Chapter 3 – Personnel, Training, and Employee Relations

31010.3.1 Definitions of Other Terms

• Abusive Conduct – Abusive conduct is conduct of an employer or employee in the workplace, with malice, that a reasonable person would find hostile, offensive, and unrelated to an employer’s legitimate business interests. Abusive conduct may include repeated infliction of verbal abuse, such as the use of derogatory remarks, insults, and epithets, verbal or physical conduct that a reasonable person would find threatening, intimidating, or humiliating, or the gratuitous sabotage or undermining of a person’s work performance. A single act shall not constitute abusive conduct, unless especially severe and egregious. An abusive conduct complaint which is not based on a protected class, should be addressed through the chain of command.  

• Association – An individual’s involvement with a member of a protected group or membership in an advocacy organization representing a protected group.

• Bias – Bias is defined by the department as a preformed negative opinion or attitude toward a group of persons based on their race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity.  

• Biased Conduct – Biased conduct refers to the conduct of an employee that is motivated, implicitly or explicitly, by an employee’s beliefs about someone based on the person’s actual or perceived personal characteristics. Conduct is biased if a reasonable person would conclude so using the facts at hand; such conduct may occur in an encounter with incarcerated people, parolees, the public, with other employees, or online, such as conduct on social media. An employee’s actions or conduct need not be intentionally biased or prejudiced for that conduct to be reasonably deemed biased. 

• Complainant – Any individual or group of individuals who allege discrimination in violation of a state or federal EEOEqual Employment Opportunity Office (see Office of Internal Affairs) law or regulation or departmental policy. 

• Discrimination – Discrimination is subjecting an individual to a harmful employment action or harassment on the basis of their real or perceived membership in a protected class or participation in a protected activity. Unlike biased and abusive conduct, discrimination requires 1) a harmful employment action or harassment and 2) that the harm was motivated by the individual’s protected status. 

• Equal Employment Opportunity (EEOEqual Employment Opportunity Office (see Office of Internal Affairs)) – EEOEqual Employment Opportunity Office (see Office of Internal Affairs) is the legal right of all individuals to be afforded full and equal consideration for employment, retention, and advancement on the basis of merit. 

• EEOEqual Employment Opportunity Office (see Office of Internal Affairs) Coordinator/Assistant EEOEqual Employment Opportunity Office (see Office of Internal Affairs) Coordinator – A person designated by a hiring authority to receive and coordinate internal discrimination complaints. 

• EEOEqual Employment Opportunity Office (see Office of Internal Affairs) Counselor – A departmental employee trained to assist in the discrimination complaint process. 

• External Discrimination Complaint – A complaint alleging discrimination, harassment, or retaliation filed with or by a state or federal compliance agency against the Department.

• Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and California Family Rights Act (CFRA) 

  • Provisions in state and federal statutes that allow eligible employees to take up to 12 work weeks (26 work weeks to care for a military service member) of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12-month period, and the continuation of health benefits for one or more of the following reasons: 

    • The birth and care of a newborn child of the employee, placement of a child in the employee’s family for adoption or foster care, and for bonding leave within 12 months of birth, adoption, or foster care placement.  

    • The qualified serious health condition of the employee, or to care for the qualified serious health condition of the following family members: 

      • FMLA and CFRA: parent, spouse, or child.  

      • CFRA only: domestic partner, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, parent-in-law, or designated person.

    • A qualifying exigency related to the covered active military duty or call to covered active military duty of the following family members in the Armed Forces of the United States (including the National Guard and Reserves): 

      • FMLA and CFRA: spouse, child, or parent. 

      • CFRA only: domestic partner. 

    • Military caregiver leave, up to 26 work weeks of unpaid leave to care for a covered military service member who has a qualifying serious health condition.  

  • The program responsible for the administration of these statutes is Human Resources.  

• Hiring Authority – The Secretary, Undersecretary, General Counsel, Chief Information Officer, or any Assistant Secretary, Executive Officer, Director, Deputy Director, Associate Director, Warden, Regional Parole Administrator, Assistant Deputy Director, Superintendent, Superintendent of Correctional Education, Associate Superintendent of Education, Regional Health Care Executive, Chief Medical Executive, Chief Nurse Executive, Chief Executive Officer, or any other person authorized by the Secretary, CDCRCalifornia Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, or Receiver, California Correctional Health Care Services, to hire, discipline and dismiss employees under their authority.

• Internal Discrimination Complaint – A complaint alleging discrimination filed with the OCROffice of Civil Rights (see OIA) or any local EEOEqual Employment Opportunity Office (see Office of Internal Affairs) Coordinator or Assistant EEOEqual Employment Opportunity Office (see Office of Internal Affairs) Coordinator.

• Respondent – The person(s) who is alleged to have committed an unlawful practice or engaged in conduct that violates this policy, in a complaint filed through Local Intervention Process (LIP), referral to OIAOffice of Internal Affairs/OCROffice of Civil Rights (see OIA), or compliance agency; for complaints received from external compliance agencies, CDCRCalifornia Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is the Respondent, though individuals can be named as well.