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Personnel Board adopts updated harassment policy with edits and investigation flexibilities
Summary
The Personnel Board approved revisions to PPP 27 to broaden protections to all forms of unlawful and discriminatory harassment, adopt MCAD-recommended language, and asked staff to adjust wording on designated grievance officers and investigation steps.
The Town of Concord Personnel Board on March 12 approved revisions to PPP 27, the town’s harassment policy, broadening the document to cover all unlawful and discriminatory harassment and updating reporting contacts and remedies, board members said at the meeting.
The updated policy replaces the narrower original title and scope that focused on a single class of harassment; the redrafted title and text expand coverage to include protected-class harassment and incorporate guidance from the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD) template, according to staff who presented the revision. Legal counsel reviewed the draft before it came to the board.
Board members discussed whether complaints about supervisors should use “designee” language if the named investigators were the subject of a complaint, and they asked staff to soften prescriptive language describing each investigative step so the policy retains flexibility for unusual cases. The board also asked staff to reword references to a town “harassment grievance officer” so the policy directs complaints to the individuals listed in the policy rather than creating a standalone job title not otherwise defined in town materials.
One policy detail discussed was whether harassment that is not based on a protected class (for example, general workplace bullying) is covered; staff said that non‑protected conduct is typically handled under the town’s workplace violence or standards-of-conduct policies rather than this harassment policy. The policy packet removes some training attachments that staff said were more appropriate for training materials than policy text.
Votes at a glance • Approval: updated PPP 27 (harassment / discriminatory harassment). Outcome: approved with edits (unanimous among members present).
During the meeting, board members also recommended replacing references to specific named personnel with position/designee language so the policy remains operable if individuals change roles. Staff said the policy will be posted in the ADP portal and on town bulletin boards and that electronic acknowledgments will be requested from employees as part of the town’s annual policy sign-off process.
Ending: Staff will produce a clean final draft with the agreed edits for the board to review; the policy is an annual required revision and will be circulated for employee acknowledgment once finalized.
