Vermont Legislature SmartTranscripts:

[Unidentified House moderator]: Alright, welcome back everyone. We're live. Thank you for your patience this morning. Today we have our Respect in the Workplace Training. Katrina is going to lead this and I'm going to turn it over to her. Thank you. Good

[Katrina Meigs (Trainer, Acrisure HR Consulting)]: morning, everyone. Thank you. As we sort of work through a couple technical issues. My name is Katrina Meigs. I work with AccraSure. For those of you in more who familiar with the insurance world, we were Hickok and Boardman until a couple of years ago. I work in the HR intelligence arm, offering a host of HR services, this type of training, including one of them. So I wanna give a little preface around this training before I get started in that a lot of you have sat through traditional harassment discrimination training, and I, as well, have sat through them and done them. And I wanted to sort of change the dynamic around it a little bit. So we're gonna talk about harassment and discrimination, but we're gonna talk about it under the umbrella of respect and kindness. And with the goal that if we're able to treat everyone that we encounter with respect and kindness, that maybe we'll never end up in a place where we have discrimination or harassment. Maybe maybe a dream, but I like to sort of give a little more context around that. So as we get started, we're going to talk a little bit about bias. I think it's important that we all have a shared language around what bias is and isn't. We're gonna talk about what respect looks like, feels like, why it matters in the Vermont General Assembly. We're gonna talk about harassment and discrimination. We were definitely gonna touch on that. And then the last fifteen or twenty minutes, I have some scenarios that we're gonna go through. I love participation. I realize this is a large group. It's not necessarily conducive to sort of having an interactive conversation, but I encourage you if you have a question, if you have a comment, raise your hand, get my attention. I would I would love to address it in the time. So with that, let's get started. I wanna be clear. This training is not about sides. It's not about politics. But we today, particularly, cannot open our phones, turn on the television, listen to the radio, look at a newspaper without being inundated with examples of people not being respectful to one another. It's everywhere and it impacts us. And so I wanna talk about what that impact means and how when we look at it through the lens of respect, we can minimize that impact. When we talk about bias, so many of us feel Can someone just click okay? Let me see if I can do it. Did I do it? Nope. I went off mine, but I don't know. Is it on? That's hands? All right, bear with us one moment. Thank you. Respectfully. Thank you. I appreciate that. Alright. While we're working on that, I'm gonna I'm gonna continue to move on. And so I I wanna start with bias because I think a lot of us feel like bias is negative just by nature, and it's really not. It's just our brains trying to make patterns and make sense of what's coming at us. We're dealing with thirty, forty thousand pieces of information every day. And if our brains had to focus on every single one of those, we'd be exhausted. We wouldn't be able to function. So really, it's just our brain's way of saying how are we navigating this. When it becomes troublesome, problematic, may start to take on that negative connotation, is when it becomes explicit. And that's when we take that pattern that our brains have made and we use it against another party, against another group. And that's when it becomes explicit. And that's when bias can be troublesome. Every single one of us in this room has bias. The goal is not to eliminate it. It's to recognize it and to make sure that it doesn't affect us or how we make decisions or how we interact with others. Awareness is that first step in respect. So when we talk about those patterns that our brains make, it happens really quickly. They're already formed in our brains. In the time I've been talking about this slide, some of you may have made assumptions about these pictures of these four potential professions. You may have made, maybe an assumption around a profession, an age, maybe a level of education, maybe socioeconomic status. That's what our brains do. But I wanna make sure that you realize that we're making those assumptions based on a one dimensional picture, that there's so much more behind the scenes on these. Just because I feel like a Tuesday, we should play a game. Right? Does anyone remember scattergories? I see I see heads shaking. We're gonna play a quick little game of scattergories just to help illustrate how those patterns form in our brain and how quickly they happen and how quickly we're able to rely on them. So I'm gonna give ten seconds per category. We only have two because I know we have limited time. I want you to think about them, keep them in your brain. And after the ten seconds, I'm just gonna ask by show of hands who had who had how many, and then we will go from there and talk. So the first category, starting with the letter b, are singers. So I'll give you ten seconds to think of as many singers or musicians that start with the letter b. Okay. How many had five? Any we've got a five, five, any fives on this side? A five here. Those of you that had fives, music buffs have an amazing vinyl collection somewhere. Yeah. So that allowed you to make that assumption, that pattern really quickly because exposure. You've had that experience