CITY OF NEW ORLEANS CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE POLICY MEMORANDUM NO. 83 June 17, 2020 TO: From: All Departments, Boards, Agencies and Commissions Gilbert A. Monta?o, Chief Administrative Of?cer SUBJECT: STANDARDS OF BEHAVIOR FOR CITY EMPLOYEES I. 11. The purpose of this memorandum is to revise the standards of behavior guidelines for City of New Orleans employees. Our goal is to provide ef?cient and courteous service to the public and each other in order to enhance the effectiveness of city government while maintaining the high standards of quality and professionalism necessary to project the best image possible. We are all dependent on each other to accomplish this mission. Our behavior should indicate our willingness to work and demonstrate the pride we have in our profession. The standards given below are to help us achieve our goal. GENERAL STANDARDS a. An employee shall be courteous, civil, and respectful. b. An employee shall have patience with the public and with fellow employees. 0. An employee shall not discriminate against or show partiality to any person in the course of work duties because of race, sex, orientation, ethnic background, religion, political party, age, handicap, sexual, or personal prejudice. No special treatment, partiality, or favoritism shall be given to anyone because of ?connections? or relationship. d. An employee shall report for work at time assigned and remain on duty until the work hours are completed, except for standard, authorized breaks and lunch periods. Work hours shall be Spent in productive work without time being wasted. e. An employee unable to report to work shall inform the supervisor as early as possible, before or at the beginning of the work shift. An employee unable to complete a shift shall notify the supervisor before leaving the job. Some departments have more speci?c policies which apply in their reSpective departments. POLICY MEMORANDUM NO. 83 (BL June 17, 2020 f. Each employee, because of the job assignment, has certain required duties and must assume certain responsibilities. Each employee has a job to do and must do that job. Failure to perform these duties or take these responsibilities is neglect of dug. An employee shall investigate complaints thoroughly, objectively, and fairly to protect the public, the employees, and the government. If a citizen is not satis?ed, then the employee shall refer the person to the immediate supervisor or other higher authority. No one should be sent away without a resolution to their issue if another solution can be found. The supervisor may have greater authority to resolve the problem or more knowledge to ?nd a solution. The citizen will be satis?ed by realizing that every effort has been made to resolve their concern. Personal telephone calls shall be kept to a minimum and shall be brief in duration. If possible, personal telephone calls should be made during breaks and lunch time, and in an area that is not used by the public. An employee shall not watch television, play games, or read for recreation during work hours. An employee shall not conduct any personal business which causes neglect or inattention to work duties. An employee shall not read newspapers or online news feeds during work hours except as a part of a speci?c assignment received in writing or as part of research in preparing an assignment. An employee shall not loiter in the hallways or other parts of the workplace. Employees shall not conduct meetings in the passageways. Meetings shall take place at a workstation or in a meeting room. If an employee meets someone in the hallway and a conversation begins, the people should move quickly to a workstation or of?ce to continue the conversation. Employees shall be encouraged to leave the workplace or go to an authorized lounge area during the duty periods for lunch and breaks. Employees shall not eat in work areas in sight of the public. Eating should be done in eating areas. City property shall be used only for the purpose for which it was intended. Employees shall exercise care in the use of any city property and equipment, including vehicles and technology devices, and report to the immediate supervisor any damages, loss or theft. Use of City property is for work related purposes and not for personal bene?t. Employees shall not use City supplies or of?ce machines for personal business. POLICY MEMORANDUM NO. 83 (R) June 17, 2020 p. An employee shall be ?nancially reSponsible for City property issued, assigned, loaned or under his/her immediate control if the property is damaged or lost through the employee?s negligence. Listed are several examples an employee may be deemed negligent such as: an employee failing to follow a manufacturer?s or department?s instructions for the use or care of equipment, using equipment for a purpose for which it was not intended, failure to return property to its place of safekeeping. Disciplinary action may include a fine or reimbursement paid directly to the department or through payroll deduction. Please refer to Policy Memorandum No. 109 Regulations Pertaining to Assignment, Usage and Care, and Return of City Property by Employees. An employee shall not accept or solicit a valuable gift from any person, business, or organization for personal bene?t. If an employee questions what is valuable, a supervisor, Civil Service or the Ethics Review Board should be consulted. Solicitations by City employees, without permission, in City facilities and on City property are prohibited at all times. City of New Orleans will not tolerate retaliation or threat of retaliation against those who nrake disclosures of actual or perceived misconduct. Acts or threats of retaliation in response to such disclosures may subject the person retaliating to disciplinary action, up to and including termination. Ill. CUSTOMER SERVICE ETIS STANDARDS a. An employee shall identify himself by name whenever serving anyone, unless the situation prevents such an identification. An employee shall courteously give his name to anyone who asks. When answering the telephone, an employee should give the name of the office, the employee?s name and ask, ?May I help you?? If a telephone caller asks for someone who is not available, the caller should be asked, ?Would you like to leave a message, or may I get someone else to assist you, or would you like to be transferred to voicemail?? Any person who is not a member of the immediate work group, when entering the workplace shall be greeted by the ?rst available employee and asked, ?May I help you?? Fellow workers and the public shall be treated with courtesy at all times. L1.) POLICY