Anti Discrimination Policy

Policy Brief and Purpose

EduCrack is committed to providing a workplace free from all forms of discrimination. It is the right of an employee to be treated with dignity and respect and at the same time, it is also the responsibility of an employee to treat others in the same way.

Each individual has the right to work in a professional atmosphere that promotes equal employment opportunities and prohibits unlawful discriminatory practices, including harassment. Therefore, EduCrack expects that all relationships among persons in the office will be business-like and free of explicit bias, prejudice and harassment.

EduCrack has developed this policy to ensure that all its employees can work in an environment free from unlawful harassment, discrimination and retaliation. EduCrack will make every reasonable effort to ensure that all concerned are familiar with these policies and are aware that any complaint in violation of such policies will be investigated and resolved appropriately. EduCrack is committed to meeting its lawful obligation relating to discrimination and will take all reasonable and practical steps to provide and maintain a working environment free from any kind of discrimination.

Scope

All employees, regardless of their positions, are covered by and are expected to comply with this policy and to take appropriate measures to ensure that prohibited conduct does not occur. Appropriate disciplinary action will be taken against any employee who violates this policy. Based on the seriousness of the offence, disciplinary action may include verbal or written reprimand, suspension, or termination of employment.

Policy Elements

Discrimination is any negative action or attitude directed toward someone because of protected characteristics, like race and gender. Other protected characteristics are:

• Age
• Sex
• Religion
• Caste
• Ethnicity / Nationality
• Region / Place of Origin
• Equal Pay or Compensation
• Disability / Medical Histor
• Marriage / Civil Partnership
• Pregnancy / Maternity / Paternity
• Gender Identity / Sexual Orientation

Discrimination also includes refusing to hire, accept, register, classify, or refer applicants for employment and discharging employees.

Discrimination and Harassment

EduCrack anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies go hand-in-hand. We will not tolerate any kind of discrimination that creates a hostile and unpleasant environment for employees, interns or volunteers.

This is not an exhaustive list, but here are some instances that we consider discrimination:

• Hiring managers disproportionately disqualifying male or female job candidates on purpose.
• Managers bypassing team members with specific protected characteristics (e.g. race) for promotion without being able to formally prove (e.g. with documentation) the reasons other employees were selected instead.
• Employees making sexist comments.
• Employees sending emails disparaging someone’s ethnic origin.

Here are some instances that we consider harassment at workplace:

• Physical contact and advances
• Demand or request for sexual favour(s).
• Making sexually coloured remarks.
• Showing pornography.
• Any other unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of a sexual nature.
• Series of repeated offensive remarks, such as teasing related to a person's body or appearance.
• Inappropriate questions, suggestions or remarks about a person's sex life.
• Displaying sexist or other offensive pictures, posters, MMS, SMS, WhatsApp, or e-mails.
• Invasion of personal space (getting too close for no reason, brushing against or cornering someone).
• Persistently asking someone out, despite being turned down.
• Stalking an individual.
• Controlling a person's reputation by rumour-mongering about his/her private life.

Employees who harass their colleagues will go through our disciplinary process and we may reprimand, demote or terminate them depending on the severity of their offence.

We recognize that sometimes discrimination is unintentional, as we may all have unconscious biases that could be difficult to identify and overcome. In case we conclude that an employee unconsciously discriminates, we will support them through training, counselling and implement processes that mitigate biases as we indicate in the next section. But, if this person shows an unwillingness to change their behaviour, we may demote or terminate them.

Actions to Prevent Discrimination-

To ensure that our conduct and processes are fair and lawful, we:

• Use inclusive language in job ads and include Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) statements.
• Set formal job-related criteria to hire, promote and reward team members.
• Offer compensation and benefits according to position, seniority, qualifications and performance, not protected characteristics.
• Accommodate people with disabilities.
• Require managers to keep detailed records of their decisions concerning their team members and job candidates.

We will also consider additional measures to prevent discrimination, like:

• Using hiring processes that reduce bias like structured interviews and blind hiring programs.
• Organizing training on diversity, communication and conflict management to improve collaboration among employees of different backgrounds.

Reporting an Incident

An internal grievance should be reported to HR or Manager and he/she will be the person to raise issues of concern. All complaints will be treated confidentially, seriously and with sympathy. If you are the victim of discriminatory behaviour (or if you suspect that others are being discriminated against,) please talk to HR or the manager as soon as possible. HR is responsible for hearing your claim, investigating the issue and determining punishment.

Punishment for discriminatory behaviour depends on the severity of the offence. For example, inadvertently offending someone might warrant a reprimand. Conversely, willfully bypassing employees for promotion because of a protected characteristic will result in termination.

If you decide to make a claim to a regulatory body, we are committed and bound by law not to retaliate against you.

Complaint Procedure

HR is proactive and responsive to determining whether discrimination occurs. We will investigate all claims discreetly. The identity of the employee making the complaint shall not be disclosed, neither will the information regarding the same. No sort of hint regarding the identity of the employee raising the complaint or the contents of it shall be disclosed to anyone within or outside of the Company.

Alternative Legal Remedies

If the issue is out of an organization control it will be treated accordingly in a lawful way under the different anti-discrimination policy:

1. ‘The Equal Remuneration Act 1976’, it prescribes that men and women must be paid equal wages for the same or similar work and no such discrimination to be made while recruiting for the same or similar work either unless employment of women in that category is prohibited under applied law.
2. ‘The Maternity Benefit Act 1961’, it prohibits termination of employment of pregnant woman employees and mandates maternity benefit to such women.
3. ‘The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016’, this act ensures that the government will provide an environment where PWD enjoys the right to equality, life with dignity, and respect for his or her own integrity equally with others.
4. ‘The Sexual Harassment of women at workplace (Prevention, Prohibition And Redressal) Act 2013’, POSH Act is fully applicable to private sector organisations by virtue of Section 2 (0) (ii) and is currently the only legislation in India entitling a victim of discrimination in the workplace to avail the compensation, even if such discrimination does not occur at the hands of the employer himself/herself.
5. ‘Anti-discrimination Act 1977’, The Act presently provides protection from discrimination in relation to most grounds on the basis of neutrality (i.e., persons of both genders, all races and all forms of marital status are to be treated equally.)