with those pieces. Next oh, sorry. It popped up. I got clicker happy, and you all had a heads up. So car parts. And this is usually when it gets some eye rolls. People are like, oh my gosh. Car parts starting now. Okay. Anybody get five car parts? Oh, I see lots of hands. Oh, lots of hands. Six? We've got a six. I've never had a six. Do we have a seven? I feel like an auctioneer. Okay. Whoever had the six back here? Are you a mechanic, a car buff? I worked in automotive. You worked in automotive. Absolutely. So again, that's how you're able to come up with those so quickly. I did have somebody in a previous session say that she's had nothing to do with cars, but she's had every car problem happened to her in the last year and she was able to come up with five. So again, just a fun exercise to illustrate how quickly our brains make those patterns and how it can influence how quickly we can react to those. So we go back to that slide with the four pictures of the professions. And I'm really it's really clicker happy. I'm gonna set it down. I wanna talk about diversity a little bit. When we look at those four pictures of those professions, we're seeing a lot of what falls within the inside of that wheel. Right? We may be able to see age. We might have been able to pick gender, maybe race. But then we have that exterior wheel where there is so much more. And remember, I said we're looking at a one dimensional picture and we're making assumptions. When we make those assumptions, we're not taking into thought what happens on the external part of that wheel. Right? I'm looking at all of you. I might be able to guess what level of education, but not really. Maybe based on rings that all of you are wearing, I might be able to know marital status. I have no idea how many of you have children, have families, any of that. And so I encourage you to remember when we jump to those assumptions that there's still a lot more to a person than what we see. And so we know that diversity encompasses acceptance and respect. It means understanding that each individual is unique and recognizing our individual differences. It's about understanding each other and moving beyond simple tolerance to embracing and celebrating the rich dimensions of diversity contained within each individual. So we know diversity alone does not guarantee inclusion. Diversity means having a variety of people representative. Inclusion is when all people are generally invited to the table, they're heard, and they truly feel like they belong. Without inclusion, diversity remains just a number. It's inclusion that makes it come to life. And so I say that because I believe respect. That that is an inherent part. So as we talk about what respect looks like and feels like and why it's important, I want you to reflect on that. So a few statistics that I think are important as we have this conversation. By 2045, groups formerly seen as minorities are projected to be majority status. About half of generation z are racially or ethnically diverse, making them the most diverse generation in US history. We know that companies who have diverse management teams are more productive and have higher revenue. And about three quarters of job seekers and employees consider a company's diversity and inclusion efforts when accepting a position. And I can say personally from an HR perspective, when I interview new hires, they're coming to us as employers saying, how do we know people are treated respectfully in your organization? What do you do around inclusion? What what are your what are your committees? How do you support that? How does it actually function? And those were questions that weren't asked five, ten, fifteen years ago. So again, we talk about that stress in opening the newspaper or turning on the television and seeing all of these examples of people not being respected. And that can create stress. And so I share these statistics around stress not to freak anybody out, but to just share that you never know what the person sitting next to you is experiencing, what they're coming to the table with. We know that about forty one percent of employees report experiencing significant stress daily. Seventy four percent of employees report negative mental health at work. Sixty percent of employees said their mental health affects their work, and fifty four percent of workers say work stress affects their home life. And I realized this isn't necessarily an employee employer situation, that you're in a place where you are not necessarily in that, but this is where you work. This is your work environment. So the same statistics are at play. Stress doesn't live in a vacuum. It's not as simple as that. It's shaped by how we treat one another, how supported people feel, and whether the environment is safe and respectful. So what does a respectful workplace mean? So I went back to Webster's dictionary to find a definition, and this one really resonated with me. A feeling of deep admiration for someone or something elicited by their abilities, qualities, or achievements. It's not as simple as being polite. So many times I encounter people who are like, I was being respectful. I said, please. I said, thank you. It's so much bigger than that. It's actually how we recognize, how we acknowledge the worth and dignity of others in everyday interactions. It's not a one time event. I said thank you. I was being respectful. How are we doing it on a regular basis? So I wanna take a moment, and I want you all to think. What does a respectful workplace look like? What does it feel like? And I would love just shout out.

