POLICY AGAINST HARASSMENT, INTIMIDATION and/or BULLYING

Somerset Hills Lacrosse Club, Inc. prohibits and will not tolerate acts of harassment, intimidation and/or bullying (including cyber-bullying.)

“Harassment, intimidation or bullying” means any gesture, any written, verbal or physical act, or any electronic communication, whether it be a single incident or a series of incidents that:

1. Is reasonably perceived as being motivated by either any actual or perceived characteristic, such as race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, or a mental, physical or sensory disability; or
2. By any other distinguishing characteristic; and that
3. Takes place in relation to any program function or team; and that
4. A reasonable person should know, under the circumstances, will have the effect of physically or emotionally harming a player or damaging the player’s property, or placing a player in reasonable fear of physical or emotional harm to his/her person or damage to his/her property; or
5. Has the effect of insulting or demeaning any player or group of players; or
6. Creates a hostile environment for the player by interfering with a player’s participation or by severely or pervasively causing physical or emotional harm to the player.

Notification of any alleged harassment, intimidation or bullying shall be made to the affiliated Coach or Board. The procedure for remediation will be as follows:

1. If the Coach of the alleged victim is notified, the Coach is obligated to report the allegation to the Board.
2. The Board will gather all pertinent information in a fair, respectful and confidential manner regarding the alleged harassment, intimidation or bullying and review with both the accuser and the accused.
3. The Board will evaluate and offer an opinion for a Vote – this could result in penalties, up to and including expulsion, or suspension from the program for the coach depending upon the infraction.
4. Upon a vote from the SHLC Board, the accused will be notified of the Board’s position and the appropriate action will be followed.

 

CHILD PHYSICAL / SEXUAL ABUSE

Notification: Notification of any alleged abuse shall be made to the Chairman of the Board.

Information Gathering: Upon receipt of a disclosure of child/sexual abuse or of a policy violation the Board chairman shall gather all pertinent facts in a fair, respectful, and confidential manner and review with both the accuser and accused. The Chairman must immediately report to the authorities when there is reasonable cause to believe that physical abuse or sexual abuse has occurred. All proceedings will be confidential. If the alleged abuser or policy violator admits to the conduct, the Board can employ the most appropriate punishment. If the alleged abuser or policy violator denies the conduct, the Board can conduct further investigations (except when reasonable cause of physical or sexual abuse exists that should be reported to the authorities) deemed necessary prior to rendering any appropriate punishment or exoneration. The alleged violations will range from inappropriate, but not illegal behavior to clear cut child/sexual abuse and the punishment must be tailored to the violation.

Suspension/Termination: Less egregious conduct on the part of the volunteer will result in a written reprimand. If more than one (1) written reprimands are received in a two (2) year time period, this will result in termination of the volunteer. Slightly more egregious conduct will result in both a written reprimand and suspension. Upon the second suspension in a two (2) year time period, the volunteer will be terminated.

Termination: All volunteers are subject to immediate termination based on the disqualification criteria, including but not limited to Volunteer Screening, Criminal Background Check and violation of the Code of Conduct. Further, the Board may terminate any volunteer that is found to have committed any child physical or sexual abuse.

Duty to Disclose/Immunity/Confidentiality: All volunteers may be required by state law to report suspected cases of child/sexual abuse. Any person(s) who makes or participates in the making of a good-faith report of abuse/neglect, participates in the investigation, or in judicial proceedings shall in so doing be provided with complete and absolute immunity from civil liability. The identity of the Volunteer reporting a case of suspected child/sexual abuse should not be revealed. All records and reports concerning investigations and their outcome are protected by various confidentiality laws. Unauthorized disclosure of such records is a possible criminal offense which could subject the violator to fines and/or imprisonment.

Appeals: Candidate(s) disqualified due to an unsatisfactory Referral or Criminal Background Check and/or other reason(s) will be given the right to appeal upon written notification to the Conduct Official. The Board will appoint three (3) board members to hear the appeal and they will decide whether or not to uphold or overturn the decision of the Conduct Official. As a compromise, the appeal committee may decide to reassign a candidate to a more appropriate position or to place the candidate under a probationary period. The results of all criminal background checks and appeals will be kept confidential.