Announcement of the Departmental Sexual Harassment Hotline 

January 19, 2001 


MEMORANDUM


To:       All Employees 

From:     Minnijean Brown-Trickey 
          Deputy Assistant Secretary for Workforce Diversity 

Subject:  Announcement of the Departmental Sexual Harassment Hotline 

In further support of the Department's Zero Tolerance and Sexual 
Harassment policies, we are pleased to announce that the Office for Equal 
Opportunity has established a hotline to report alleged acts of sexual 
harassment. 

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission defines "Sexual harassment" as 
unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or 
physical contact of a sexual nature when (1) submission to such conduct is 
made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an 
individual's employment, (2) submission to or rejection of such conduct by 
an individual is used as a basis for employment decisions affecting such 
individuals, or (3) such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably 
interfering with an individual's work performance or creating an 
intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment. 

The Sexual Harassment Hotline's toll-free number is: 1-800-208-0328.  You 
may also reach the hotline in the Washington, D.C. area at (202) 
208-0328.  Deaf and hearing impaired callers may reach the hotline at 
(202) 208-5998 (TDD).  The e-mail address for the hotline is 
http://Sexual_Harassment_Hotline@ios.doi.gov.  The hotline will be available 
for receipt of calls 24 hours a day.  The incoming calls will be monitored 
by Office for Equal Opportunity staff members and referred to the 
appropriate Bureau for prompt action.  We recognize that confidentiality 
is important.  Therefore, the confidentiality and privacy of individuals 
using the hotline to report instances will be respected to the extent 
reasonably possible, as well as that of persons accused of engaging in 
reported actions. 

Actions taken by Bureaus in response to calls referred from the Hotline 
will be monitored regularly by the Office for Equal Opportunity and 
reported back to my office.