(Photo by Andi Ferguson)

Policy Against Harassment and Discrimination

Purpose: Black Hills Renaissance Festival desires to provide a positive and productive business and entertainment environment.  To that end, the Festival is committed to providing a business and entertainment environment that is free of discrimination and harassment, and to provide a means of dealing with such incidents should they occur.

Policy: Harassment or discrimination, in any form, will not be tolerated at the Festival by any of its employees, vendors, or independent contractors.  This includes harassment based upon a person’s race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, creed, marital status, veteran’s status, status with regard to public assistance and/or sexual orientation and any other category protected by law.  This policy applies to all employees, supervisors, managers and officers of the Festival, as well as to any vendor or independent contractor of the Festival.  If, after appropriate investigation, harassment or discrimination is found to have occurred, the initiator will be subject to appropriate disciplinary action, depending on the circumstances, up to and including termination of the employment and/or business relationship.

Harassment is verbal or physical conduct that denigrates or shows hostility or aversion toward an individual because of his/her race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, creed, marital status, veteran’s status, status with regard to public assistance or sexual orientation and any other category protected by law, or that of his/her relatives, friends, or associates and that:

Harassment can occur intentionally or unintentionally.  Some examples of conduct that is prohibited by this policy are listed below.  Please note that these are not the only examples.

1. Epithets, slurs, negative stereotyping, or threatening, intimidating or hostile acts that relate to race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, creed, marital status, veteran’s status, status with regard to public assistance or sexual orientation and any other category protected by law;

2. Written or graphic material that denigrates or shows hostility or aversion toward an individual or group because of their race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, creed, marital status, veteran’s status, status with regard to public assistance or sexual orientation and any other category protected by law that is placed on walls, bulletin boards or elsewhere on the Festival’s premises or circulated throughout the workplace or entertainment areas;

3. Unwanted sexual comments, innuendoes, flirtations, propositions, or suggestions;

4. Use of offensive words of a sexual nature describing body parts or the sexual act, telling “suggestive” jokes or stories, and conversations about sexual exploits, sexual preferences, and desires or suggestive or sexist remarks about a person’s clothing or body;

5. Unwanted and unnecessary touching, brushing against, patting or pinching;

6. Displaying, in the work or entertainment area, pictures, objects, cartoons, pornographic magazines, or representations of any action or subject which is sexual in nature, depicting nude, scantily clad or suggestively posed women or men and which can be perceived as offensive;

7. Sabotaging another’s character, reputation, work effects, or property because of race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, creed, marital status, veteran’s status, status with regard to public assistance or sexual orientation and any other category protected by law;

8. Direct and/or indirect suggestions, requests, or demands that an employee’s job security, job assignment, conditions of employment, or opportunities for advancement depend in any way on the granting of sexual favors; or

9. Sexual relations accompanied by implied or overt threats or promises.

Procedure:  Persons who believe they have been victimized through or witnessed harassment or discrimination should report those incidents so that we may promptly address the problem.  Go to the Staff Gazebo and make a report to staff about the incident. 

All complaints of harassment and/or discrimination will be examined impartially without prejudice and without malice toward the reporting party regardless of the status of the person accused.  Information provided will be released only on a need to know basis.  After an investigation of the allegations, a determination will be made, and resulting action will be recommended to management.  The investigation may include interviews with the individual making the charges, the accused individual and appropriate witnesses.  All employees or contractors with information are required to participate in an investigation if asked to do so by the Festival.

All determinations are made on an individual basis.  The Festival has the discretion to apply any sanctions or a combination of sanctions to eliminate any unlawful conduct and remedy the impact of any harassment or discrimination, such as:

1. Counseling the offender;

2. Transferring the offender to another position;

3. Placing the offender on probation, with a warning of suspension or discharge for continuing or recurring offenses;

4. Placing the offender on suspension with or without pay;

5. Discharging the offender; or

6. Terminating the business relationship with the offender.

The Festival encourages individuals to make accurate reports of harassment and/or discrimination and provide as much information to the Festival as possible so that it may properly and thoroughly investigate the report.

The Festival will not condone retaliation against any individual who reports possible harassment or discrimination or assists in an investigation of possible harassment or discrimination.

If you have questions about whether conduct is permissible under this policy, you should discuss it with your supervisor, department manager or the Event Manager.