Code of Conduct
Oregon Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts (“OVLA”) is committed to maintaining an open, accepting, safe, and harassment-free environment in which everyone is treated with respect and dignity. Therefore, OVLA requires that all directors, officers, employees, volunteers, clients, and attendees follow this policy and act in a business-like manner free of bias, prejudice, discrimination, and harassment.
1. Definition.
Harassment is any unwelcome and offensive conduct, including sexual harassment and harassment based on race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, sex, age, physical or mental disability, or any other characteristic protected by state, federal or local employment discrimination laws.
Harassment includes:
Offensive or unwelcome comments related to gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, mental or psychological condition, physical appearance, body, age, race, ethnicity, nationality, language, or religion;
Deliberate misgendering or use of “dead” or rejected names;
Gratuitous or off-topic sexual comments, images, or behavior in spaces where they’re not appropriate, including emails and texts;
Physical contact and simulated physical contact without consent or after a request to stop;
Threats or incitement of violence towards any individual;
Deliberate intimidation, stalking, following, or blocking movement;
Unwelcome sexual attention;
Deliberate “outing” of any aspect of a person’s identity without their consent except as necessary to protect other OVLA community members or other vulnerable people from intentional abuse;
Publication of non-harassing private communication without consent by the involved parties; and
Improperly using a position of influence, power, or authority towards others.
2. Prohibition on Harassment.
OVLA strictly prohibits harassment of any kind. OVLA directors, officers, employees, volunteers, clients, and attendees shall not engage in any harassment. Anyone asked to stop any harassing behavior is expected to comply immediately.
3. Reporting Harassment.
Any person who believes they have been harassed or notices or believes that someone else is being harassed by an OVLA director, officer, employee, volunteer, client, or attendee should promptly report the facts of any incident, including the name of any individual involved, to OVLA by emailing legalhelp@oregonvla.org.
4. Investigating Complaints.
Upon receipt of a complaint, the board of directors will undertake a prompt, thorough, objective, and good faith investigation of the harassment allegations. If the board of directors determines that harassment has occurred, it will take any remedial or disciplinary action it believes appropriate, such as temporary or permanent suspension of the accused individual from OVLA activities. If the complaint is about an OVLA director, the board of directors shall exclude the director from the investigation and from voting on the appropriate action.
OVLA prioritizes marginalized people’s safety over privileged people’s comfort. OVLA reserves the right to not investigate or otherwise act on complaints regarding:
“Reverse” -isms, including “reverse racism”, “reverse sexism”, and “cisphobia”;
Reasonable communication of boundaries such as “leave me alone”, “go away”, or “I’m not discussing this with you”;
Communications in a “tone” you don’t find congenial; and
Criticism of racist, sexist, cissexist, or otherwise oppressive behavior or assumptions.
5. No Retaliation.
No person will be retaliated against for filing a complaint of harassment or assisting in a complaint or the investigation process. OVLA will not tolerate or permit retaliation by directors, officers, employees, volunteers, clients, or attendees against any complainant or anyone assisting in a harassment investigation, regardless of the outcome of the investigation.
6. Open Source Policy.
This policy was modeled after similar policies created by XOXO and Geek Feminism and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.