our community and provides opportunities for those who are underrepresented in our profession. There is no fixed endpoint to DREAM’s promotion of diversity and inclusion.
We will continue to monitor and adjust our diversity and inclusion strategy as necessary in order to continuously increase employee engagement and ensure that DREAM remains a strong, resilient, and flexible organization going forward. DREAM’s diversity initiatives are applicable—but not limited to—our practices and policies on recruitment and selection; compensation and benefits; professional development and training; promotions; transfers; social and recreational programs; layoffs; terminations; and the ongoing development of a work environment built on the premise of gender and diversity equity that encourages and enforces:
Professional communication and cooperation between all employees.
Teamwork and employee participation, permitting the representation of all groups and employee perspectives.
Work/life balance through flexible work schedules to accommodate employees’ varying needs.
Employer and employee contributions to the communities we serve to promote a greater understanding and respect for diversity.
All employees are expected to exhibit conduct that reflects inclusion during work, at work functions on or off the work site, and at all other company-sponsored and participative events. Any employee found to have exhibited any inappropriate conduct or behavior against others may be subject to disciplinary action. Employees who believe they have been subjected to any kind of discrimination that conflicts with the company’s diversity policy and initiatives should report this to the Executive Director.
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"The true life that God wants for all people—not one people—their true life is a life of cooperation… community life!"
- Imam W.D. Mohammed
