Forward is committed to maintaining an environment free from bullying, harassment, and discrimination. All Personnel and Students have a right to instruct and train in an environment free from bullying, harassing, or discriminatory conduct. Forward requires that all Personnel and Students refrain from bullying, harassing, or discriminating against anyone, including Personnel, Students, and visitors.
Policy Statement
- This policy applies to all Personnel, Staff, and visitors who bully, harass, or discriminate others while training or in the gym property.
- Forward will not tolerate harassment or discrimination of any kind. A confirmed complaint of harassment or discrimination will result in disciplinary action, up to and including termination.
- This policy will be distributed to all current Personnel and stored in an easy to locate and read location in the office. The policy will also be distributed to new Personnel during orientation.
- Informants that report bullying, harassment, or discrimination in good faith are protected from retaliation by any Personnel or Student of Forward. Retaliation includes but is not limited to Personnel or Student discipline, discharge, further acts of discrimination, or other adverse actions when those acts are intended to punish Personnel or Student for reporting harassment, opposing discrimination, or filing or assisting with a complaint to Abbe.
- Forward will promptly investigate complaints of bullying, harassment, discrimination or retaliation. Such investigations will be fair and impartial. All Personnel and Students of Forward are asked to cooperate with investigations of gym bullying, harassment, or retaliation.
Definitions
Bullying is verbal or physical conduct that seeks to harm, intimidate, or coerce another person. Bullying is not necessarily based on a person’s membership in a protected category like race, sex, age, or disability, among others.
Harassment and discrimination is persistent and unwelcome conduct because of any of the bases protected by law (race, sex, age, disability, etc.). Harassment exists whenever:
- Submission to harassing or discriminatory conduct is made, either explicitly or implicitly, a term or condition of Personnel’s contracted role, or Student’s membership.
- Submission to or rejection of such conduct is used as the basis for any decision affecting Personnel or Student.
- The conduct creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive environment for instruction or training.
Sexual harassment is one type of harassment and includes unwelcome sexual advances, unwelcome physical contact of a sexual nature or unwelcome verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature. Unwelcome verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature includes the repeated making of unsolicited, inappropriate gestures or comments and the display of sexual materials not necessary for our work. See Addendum A: Sexual Misconduct Policy.
Recognizing Harassment and Discrimination
It is impossible to list every type of behavior that can be considered bullying, harassment, or discrimination in violation of this policy. In general, any conduct that could interfere with Personnel’s instruction or Student’s training or creating a hostile environment is prohibited. This is the case even if the offending person did not mean to be offensive – Personnel and Students must be sensitive to the feelings of others. Even mild offensive conduct can be considered bullying, harassment, or discrimination if someone has made it clear that it is unwelcome. Some examples include:
Verbal: Jokes, insults, and innuendoes; threats; degrading sexual remarks; whistling; cat calls; comments on a person’s body or sex life; or pressures for sexual favors; participating in derogatory or insulting gossip.
Non-Verbal: Intimidating or confrontational body language; gestures, staring, touching, hugging, or patting; blocking a person’s movement; standing too close; brushing against a person’s body; display of sexually suggestive or degrading pictures; racist or other derogatory cartoons or drawings.
Reporting Procedures
We encourage all Personnel and Students to report any instances of harassment immediately. Reports can be made in person, via email, or through our confidential reporting system.
- Who Can Report: Anyone who experiences, witnesses, or has knowledge of harassment.
- How to Report:
- Report any instances verbally to any Forward Personnel
- Report via email at abbeb@forwardthaiboxing.com
- Report via online form: CLICK HERE
- Your identity will remain anonymous before, during, and after the investigation.
- What to Include: Details such as dates, times, locations, names of those involved, potential witnesses, details of the incident.
Investigation and Response
All reports of harassment will be taken seriously and investigated promptly, thoroughly, and impartially.
- Confidentiality: We respect the privacy of all parties involved and will handle all reports with discretion, sharing information only on a need-to-know basis.
- Investigation: Forward Owner, Abbe Braun, and any appropriate parties, will investigate each report fairly.
- Actions Taken: If a violation of our policies is identified, due to our zero-tolerance approach, immediate actions will be taken, which may include termination of membership, instruction role, and/or pursuing legal action.
Consequences for Violations
Violations of this policy will result in disciplinary action, up to and including:
- Training and mentorship.
- Immediate termination of membership or employment.
- Ban from the gym premises.
- Referral to law enforcement authorities if appropriate.
Note: A “zero tolerance” policy does not equate to the accused automatically being expelled. There are multiple options for remediation and the stoppage of a behavior. The zero tolerance focuses on the behavior(s), not the person.