ARTICLE 21 - NONDISCRIMINATION

The Board and Federation agree that the provisions of this Agreement shall be applied equally to all employees without unlawful discrimination as to race, creed, religion, color, national origin, disability, age, sex, sexual orientation, height/weight ratio, marital status, organizational affiliation or political affiliation. Unlawful discrimination as defined in this Article includes harassment which is prohibited by State or Federal employment discrimination laws (e.g. national origin, race or sex).

21.1 Complaints by any employee who believes he/she has been subjected to discrimination or harassment on the basis of any protected class as described above shall be processed under 21.2 of this Agreement.

21.2    Discrimination/Harassment Complaints

21.21    Informal Step. The complaint(s) shall be filed first with the College Affirmative Action Office and processed at the informal step of the College's discrimination complaint procedure.

21.22    If the issue is not resolved at the informal level, the employee shall have the option of filing a formal complaint through the College's discrimination complaint procedure or filing a formal grievance beginning at Step 2 (Article 25.22 or 25.32, as appropriate).

21.23    If the employee files a complaint with any external public agency or with a State or Federal Court, the discrimination complaint procedure or the grievance shall automatically terminate.

21.24    The grievance will proceed to binding arbitration under the provision of Article 25.4 (grievance procedure) only if the employee signs a waiver of her/his right to file a complaint with a State or Federal agency or court and agrees to accept the arbitrator's decision as final and binding.