The Disposal Directions for thePrevention, Complaint and Punishment of Sexual Harassment at Academia Sinica
Promulgated on August 5, 2002
Amendedon March 7, 2003
Amended on October 26, 2006
Amended on February 5, 2008
Amended on November 30, 2012
Amended on September 12, 2016
1. These Directions are enacted by Academia Sinica (hereinafter referred to as “the Academy”) pursuant to Article 13 of the Gender Equality in Employment Act, Article 7 of the Sexual Harassment Prevention Act, the Regulations for Establishing Measures of Prevention, Complaint and Punishment of Sexual Harassment in the workplace and the Regulations on Prevention of Sexual Harassment, in order to provide a work environment free of sexual harassment for the employees (including servants, work-study students, dispatched workers, commission workers, job applicants, students with grants and interns), to adopt appropriate measures to prevent, correct, punish and handle this conduct and to prevent the privacy of the parties involved.
2. The Academy’s prevention, complaint and punishment of sexual harassment incidents are governed by these Directions, unless there are some other laws as prescribed.
3. These Directions shall apply to sexual harassment occurring between the Academy’s employees, or between the Academy’s employee andservice user, or between service users.These Directions shall also apply to the situation when anAcademy’s employee sexually harasses any person (in the circumstances referred to in the Gender Equality in Employment Act and the Sexual Harassment Prevention Act) outside working hours and workplace,and a complaint is proposed by the victim to the Academy while the competent authorities or police authorities in the area of the Academy are transferring the case.
4. Sexual harassment referred to in these Directions shall mean in the course of an employee executing his or her duties, any one (includingsupervisors at all levels, employees, and those who have business contact with the Academy) makes a sexual request, uses verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature or with an intent of gender discrimination, causes him or her a hostile, intimidating and offensive working environment leading to infringe on or interfere with his or her personal dignity, physical liberty or affects his or her job performance; or an supervisor explicitly or implicitly makes a sexual request toward an employee or an applicant, uses verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature or with an intent of gender discrimination as an exchange for the establishment, continuance, modification of a labor contract or as a condition to his or her placement, assignment, compensation, evaluation, promotion, demotion, award and discipline.
If there is any doubt about the determination of sexual harassment in the aforementioned Paragraph shall apply to Article 12, Item 1 of the Act of Gender Equality in Employment and Article 2 of the Sexual Harassment Prevention Act.
5. The Academy shall enhance the promotion of sexual harassment prevention and appeal channels through assemblies and brochures. Coursesof Sexual harassment prevention shall be arranged in miscellaneous trainings andseminars.
6. The Academy shall set up a designated telephone number, a fax number, a special mail box or an e-mail address to handle complaints concerning sexual harassment. The related information shall be openly published in the bulletin oron the Academy’s website.
7. Complaints concerning sexual harassment shall be handled in secret.
For the purpose of handling a complaint referred to in the preceding paragraph, the Academy shall set up the Sexual HarassmentComplaintHandling and InvestigationCommittee (hereinafter referred to as “the Complaint Committee”).
The Complaint Committee shall have one convener, to be served concurrently by a Vice President who is assigned by the President. When the convener, for any reason, cannot be present, he/she shall assign a committee member to preside over the meeting. The Complaint Committee shall be composed of 7 to 15 members who are assigned by the President from the Academy’s employees.The committee members have to attend in person, and others cannot represent them to attend the committee.
The percentage of the female members shall not less than 50%.
Each of the committee members shall serve a term of 2 years, he/she can continue to serve after the expiration of the term. In the event of a vacancy occurring in the committee, the vacancy shall be filled by one member assigned by the President.
The meetings can only begin when there are more than 1/2 of the committee members present. The motions shall be agreed by more than 1/2 of the member present in the meeting, when there is a tie, the chairman shall decide the verdict.
The Complaint Committee members shall rotate monthly in order to accept the complaints.
8.Acomplaint of sexual harassment incident shall be proposed by the victim or his/her guardian in either a written statement or verbally. If the complaint is one of the sexual harassment incidents referred to in the Sexual Harassment Prevention Act, the complaint shall be filed within 1 year after occurrence of the incident. If the applicant prefers to use the verbal method, a written record of statements shall be made by the personnel or the unit which accepts the case of sexual harassment incident. The written record must be signed or sealed by the applicant after he/sheconfirms the accuracy.
The written complaint form shall be signed or sealed by the applicant and contain the following items:
Name, employment unit and title, identification document number, domicile or address and phone number of the applicant and application date.
Where the applicant has a guardian, the guardian’s name, domicile or address, phone number, and proxy statement shall be contained.
Facts and pertinent evidence of the complaint shall be contained.
The complaint form or documented verbal application doesn’t meet the requirement of the preceding paragraph, for those situations that could be remedied, the applicant shall be notified to rectify within 14 days.
9. Under the following conditions, a complaint of sexual harassment incident shall not be accepted:
The applicant fails to rectify the complaint form by the due date prescribed in Paragraph 3 of Article 8.
The investigation of the same case has been completed and the result has been sent to those directly involved.