[Unidentified House moderator]: Listen. People

[Katrina Meigs (Trainer, Acrisure HR Consulting)]: are listening. Absolutely. People's actions speak louder than your words. Absolutely. That's a great one. Thank you. Anyone else? Thank you.

[Unidentified attendee(s) (Representatives/Staff)]: Facial expressions.

[Katrina Meigs (Trainer, Acrisure HR Consulting)]: Absolutely. Our bodies tell a lot. Right? They can they can tell you if I'm happy or I'm sad or I'm frustrated or if I'm engaged. Anyone else what it feels like? I'm making sure that everyone has an opportunity to speak. Absolutely. And we'll talk about that in just a minute. I have a lot of times when I do this, people say it can be as simple as in the morning when I'm coming into the building and being greeted with hi, good morning, good morning. Not the sort of generic how are you, right, which we all have a rote response to good, how are you? Good, how are you? It's really that just that smile and saying good morning. Hi. How are you? How are things today?

[Unidentified attendee(s) (Representatives/Staff)]: I think we also need be mindful that not everyone communicates with smiling

[Katrina Meigs (Trainer, Acrisure HR Consulting)]: though. Absolutely.

[Unidentified attendee(s) (Representatives/Staff)]: It's frustrating sometimes when people demand certain emotional expressions of us and that's not necessarily respectable.

[Katrina Meigs (Trainer, Acrisure HR Consulting)]: Yep. Absolutely. And we'll we'll talk about that a little bit. You know, how eye contact is not necessarily indicative particularly around the neurodivergent people that we that we encounter on a on a basis. So we know that respect shows up every day. It's in our everyday reaction interactions. So we've got communication. Right? And again, we were just talking about what does active listening mean? It can mean eye contact, doesn't necessarily mean it. We can be nodding. We can be pausing before we're responding, allowing that person to have that opportunity. It's that body language. Right? Am I open? Am I showing you that I'm that I'm actually there? We need to be careful about those microaggressions. We need to watch out for our eye rolls, size, maybe that interrupting when we feel like what we have to say is is more worthy or more important than the person speaking. And then again, that body language. Am I am I closed off? Are my arms crossed? Are my legs crossed? It's really not inviting. I'm not saying, hey, I'm here. I wanna hear what you have to say. Are you using a professional tone? Even when you're disagreeing? Because I can guarantee at some point during this session, every single one of you are gonna have a disagreement with somebody. Are you able to do it in a professional tone? And if you're not, are you able to give yourself the space and the grace to take a minute to collect yourself so that you are able to respond in that positive manner? Are you able to own your mistakes? Again, we're all human. We're not robots. We will make mistakes. How do you own that? How do you move past making a mistake? And are you sincere about it? Are you able to say, I own that. I realized that because I did that, it impacted you, and I'm sorry. Are you using humor appropriately? I love to laugh. I wanna laugh all the time every day. If I'm not, something's wrong, but I'm not directing it at people or groups. My humor is used appropriately. We also see respect show up when we talk about mindset. Are we assuming positive intent? We are so programmed as humans to go right to fixing a problem, right to the solution. And we know because we know we know what happened. Right? Are you able to step back a little bit and say, I'm maybe I'm not sure. And give the other person the ability to say, to tell their story, to say what happened and not make my assumption of intent the reality of what's happening. One way of doing this is that we're separating the issue from the person. Right? So it's really easy for us to say, and I see a familiar face out in the, the audience. It's easy for me to say, I don't like John. I I just don't like John. Well, it's not that I don't like John. It's maybe that John and I had a disagreement or there was an issue or an interaction that we had. It's not him as a person, him as a human that I don't like. It was this interaction or this discussion or this decision. And if you're able to separate that, it makes being respectful so much easier. We see it when we talk about inclusion and fairness. Are we recognizing and valuing those diverse experience and perspectives? We all say, oh, I wanna hear everybody's opinion. I want everybody at the table. But are we truly hearing and acknowledging? It doesn't mean that we're necessarily gonna have to move forward with exactly what's happening, but are we acknowledging that somebody brought something something to the table that was new and different? This one next one for me is huge. Are we treating people consistently and fairly? I think one thing as humans we all yearn for is that level of consistency. There's nothing harder than to have two people do the same thing and be treated very differently and have that inconsistency. And so think about that. Are you consistent in what you do and how you function on a daily basis? And again, back to that acknowledging those new ideas and contributions. It also shows up in how we're talking about boundaries. And a lot of times people say, what do you mean boundaries? Are we able to set and respect people's boundaries around time and space? Are we able to say, hey, look, I know that you're run it's 04:45 and you're and you're running into a quick meeting and you're leaving at five. This may not be the ideal time for me to drop this big project on you. Are you acknowledging that? I know we all have a job to do, and we have a time frame to do it in. I'm not saying that we don't abide by those, but are we acknowledging people's individual time and space boundaries and what they may need? We're not gossiping. We're not bad mouthing. And I don't believe anybody comes to work or comes into a workplace with the intent of gossiping to say, oh, I'm gonna gossip, but it happens really easily. Hey, you know who I saw at the farmer's market Saturday? You'll never believe who they were with. And whoop, we're right down that slope. We are into the gossip train and it's really hard to pull it back. So again, just be aware. We'll talk in a minute about talking to a person rather than about a person if you have the opportunity. We also sometimes see exclusion. There's a group of people. They always go to lunch together, but this one or two people aren't invited. Why does that happen? How does that happen? Are you including them? Have you invited them? And then we talk about being present. I talk about being present a lot. Again, we're human. I am never gonna be a 100% all the time. But when I am, I'm not just physically there. I'm also mentally there, and I'm able to do that. And if I'm not able to be a 100% mentally there, that I have some kind of a check-in mechanism. So those on my team know, hey, I had a really rough morning. I'm, you know, I'm just not at a 100% today. I do that a lot with my colleagues. I'll say, hey, look. I I just got done doing two sessions with the senate and the house in in three hours. I'm gonna need I'm not gonna be a 100% until probably 03:00 today. But to be able to say that and talk about if you're not able to be present, why? And then we talk about the virtual piece. And I don't know how much time you spend on Hollywood Squares. I work remotely. I'm on Hollywood Squares all the time. And so there's some online etiquette. We need to mute ourselves. Right? It would be really nice if we could get rid of the the recording thing. Unfortunately, we're not we're not able to. You know, avoid multitasking. One of the big things that I run into on Hollywood Squares is I can tell when two people are texting one another by their facial expressions. I know that this person just sent that person a text and they're smiling and happening. And so it may happen in your worlds as well. Just be aware of it. I'm not saying that we're never gonna fall into that, but be aware of that. Email. I'm a famous writer, rewriter, rereader, throw it in the draft section of emails when I'm talking about something sensitive or I'm providing some kind of feedback. I wanna make sure that it lands, that it's not offensive, that people are getting the the gist of what I'm saying without me being disrespectful in how I do it. And then avoiding that that sarcasm, that passive aggressive. Right? You ever sent an email or a text and thrown a smiley face at the end of it just so that you you know they're not gonna misread it. You know how they're gonna take that email. Those are all ways that respect shows up in our everyday interactions. I'm gonna take a second. Thoughts? Questions?

