The Ruby LA Anti-Harassment and Anti-Bullying Safe Space Policy
The Ruby LA is dedicated to building a safe and supportive environment to protect and grow our incredible community of comedians, actors and writers. We stand behind a zero tolerance policy in the face of harassment, sexual harassment, or bullying of any kind.
We welcome anyone to report any issues they experience, witness or know about in any capacity. We encourage students, house team members, and everyone in our community to feel comfortable making a report. People may also feel free to ask questions, and communicate concerns or worries, however small, about anything. Nothing is too minor or inconsequential to bring to us, or to ask us about. If you feel or sense something is off, we invite you to reach out.
We aim to make reporting harassment easy and confidential. If you’d like to report something, please feel free to reach out to anyone on the following list, or anyone else in a leadership position (teacher; coach; staff) at The Ruby LA:
Lindsey Barrow – The Ruby LA: lindsey@therubyLA.com
Randy Thompson – The Ruby LA: randy@therubyLA.com
Below is our explicit Anti-Harassment and Anti-Bullying policy drafted by our former parent company, Legendary. This is the policy we have elected to continue following as a community. Some language below refers to a professional environment, and we invite you to consider The Ruby LA a professional environment. We consider all language below to stand for The Ruby LA performers, students and everyone else in our community.
Anti-Harassment and Anti-Bullying Policy
The Ruby LA does not tolerate harassment of our job applicants, contractors or employees by another employee, supervisor, vendor, customer, or any third party. Any form of harassment on the basis of race, creed, color, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, religion, marital status, medical condition, disability, military service, pregnancy, childbirth and related medical conditions or any other classification protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws and ordinances is prohibited. The Ruby LA is committed to a workplace and community free of harassment.
Harassment Defined: Harassment as defined by this policy is unwelcome verbal, visual or physical conduct creating an intimidating, offensive, or hostile work environment that interferes with work performance. Harassment can be verbal (including slurs, jokes, insults, epithets, gestures or teasing), graphic (including offensive posters, symbols, cartoons, drawings, computer displays, or e-mails) or physical conduct (including physically threatening another, blocking someone’s way, etc.) that denigrates or shows hostility or aversion towards an individual because of any protected characteristic. Such conduct violates this policy, even if it is not unlawful. Employees are expected to behave at all times in a professional and respectful manner.
Sexual Harassment Defined. Sexual harassment can include all of the above actions when predicated on the sex, sexual orientation or gender identity of the victim or victims, as well as other unwelcome conduct, such as unwelcome or unsolicited sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, conversations regarding sexual activities and other verbal or physical conduct or a sexual nature.
Examples of conduct that violates this policy include:
- Unwelcome sexual advances, flirtations, advances, leering, whistling, touching, pinching, assault, blocking normal movement
- Requests for sexual favors or demands for sexual favors in exchange for favorable treatment
- Obscene or vulgar gestures, posters, or comments
- Sexual jokes or comments about a person’s body, sexual prowess, or sexual deficiencies
- Propositions, or suggestive or insulting comments of a sexual nature
- Derogatory cartoons, posters, and drawings
- Sexually-explicit emails or voicemails
- Uninvited touching of a sexual nature
- Unwelcome sexually-related comments
- Conversation about one’s own or someone else’s sex life
- Conduct or comments consistently targeted at only one gender, even if the content is not sexual
- Teasing or other conduct directed toward a person because of the person’s gender.
Bullying Defined: Bullying includes repeated inappropriate behavior, either direct or indirect, whether verbal, physical or otherwise, conducted by one or more persons against another or others, at the place of work and/or in the course of employment. Bullying may be intentional or unintentional.
Examples of conduct that violates this policy include:
- Verbal bullying: Slandering, ridiculing or maligning a person or his or her family; persistent name calling that is hurtful, insulting or humiliating; using a person as butt of jokes; abusive and offensive remarks.
- Physical bullying: Pushing, shoving, kicking, poking, tripping, assault or threat of physical assault, damage to a person’s work area or property
- Gesture bullying: Non-verbal threatening gestures; glances that can convey threatening messages.
- Exclusion: Socially or physically excluding or disregarding a person in work-related activities.
- Micro-aggressions: a comment or action that subtly and often unconsciously or unintentionally expresses a prejudiced attitude toward a member of a marginalized group (such as a racial minority)
In addition, the following examples may constitute or contribute to evidence of bullying in the workplace:
- Persistent singling out of one person
- Shouting or raising voice at an individual in public or private
- Using verbal or obscene gestures
- Not allowing the person to speak or express himself or herself (i.e., ignoring or interrupting)
- Personal insults and use of offensive nicknames
- Public humiliation in any form
- Constant criticism on matters unrelated or minimally related to the person’s job performance or description
- Ignoring or interrupting an individual at meetings
- Public reprimands
- Repeatedly accusing someone of errors that cannot be documented
- Deliberately interfering with mail and other communications
- Spreading rumors and gossip regarding individuals
- Encouraging others to disregard a supervisor’s instructions
- Manipulating the ability of someone to do his or her work (e.g., overloading, under-loading, withholding information, assigning meaningless tasks, setting deadlines that cannot be met, giving deliberately ambiguous instructions)
- Inflicting menial tasks not in keeping with the normal responsibilities of the job
- Taking credit for another person’s ideas
- Refusing reasonable requests for leave in the absence of work-related reasons not to grant leave
- Deliberately excluding an individual or isolating him or her from work-related activities, such as meetings
- Unwanted physical contact, physical abuse or threats of abuse to an individual or an individual’s property (defacing or marking up property)
All such conduct is unacceptable in the workplace and in any work-related or community related settings such as rehearsals, shows, classes, events, parties, trips, other social functions, business trips and business-related social functions, regardless of whether the conduct is engaged in by a supervisor, co-worker, client, customer, vendor or other third party.
Reporting Procedure: Any person who is the subject of, who has the knowledge of, or who witnesses any possible prohibited harassment, bullying, discrimination or retaliation is urged to immediately bring such information to the attention of any one or more of the following persons:
Included specifically are the following personnel:
Lindsey Barrow – The Ruby LA: lindsey@therubyLA.com
Randy Thompson – The Ruby LA: randy@therubyLA.com
No Retaliation: The Ruby LA prohibits any form of discipline or retaliation for reporting perceived violations of this policy, pursuing any such claim, or cooperating in any way in the investigation of such claims. If an employee believes someone has violated this no-retaliation policy, the employee should bring the matter to the immediate attention of a member of the management team. Anyone regardless of position or title, whom The Ruby LA determines has engaged in conduct that violates the policy against retaliation will be subject to discipline, up to and including termination. A decision not to report these claims prevents us from taking steps to remedy the problem. Please do not hesitate report any and all claims of harassment and/or retaliation.