CITY OF SEATTLE
ORDINANCE __________________
COUNCIL BILL __________________
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AN ORDINANCE relating to the organization of City government; creating an Office of the Employee Ombud; and adding Sections 3.15.020, 3.15.022, and 3.15.024 to the Seattle Municipal Code.
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WHEREAS, The City of Seattle ("City") is committed to providing every City employee a safe and respectful workplace where they can do their best work in serving the residents of Seattle; and in order for this to happen the City must recognize employees' inherent dignity, and provide safe work environments free of intimidation, as well as consistent and equitable processes for addressing their concerns; and
WHEREAS, acts of discrimination and harassment have a harmful impact on the individuals involved, their workplace culture, and the City as a whole. Although the City has instituted training, prevention, reporting, and investigation processes to address and prevent workplace discrimination and harassment at the City, some current and past employees speak of and have experienced workplace cultures impacted by discrimination and harassment based on race, gender, sexual orientation, or other protected class status, including intimidation, mistreatment, exclusion, invisibility, and hostility; and
WHEREAS, the City formed an Anti-Harassment Interdepartmental Team (AH IDT) in 2018 to review the City's current practices of responding to and preventing workplace discrimination and harassment. Based on Race and Social Justice Initiative survey results, employee focus group sessions conducted by the Seattle Office for Civil Rights regarding harassment in the City, and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) 2016 Select Task Force recommendations, the IDT made a set of holistic recommendations and proposed strategies to shift workplace culture to create a more welcoming, inclusive, and safe work environment where everyone can do their best work; and
WHEREAS, the AH IDT's July 2018 re...
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