New Employee Orientation - Full-time: Campus Conduct

Smoking and Food & Beverages

Smoking is permitted in designated areas only. These are the gazebos found throughout the campuses.

No food or drink is allowed in classrooms, labs, hallways, or in the library.

SCTC Dress Code

Faculty and staff shall maintain a professional appearance, while representing SCTC, whether on or off campus. You may refer to the Dress Code Policy that is located in the SCTC Employee Handbook, located on TigerNet > Documents > Frequently Used > Human Resources.

We encourage students to dress in a manner acceptable in the workplace they hope to enter upon graduation.

Please help our students understand what is appropriate!

Political Activities and Fund Raising/Raffles

Political Activities

Federal and State laws place certain restrictions on political activities of employees. An employee who wishes to engage in political activity, other than to express his/her opinion privately and to vote, should review the laws and rules of the state.

Fund Raising/Raffles

Students and student clubs may sell items at SCTC for the purpose of raising money provided they have submitted a prior request and received approval from the Vice President of Student Affairs or his/her designee. The soliciting of funds by employees and/or the conducting of a raffle is prohibited unless approved by the President.

SCTC is a Drug-free Workplace

SCTC is committed to providing a working and learning environment that ensures the productivity of all employees as well as the safety and security of all students, contractors, volunteers, and visitors.

SCTC is drug-free pursuant to the provisions of the federal Drug-free Workplace Act of 1988, the Drug-free Public Work Force Act of 1990, and applicable State Law.

It is expressly prohibited for any employee to engage in the unlawful manufacture, distribution, dispensation, possession, or use of illegal drugs, unauthorized drugs, inhalants or other controlled substances (as defined in O.C.G.A.§16-13-21) while performing the following:

• State business,
• assigned duties and responsibilities on State premises or worksites,
• traveling in a State, leased or rental vehicle, or a personal vehicle upon which the State is providing or could provide mileage reimbursement, while traveling commercially.

Sexual Harassment Prevention in the Workplace

While there are multiple types of workplace harassment, as Executive Order 01.14.19.02 recognizes, incidents of sexual harassment present unique challenges which warrant special emphasis and the implementation of a particularized approach to the prevention, detection and elimination of sexual harassment from the State workplace.

Prohibited Conduct:

All Covered Employees are strictly prohibited from engaging in sexual harassment as defined herein. This prohibition applies to conduct occurring in or otherwise affecting the workplace. As such, it includes conduct occurring both on and off the work premises and during or outside of work hours.

While sexual harassment encompasses a wide range of conduct, some examples of conduct specifically prohibited by this Policy include, but are not limited to:

• Denying (directly or indirectly) an employment benefit or employment-related opportunity to an employee for refusing to comply with a sexually-oriented request;
• Threatening (directly or indirectly) to deny an employment benefit or an employment-related opportunity to an employee for refusing to comply with a sexually-oriented request;
• Providing or promising to provide an employment benefit or employment-related opportunity to an employee in exchange for complying with a sexually-oriented request;
• Engaging in sexually-explicit or suggestive physical contact, including touching another employee in a way that is unwelcome or restricting an employee's movement;
• Displaying or transmitting pornographic or sexually-oriented materials (such as photographs, posters, cartoons, drawings, or other images) or storing or accessing such materials on State-owned equipment for personal use or consumption;
• Engaging in indecent exposure;
• Making obscene gestures (i.e., hand or bodily gestures);
• Making romantic advances and persisting despite rejection of the advances;
• Using sexually-oriented language or making sexually-related propositions, jokes, or remarks, including graphic verbal commentary about an individual's body or clothing; and/or by electronic communication.

Sexual Harassment Training will be emailed from TCSG within 30 days of employment.

Harassment of any kind will NOT be tolerated!

• One person's kidding...is another person's harassment.
• Faculty, staff and students are expected to conduct themselves in ways that cannot be misinterpreted as harassment.

If you observe or experience harassment:

• Put a stop to it, if you can!
• If you need assistance, report it to Human Resources.

Workplace Violence

SCTC is committed to providing all employees, students, volunteers, visitors, vendors, and contractors a safe and secure workplace and/or academic setting free of intimidating, threatening, or violent behavior.