[Unidentified attendee(s) (Representatives/Staff)]: I'll try to project. I hope the light works. Earlier, it said use a professional tone, and our we're supposed to wear business professional attire. And something that has been hard for me as a professional in the workplace is that that conception is classic. Yeah. Like this idea of professional tone or professional attire, like my family didn't dress like this. Mhmm. You know? Or talk even like this. So I had to learn a new language as a social worker to function in the workplace and had to adore people, like, constantly judging me and the clients the way they acted, which was more like how I acted. And I feel like in this building, you don't acknowledge that there's, like it's kinda classist. Mhmm. Like, the people who originally sat in chairs were the wealthy man owners, not not the workers necessarily. And maybe we're all not wealthy, but we're expected to behave a certain way here. And so I'm curious if you could can hear me. Mhmm. Is this unprofessional? Mhmm. I don't think it is, but some people might be might say that talking with too much emotion is unprofessional. So I was curious if you can share more about the definition of a professional

[Katrina Meigs (Trainer, Acrisure HR Consulting)]: Yeah. Tone. No. That's a that's a great question. I don't know that I have a a one solid answer for you, but I think given the context of this training, I would refer back to respectful. Is it a respectful tone? Is it is your communication respectful? And again, I think we could split this hair all the way down with with saying what is? What is to this person? What is to this person? I think that we know when somebody's yelling at us, that's probably not a respectful tone to communicate in. If somebody's using a raised voice and I have a relationship with you or I'm building a relationship with you, I'm gonna figure those pieces out. So I would still take it back to sort of that respectful piece, you know, are we we know when people are being short, we know if people are being, I like the word snarky. Right? Those are what I think about when I'm saying in a in a respectful professional tone.

[Unidentified attendee(s) (Representatives/Staff)]: I hear that because I know when my mom tells me to do things sometimes, even me and my siblings will say she's yelling at us, I should be like,

[Katrina Meigs (Trainer, Acrisure HR Consulting)]: And then we're like, Yeah. Yeah. Come down a little for people

[Unidentified attendee(s) (Representatives/Staff)]: to hear us.