10. The handling procedures of a complaint by the Complaint Committee are as below:
(1) When a complaint is received, the rotating members of the monthshall decide to accept it or not within 3 days. A complaint which is not accepted shall be presented to the Complaint Committee for inspection, and the Committee shall inform those directly involved with written notice and the competent authority of the Academy within 20 days from receipt of the complaint.
(2) The convener shall assign at least 3 members to organizean ad-hoc team to start conduct an investigationwithin 7 days of receiving a complaint. When either of the parties working for aunit outside the Academy (including institutions, schools or dispatchingbusiness), the Academy shall team up with the unit to organize an ad-hoc team to conduct an investigation, and report to the investigationresult to both parties and their units. The investigation shall be completed within 30 daysafter the day of the investigation is conducted. If necessary, the length of the investigation may be extended by another 30 days.
(3) The ad-hoc team may interview both partiesand collect evidences or visit by law when conducting investigation. If necessary, professionals may also be invited to assist in the investigation.
(4) In the process of conducting such an investigation, the right of privacy and other legal rights concerning personality of those directly involved shall be protected. A report shall be proposed to the Complaint Committee for review after the end of the investigation.
(5) The Complaint Committee shall inform those directly involved arrive upon the scene to give explanation. If necessary, the interested parties or experts and scholars may be invited to attend the review.
(6) The Complaint Committee shall review and determine thatwhether the complaint caseis established. If the Committee determines that the complaint caseis established, the Committee shall give grounded reasons, and make an appropriate punishment or other corrective measures to the offender in accordance with the seriousness of the incident. If the Committee determines that the complaint case is not established, it may offer other proposal for solving the complaint in accordance with the actual circumstances.The resolution of the complaint case shall be submitted in writing to inform the parties and their units.
(7) If the complaint case is investigated and proved to be a false report, the Complaint Committee shall propose to make an appropriate punishment or other corrective measures to the complainant.
(8) The decision of a sexual harassment incident shall be made within 2 months after the next day of receiving a complaint. If necessary, the length of the decision-making may be extended by another 1 month, and the Committee shall inform those directly involved with written notice. If the complaint is one of the sexual harassment incidents referred to in the Sexual Harassment Prevention Act, the competent authority of the Academy shall also be notified. The written notice shall include the reason for the decision, the due date for reapplication and the appropriate authorities.
11.Persons who are responsible for the handling, investigation, review and explanation of a complaintshall be subjected to the obligation ofconfidentiality.The Convener shall suspend the personwho violates the obligation of confidentiality fromduty immediately and report to the President forimposing punishmenton the personin accordance with the seriousness of the incident. If the personisaComplaint Committee member, he/she shall be reported to the President for termination of appointment.
12. Persons who are responsible for the handling, investigation and review of a complaint shall recuse by himself or file recusal applicationwhenany condition referred to in Section 4 of Chapter 1 ofthe Administrative Procedure Act and the Regulations on Prevention of Sexual Harassment happens.
13. If those directly involved are object to the decision of a complaint, remedy may be proposed according to the following procedures:
(1) If the sexual harassment incidentis governedbythe Gender Equality in Employment Act:
1. To file a re-appeal with the Complaint Committee within 20 days after the next day of receiving the complaint resolution letter. If the reason for re-appealoccurs or is known after that,the re-appeal period shall start from the date of knowing the reason.
2. A re-appeal, in a written statement to explain the reasons, and a photocopy of the original complain resolution letter shall be proposed to the Complaint Committee.
3. The Complaint Committee shall sustain the original decision if the re-appeal fails to provide sufficient reasons;When the Committee decides to overrule the original decision as the re-appeal provides sufficient reasons, those directly involved shall be notified.
4. The reapplication shall follow the regulations of complaint procedures, unless those are stipulated in these Directions.
(2) When the sexual harassment incident is governed bythe Sexual Harassment Prevention Act:
If the investigation is not completed within the required period or those directly involved do not feel satisfied with the result of the investigation, those directly involved may once more propose an appeal to the competent authority of the Academy after the required period or within 30 days of the arrival of the result of investigation.
14. The Academy shall adopt follow-up monitoring, evaluation and supervision measures to ensure the effective implementation of the decision of a complaint, and to avoid the recurrence of the same incident or the occurrence of retaliatory activities.
The Academy shall not terminate, transfer or take any disciplinary action adverse to an employee who files a complaint or assists others to file a complaint.
15. If the victim of a sexual harassment incident is an employee of the Academy, the Academy shall provide the victim legal assistance to exercise rights.
16. If those directly involved need consulting or medical services, the Academy mayrefer them toprofessional consulting or medical institutions.
17. Any professional who is not the Academy’s investigation personnel to write investigation reports may receive writing fees. Attendance fees may be claimed for attending a conference.
18. The expense of the Complaint Committeeshall be covered by the Academy’s relevant budget items.
19. These Directions shall go into effect up on the approval of the President. It applies to the amendment of these Directions.
(These Directionsare drafted in both Chinese and English. If there is any inconsistency between the two, the Chinese version shall prevail.)
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