Any violent act or threatening or disruptive behavior, language, or communication in any form (including phone, fax, email, text, social media, or written communication) shall not be tolerated.

Anyone who believes they have been subject to workplace violence should report the matter to the Office of Human Resources.

Anyone who violates this policy shall be subject to disciplinary action up to, and including, termination.

Campus Assessment Response and Evaluation (CARE) Team

The SCTC CARE team is dedicated to a proactive and supportive multi-disciplinary team approach to the prevention, assessment, intervention and management of situations that may impact the safety and well-being of our individuals or the College community.

CARE Goals

Promote a safe physical and emotional environment for members of the College community and provide peace of mind to friends and family.
 

CARE Team Members

• Dr. Xenia Johns, Vice President of Student Affairs
• Candice Buckley, Director of Student Support Services - Chair
• Beth Burns, Director of Human Resources
• Lemuel Mercado, SCTC Chief of Police
• Eben Risper, Assistant Director of Student Support Services/Special Populations
• Teresa Brooks, Special Services/Disability Coordinator
• Mary Jackson, Special Services/Disability Coordinator

Types of Behavior Referred to CARE

• Demeanor that represents a significant change in appearance, mood and/or social functioning.
• Behavior that creates a disruptive or hostile campus environment.
• Actions that potentially endanger the safety of any member of the college community.
• Conduct that impacts a college community member's physical and/or psychological well-being.
• Acts that cause damage to personal or college property.
• Behavior that impacts the ability of students to learn, faculty to teach, or the College to conduct routine business.

For more about the CARE program, or for contact information, please go to their webpage, https://www.sctech.edu/tigercare/.

Title IX

SCTC requires all new employees to go through Title IX training. Please click the link below for it.

https://libguides.sctech.edu/titleix

Accessibility Training

Effective January 18, 2018, all public-facing content and internal college business, including websites, blog posts, social media sites, email, and course content should comply with the established accessibility guidelines.

SCTC developed a plan to bring information and communication technology (ICT) into compliance with recently updated federal accessibility requirements.

This presentation is mandatory for all employees. Click below to watch the video entitled TCSG General Accessibilty Training. Alternately, you may click this link to watch the video in a separate tab (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFWIsbzA_s8). After the training, please complete the General Accessibility Training Acknowledgment Form, located at the bottom of the page, and return it to Human Resources.

Scheduled Classes

Faculty members must meet their classes on the scheduled days and for the scheduled amount of time each session.

If an emergency causes you to be late or absent and you cannot reach your department chair:

Contact your Dean for Academic Affairs, or the "ON CALL" Dean.

Email and Internet Use

All information created, stored or transmitted by College computers or networks is subject to monitoring for compliance with applicable laws and policies.

Specifically prohibited:

• using for personal commercial activities
• accessing obscene material
• any abusive or destructive activity

Student Privacy - FERPA

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA) protects privacy of education records:

NO education records will be released to anyone without the written consent of the student (except certain organizations stipulated by FERPA).

Please keep in mind:

• Safeguard student social security numbers
• Do NOT give out student contact information
• Student directory information CAN be released without consent

Questions about FERPA? Contact the Registrar's Office.

Positive Discipline

• Positive Discipline is designed and used to emphasize an employee's responsibility and accountability for his/her own behavior and actions within the workplace.
• Positive Discipline addresses problems in such general areas as performance, conduct, behavior, attendance, and safety.
• Key aspects include recognizing and encouraging good performance, correcting performance problems through coaching and counseling, building commitment to high work standards and sage work practices.
• Managers and/or Supervisors are responsible for communicating college rules, practices, and expectations consistently.
• This policy is not to be considered an explicit or implied contract between the College and any employee or group of employees.
• The College reserves the right to adapt, modify, or abandon this and/or any other policy at any time, for any reason, without advance notice to any employee.

An employee who is in an "at will" employment status, who has worked for less than twelve (12) months, who is a temporary employee, hourly-paid employee, adjunct faculty, or technical college president, are not covered under the provisions of the Positive Discipline Procedure and therefore can be terminated without going through the steps of Positive Discipline.

An employee who has less than twelve (12) months of service with the college is considered a probationary status employee and is not covered under the Positive Disciplinary Procedure.