[Katrina Meigs (Trainer, Acrisure HR Consulting)]: I think too. I think when we build those relationships with our colleagues, all of this gets easier. We start to learn some of those nuances. We learn some of those things. And hopefully, if we find ourselves in that situation and you are speaking really loudly to me, I can say, I just wanna check. Are are you okay? Are you just excited? You know? But again, it does take some kind of a relationship before you feel comfortable doing that. So thank you. Great question. Anyone? Any other thoughts, questions before we move on? Oh, thank you. So I just wanna I appreciate that. Thank you. People who go Awesome. Thank you so much. Okay. So why does it matter? Why does respect matter? Why are why are we having this conversation? We know when we work in an environment where there's respect, mistakes are owned. There's no gossiping, that backstabbing, that bad mouthing. Anger, which is an emotion we will experience as humans. We will most definitely experience it. But again, it's in that professional manner. Humor is appropriately used, and we focus on the issue, not the individual. I go back to something my parents said in that respect is a two way street. Right? This isn't a one-sided relationship. It's not a one-sided interaction. This is what goes back and forth between all of us. So a little page of tips for saying, am I doing? Am I showing up as my best self? Am I being as respectful as I can? Some things to think about. Am I asking clarifying questions before assuming intent? Am I giving people space to speak without interrupting? And I and I look at myself on this one. I process outside. I process by talking. Clearly, I process with my hands. Not everybody does. Some people do it internally and they do it quietly. Am I making sure that in my exuberance, in my outside processing, I'm giving people the opportunity to do the processing and the speaking that they need. I'm acknowledging good ideas and contributions. I'm staying focused and present both in person and in virtual meetings. I apologize and own it when I get it wrong. I avoid talking about people when I could talk to them. And it's so simple. That's such a simple statement, but it means so much. And if you think about how many times you talk about somebody when I could walk down the hall or or pick up the phone or, you know, send a text and talk to somebody, we do it. And I think it's just this immediacy world that we live in and everything is at our fingertips. I consider how my tone, both verbal and written, might land. So these are all things that you can think about in your daily interactions. So why does it matter? Why why do we care about being in a respectful work environment? So we know, we saw those stress statistics, that respectful workplaces reduce stress and it supports mental health. It builds psychological safety so people feel safe speaking up. They feel safe asking those questions. It strengthens our working relationships, fosters fairness, equity. It encourages diverse perspectives. It improves conflict resolution, problem solving. And this next one is huge for me. It increases engagement, morale, and productivity. This is what we're looking for. Right? As an employee, as a worker in a in an environment, I wanna feel engaged. I wanna feel like I'm being productive. And I wanna do it where the morale is supportive and it feels good. And so we know if we have those three things in place, that it's gonna reduce turnover and it's gonna reduce burnout. So that's why we talk about this. That's why we look at respect through this lens. So I wanna take just a minute as we get ready to shift gears and talk about harassment and discrimination to talk about the two policies and panels that you have within this State House. So we have the house discrimination prevention panel, and I have listed, the chair and the members of that panel. Feel free to raise your hand, show show where you are. I know I see a few here and there. And then this is just an excerpt from that policy. There are physical copies of the policies on the table in front of me that you're welcome to grab. I'll also show you where you can find those on the link as well. The second policy is the House Sexual Harassment Prevention Panel. Again, I have the chair and the members of that panel. I don't know. I see Mollie here. Are there other I see a few hands going up here. Again, as I go into this next section, if you have questions, comments, I may refer to the panel, I may refer to the policy. These are your experts around those pieces. So this is where and I apologize, it says HR shared site. I realize you don't have access to that, but you can access these two policies and the Senate policy, through the legislature.vermont.gov site. So with that, we are gonna jump in and talk a little bit about harassment and discrimination. I'd like to start by talking about examples that are not necessarily discrimination. And I think respectful differences of opinion, everyday workplace disagreements between colleagues are not actionable discrimination. I think leadership appropriately following up on absences, deadlines, policies, progressive discipline, as long as it's consistent and fair, is not falling into that realm of discrimination. Consensual friendly physical contact. That's always a tough one. Consensual is that keyword. That's the word that says this is okay. If you are ever wondering if it's okay to touch somebody, shake somebody's hand, or hug them and you don't know immediately, I would say don't do it. And if you start to build that relationship and you haven't seen that person, hey, is it okay if I give you a hug? I haven't seen you in a while. But I think on the general, when it's between two people and it's consensual, is not rising to that level. I like to talk about workplace bullying. Currently, it's not illegal, does not mean that it's okay, and does not mean that it's tolerated here within the Vermont State House. These are those bad behaviors that are not necessarily reaching the significance of discrimination or harassment. Does not mean they shouldn't be attended to or addressed. It just means that they aren't falling under that specific bucket of discrimination or harassment because they are missing likely that protected category or characteristic. So I've mentioned that protected characteristics. I know all of you have sat through the discrimination and harassment training before. Feel free to shout out a few of those protected characteristics.

[Unidentified attendee(s) (Representatives/Staff)]: Gender identity.

[Katrina Meigs (Trainer, Acrisure HR Consulting)]: Gender identity. Religion. Age. Thought I heard another one. Ab race. Gender. Absolutely. Economic status, absolutely. So I have a list up here. There's two different colors within the list. The first part of that list are in black. Those are all listed at the federal level. Age, color, gender identity, genetic information, disability, whether physical or mental, national origin, citizenship status, veteran status, retaliation, pregnancy, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation. Each state has the ability to add to that list. It's a fluid list and it can change. This is what I pulled for Vermont. HIV positive status, place of birth, ancestry, credit history, criminal history, marital or civil union status, association with a member of a protected category, crime victim status, health insurance coverage, breastfeeding or lactation, off duty tobacco use, political affiliation, or pregnancy related conditions. So as we talk about discrimination and harassment, these are key players. This is the umbrella under which harassment and discrimination can occur.

[Unidentified attendee(s) (Representatives/Staff)]: I don't see weight in somebody who made fun of their work, their weight, and it's not protected.

[Katrina Meigs (Trainer, Acrisure HR Consulting)]: Are they helpful? Don't. They may not I again, this is this is that fine line of where it's not listed. It doesn't mean it's okay. Yeah. Right? I I think they can't we can't list everything. This is what I pulled most recently, but I don't believe weight was one that was specifically carved out.

[Unidentified attendee(s) (Representatives/Staff)]: That's what I just heard from a representative this year.

[Katrina Meigs (Trainer, Acrisure HR Consulting)]: Okay. Thank you. I love it. Yeah. Thank you. Was another. Yeah. No. There was another question in the back. Having a, I'm sorry. Oh, I haven't I haven't seen that. Yeah. Hair. Yeah. I haven't seen that, but, again, that that doesn't mean, that it's not. So when we look at those projected characteristics, again, there's sort of the umbrella that all of this happens within. And so under these are four buckets in which discrimination and harassment can occur. We have unfair treatment. We have retaliation. We have offensive conduct, and we have a hostile work environment. These two on the end are where we tend to see harassment fall. So if we start off with the unfair treatment, discrimination means the unfair or unequal treatment of a person based on a projected characteristic. Discrimination includes conduct that limits, segregates or classifies a person based on a protected characteristic in a manner that would deprive or tend to deprive the person of opportunities related to the person's work in the state house or that would otherwise adversely affect the person's status in relation to the person's work in the state house. Discrimination also includes workplace harassment. So then we have retaliation and this is a new one. Fifteen years ago, this wasn't a bucket. This wasn't something that we spent a lot of time talking about. Right now, it's the largest claim that the EEOC has. It's larger than harassment or discrimination. And so basically it's illegal to fire, demote, harass, or otherwise retaliate against people because they filed a charge of discrimination. They complained to their employer or other covered entity about discrimination on their job, or because they participated in an employment discrimination proceeding. The interesting piece with retaliation is that it's prohibited even if the claim is not substantiated as long as it was made in good faith. So that fourth bucket is offensive conduct. And that's when conduct becomes unlawful because it creates a hostile, intimidating, or abusive work environment based on those protective characteristics. We tend to see this as offensive jokes, slurs, name calling. Sometimes we'll see it as physical threats, assaults, intimidation. That's one I see. When I see discrimination or harassment or claims of, they tend to be very overt. They're they're not really obvious in that intimidation is one where I see that happen. We have ridicule, mockery, repeated put downs, display of offensive images, symbols, or objects. I see that sometimes with people passing around the phone, something they saw on TikTok, tick tock, something they see on Snapchat, one of those pieces. And then we have actual interference with somebody's ability to do their job. And so again, these are all examples of that offensive conduct. When enduring that offensive conduct becomes a condition of continued employment is when it slides into harassment. Based on the federal definition, the conduct must be severe or pervasive enough to create a work environment that a reasonable person would consider intimidating, hostile, or abusive. In the state of Vermont in July 2023, we removed that pervasive language. It no longer has to be ongoing or a pattern. It can be a one time event. So I share this slide not to scare anybody, but also in the state of Vermont, both the individual and the employer can be held liable for instances of discrimination. So before I hop on to sexual harassment, any questions, thoughts? I'm curious if in this context, we're considered employers. So we've had many, many, many conversations about that, and it's interesting because your policies refer to employment and not, Although that's not necessarily the relationship that you were that you came to work under, if that makes sense. So it's not clear. I wish I had a a crystal ball and could be very clear about it. But based on the way the law is written, you do fall under these pieces, but I acknowledge and recognize that you're not necessarily employees or employers. Yeah. That's a that's a great question. So, you know, we I just discussed this in the in the senate about an hour ago and so the the easiest way to explain it is that, yes, that that needs to be the basis of the behavior. So, if somebody's harassing you because you're riding your bike and you keep buckling it to a buckling. That's not the that's I know that's not what you do with your bicycle. You keep locking it to it to somebody else's bike station. Even though you may have a protected characteristic, what the issue is is not related to that. Does that help explain? Thank you. That's a great clarifying question. Yes. Absolutely. Thank you. Did I see another hand? I thought I saw a hand up.

[Unidentified attendee(s) (Representatives/Staff)]: Is it do these protections only apply in settings for people who being gay or are people protected

[Katrina Meigs (Trainer, Acrisure HR Consulting)]: So we're we're kind of crossing out of of my territory in terms of and again, I look at it under that employment Okay. Sort of umbrella. And I would say that there probably are other protections that you have. What I'm talking about are are the protections that you all have in your work environment within the state house. Does that help? Yes. Okay. Great. Okay. Sexual harassment. So, again, it's gonna meet a lot of the same criteria and happen the same way that we were just talking about harassment, but it includes unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal, visual, or physical conduct of a sexual nature when any way any of the three of these apply. Submission to such conduct is made explicitly or implicitly a condition of employment. Employment decisions that can mean promotions, raises, discipline are based on someone's acceptance or rejection of that behavior or the conduct creates a hostile intimidating intimidating or offensive work environment or interferes with someone's ability to do their job. So we know that this can happen in three ways. It can be verbal. These can be comments, words, jokes, propositions, unwanted flirtation, repeated date requests, graphic remarks about somebody's appearance. It can happen non verbally. These can be the images. It could be written content. It could be an object, a sound, a gesture. And then there's the physical, and this can run the spectrum from unwanted touching, brushing, all the way up to assault. So there's some realities about sexual harassment that I think are important. Anyone of any gender, sex, or gender identity can experience or perpetrate sexual harassment. It can happen between peers or where one person holds perceived authority over another. And so I would say with all of you being house of representative and holding that title, that that is a perception of power that you may have over somebody else. I think it's the same in the employment world. If somebody is listed as a supervisor, as a director, there's a perception of power that you have. Whether you actually supervise anybody at all, there is that perception of power. It also can occur in third party interactions and this can be employee to employee, employee to constituent, lobbyist, vendor. So in your role as a house representative, you are protected in any interaction that you may have with somebody regardless if they are actually a colleague or not. So before I jump on, I wanna talk a little bit about being a bystander. And so a lot of times we say, oh, if if if you've been harassed or discriminated against, go talk to somebody. We're kind of turning that a little and we're encouraging the team to help support. So if you believe that you've seen somebody or witnessed something, speak up, say something, bring it to somebody's attention. If it had to do with a staff member, talk with a staff supervisor or talk with HR. If it happens within the house, talk to one of the house panelists. If it happened with the senate, talk to one of the senate panelists. Be able to have that communication. I think what I'm aiming is for us to take away the stigma that the person who had something happen be the one that has to be the one that speaks up, that we as a team can respect each other and support one another in that regard. We can change the subject. Right? We can go back to the whole sport adage. Hey. How about those about those patriots? How about whatever. I'm not a huge football fan, so sort of bear with me on that one. You know, but you can diffuse the conversation. If you're comfortable and you feel safe doing so, call it out. You can call it out privately. You can call it out in the meeting or in the interaction if that feels appropriate. Again, you know the dynamic of the person or the group that you're working with way better than I do standing up here. You can check-in privately. You can offer to support the person. Let them know, right, that you're willing to to help them out. Document what you see. But I think the key piece is we as bystanders, we as team members, we as colleagues play a critical role in creating a respectful workplace. So we talk about reporting. Within the two policies, this is the reporting structure that is spelled out. It does not have to happen in this order. It can go in any order that you want, but this is what's outlined in the policies. In addition to these, you also have the opportunity to report to one of these four entities. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Vermont Human Rights Commission, the Vermont Attorney General's Office, and the Vermont State Ethics Commission are all other areas where you can raise your concern. Questions, thoughts before we move into the scenarios? And, unfortunately, with me standing up here, I can't see the clock, so I'm not sure where we are on time. It's ten Okay. To So we've got ten minutes. Is that how long you've got left? Ten minutes? I'm not sure what time we ended up getting started. Ten minutes? Okay. So we've got ten minutes. So I have a host of scenarios that I would love to walk through. We will not have time likely to make it through all of them, but I would love to have interaction, question, comments as we go through these scenarios. Before we go, any thoughts or questions? Okay. So this first one's just sort of a an easy one to start us off. We have Manny who works remotely and they're a big Duke's basketball fan. Their teammates are mostly Syracuse based, and they constantly are picking on Manny about being a Duke fan. It started out light, just sort of banter, but now it's incessant. It's happening all the time in every meeting, every Zoom call that they're on. It's happening all the time. Is this rising to the level of harassment or discrimination? Probably not. Right? Probably not great behavior, but it's not necessarily rising to that level. Right? Again, I should preface, when we look at these scenarios, it's really difficult. We have one dimension. We don't know background. We don't know history. There's a lot that we don't know. And I would never say we would take something at face value and make judgment on it with the exception of working through these scenarios. So when does teasing shift from fun to uncomfortable? Right? When does that happen? Have you ever encountered that where you've been in a setting where there was joking, joking, and then all of a sudden the joking's not so funny anymore, and you can tell that it's really starting to bother somebody? What could the team or the leader do to reset expectations? Are there things that we could do in the moment to support Manny and to deflect that a little? And how can inclusion and empathy help rebuild trust? What if Manny's done? What if Manny said, I I'm over. This is not working for me anymore. So with these scenarios, the second slide of all these scenarios, I'm gonna have ways to respond or different approaches. We could say, Manny, are you comfortable with the jokes today? If not, we can move away from them. Alright. Let's focus and return to the project. Let's scale back the Duke references. They were light at first, but they're starting to distract from the work. If the jokes aren't landing anymore, maybe it's time to ease up so everyone feels comfortable participating. So we're in a meeting with Alex. Alex jokes, older employees just have a really hard time keeping up with technology. Some people laugh, others look a little uncomfortable. Jordan, who's in their fifties, stays quiet but shares the comment made them feel dismissed and undervalued. Is that rising to the level? It's hard to tell. Right? We don't know. We don't know all the details. We don't know what's going on. Certainly, if Alex has been making comments like this around and other people have heard these types of comments, it's it's worth a conversation with Alex if nothing else. So is there something that we could do in the moment to say, hey? And, again, I'm gonna preface this by saying we probably all have heard that comment made at one time or another. Have we said anything? Have we called it out? Did we say, you know, maybe that's not appropriate at this time? Does Alex have the opportunity if he's made aware to correct, to fix it, to apologize, to say, hey. I I you know, that wasn't my intent. I didn't mean for that to happen. And then can this impact team dynamics? So things that we can respond with. Let's avoid generalizations. That landed a little weird. Let's steer back to the topic. Let's remember, we all bring different strengths, and that's what helps us as a team. Quick reminder, we try not to poke fun at people or groups. Can we refocus? I'm gonna do this one and then skip the next, I think. Alex is having a rough day. Alex isn't making their deadlines. Alex starts swearing in a meeting. Morgan gets really uncomfortable and starts to tune out. Anybody encounter this? Anybody been in a meeting where somebody starts to use profanity and they see somebody check out? I see some hands. Absolutely. Obviously, we know that Alex could express his frustration in a in a more constructive manner. Right? That could happen. Good teammate or a manager do to address. Right? There are things that we could do. We could call it out in the moment. Again, I defer to you knowing your groups, your teams, who you know, and how that would work. Do you have to call talk to them afterwards or can you call it out during the meeting? Things that we could say, I get this is stressful. Let's stress on what we can focus on what we can solve. Can we take a breath? Talk through these issues. I'm hearing the urgency. Alex, I know you're frustrated. Can we reset the tone? Alright. We're gonna skip this one. Okay. We have Jordan, who's nonbinary, recently joined the team. Some coworkers occasionally use wrong pronouns. One day during a meeting, a teammate made a joke about gender identity. The room got quiet, and Jordan looked uncomfortable. Is this rising to the level of anything?

[Unidentified attendee(s) (Representatives/Staff)]: Yeah.

[Katrina Meigs (Trainer, Acrisure HR Consulting)]: Could be. Absolutely. And I see two issues. Right? We've got the issue of the the incorrect pronouns being used, but then we have the joke. And I certainly think I have far less tolerance for the joke than I could maybe the the use of incorrect pronouns. So can you can you say something in the moment? Is there anything that we could say that would diffuse that? This is a big one. Is there a place where we're able to support Jordan but give the person who made the joke the opportunity to apologize and to own the mistake and move on. Is there a space for those two can can can live? So things we could say. Quick reminder, Jordan uses they them. That's a really easy one. That comment wasn't okay. Let's keep it respectful. Let's steer back to the agenda. I know jokes can slip out. That one didn't land. Let's reset. Thanks for being open to the correction. So we have Riley who's appearing before a house committee to provide testimony on a pending bill. During the presentation, a committee member repeatedly interrupts Riley with comments and questions. As a result, Riley is unable to complete their prepared remarks and becomes visibly flustered and the overall flow of the hearing is disrupted. Anybody encounter this? Is that a situation that happens? You know, so what distinguishes appropriate questions from behavior that can be seen as disruptive? How does the respect I'm sorry. How does respecting the flow of testimony support that professionalism and fairness? What role do committee members and leadership play in setting expectations for respectful conduct? So what are things, you know, we could say? Let's allow the witness to complete their testimony before moving to questions. I'd like to remind members to hold questions until the presentation concludes. Please continue. We will return to the questions shortly. For the sake of the record, let's keep questions to the appropriate time. Or the chair if needed. I'm gonna ask members to refrain from interrupting so we can hear their full testimony. Right? So there are lots of respectful ways that we can steer that type of behavior back and allow testimony to happen without calling anybody out saying anything disrespectful. We'll skip that one. Final thoughts. So I usually give groups a heads up that I always ask you to think about walking away with a nugget. And and when I say nugget, I mean piece of information that's new that you're gonna look at in a different way, something that you might employ in your daily interactions, a different way of looking at something. And so again, I'm not able to see the time and know how much we have. If we have time, I'd love to hear if anybody is able to or would like to share something or a nugget that they're willing to walk away with. I don't how are we doing on time? We we at 12:01. Okay. I won't do that. I will let all of you go. I know that we were supposed to be done at noon. So I thank you all, and I hope that this was a a little bit of a different perspective on how we can look at harassment and discrimination through the lens of respect.