MEMORANDUM NO. 83 June 17, 2020 IV. HEALTH AND SAFETY STANDARDS a. An employee shall not drink alcoholic beverages while at work or come to work under the in?uence of intoxicants or with the odor of intoxicants on their breath. b. An employee shall not use illegal substances during work hours or come to work under the in?uence of illegal substances. c. The sale, purchase, or possession of illegal substances at the work site is prohibited. Supervisors should be noti?ed if an employee?s work performance could be affected by the use of authorized prescription drugs. d. An employee shall adhere to the requirements of the smoking ordinance, the Health Department rules and regulations on smoking, and Policy Memorandum No. 76, Smoking, while on thejob. e. An employee is expected to be a law-abiding member of the community at all times including off duty work hours. f. An employee shall not bring or carry dangerous weapons while on duty or while on City property. Prohibited weapons include: clubs, explosive weapons, ?rearms, blades or any other objects regardless of designed purpose used with the intent of causing malicious threat, in?icting bodily injury or otherwise bearing assault or damage on body or property. Exception: Employees who are required to carry weapons in the performance of their of?cial duties and those authorized to carry weapons in an off-duty capacity while working other employment shall be exempt from this policy. g. An employee shall use sick leave only for the employee?s personal illness, or personal injury, or death in the immediate family, as defined in the City Civil Service Rules. Sick leave cannot be used if a friend or family member is ill; annual leave is to be used for this purpose. V. USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA AND SOCIAL NETWORKING STANDARDS This section applies to new media, social media, Web 2.0 technologies (including wikis, blogs, social networking, folksonomies, podcasting content hosting services), digital media and emerging media such as public and private blogs (BlogSpot) or internet-based comment pages (Nolacom, Reddit), micro-blogs (Twitter), video sharing (YouTube or Vimeo), photo sharing (Flickr, SmugHug, Pinterest or Webshots), wikis (WikiSpaces, PBwiki, SocialText or Wetpaint), social networking sites (Facebook, lnstagram, Snapchat, TikTok, Google+), web syndications (RSS, Atom, weblogs, vlogs, podcasts), internet-. based bulletin boards (forums), newsgroups (Usenet), chat rooms (Discord, Slack, and POLICY MEMORANDUM NO. 83 (R) June 17, 2020 Telegram), content aggregators (mashups or portals), multiplayer online games (WOW, Farmville, Ma?a Wars), and other forms ofvirtual or digital communications. This is not an exhaustive list. a. The way we present ourselves and portray our colleagues affects the public?s opinion of employees as City employees. If subject matter relates to City policies, City business, or other City workplace issues, City employees are responsible for maintaining compliance with CAO Memorandum No. 110 regarding Media Advisory Procedures, and also N0. 61 (R) on Internet Use Access Authorization. The City respects the rights of City employees to use social media as a medium of self-expression, but as online communications become more of a participatory action, the lines between the public and the private, personal and professional, can be blurred. As public servants, City employees may be perceived as representatives of the City of New Orleans and as such must at all times conduct themselves appropriately and consistently with the City?s values and professional standards. City employees should use the following to guide online conversations and social media postings: 0 Avoid the offensive. Do not post any defamatory, libelous, vulgar, violent, obscene, abusive, profane, threatening, racially and ethnically hateful, or otherwise offensive or illegal information or material. 0 Do not repost or endorse content that promotes, fosters or perpetuates discrimination of protected classes, sexual harassment or illegal activity. 0 Unclassi?ed employees, unless specifically authorized to do so, shall not use their position as a City employee to promote opinions, products or causes. Classified employees are prohibited by Civil Service Rule XIV and State Constitution, Article from using their position as a City employee to promote opinions, products or causes unless explicitly permitted in Section 3.1 of said rule. 0 Do not post non?public information, con?dential city information or information that could compromise the safety or security of the public or public systems, pursuant to the law. 0 Do not post any information that would infringe on privacy or legally protected rights of others. 5 POLICY MEMORANDUM NO. 83 June 17, 2020 VI. VII. Do not use City email addresses (@nola. gov; etc.) to post to message boards, comments sections or social media sites, unless posting is in the course of authorized business duties. Do not use City email addresses or City cell phone numbers to register for any online or social media accounts, unless it is for the purpose of authorized business duties. Do not create a City account on any online or social platform without explicit approval from the Mayor?s Of?ce of Do not engage or respond to negative or disparaging posts about city departments, employees or policies. VIOLATIONS OF STANDARDS Employee violations of a standard of behavior as set forth in this memorandum may subject the employee to disciplinary action and possible termination of employment. The City of New Orleans endorses the use for both classi?ed and unclassi?ed employees of progressive disciplinary action, where appropriate. The suggested progression is verbal warning, written warning, suspension, demotion, and where circumstances warrant, termination. In certain instances, the City may terminate without progressive discipline where egregious conduct occurs. The implementation of disciplinary measures shall be at the discretion of a supervisor and/or the appointing authority, and consistent with civil service rules where applicable. IMPLEMENTATION Each employee is to sign a copy of the attached receipt acknowledging their receipt of this policy. The signed receipt is to be kept in the employee?s personnel folder located in the department. New employees are to be issued a copy of this policy upon hire. Enforcement of this policy shall begin at date of hire. These standards may be amended as necessary. Departments are encouraged to develop additional standards tailored to speci?c department situations. POLICY MEMORANDUM NO. 83 June 17, 2020 INQUIRIES Questions regarding this policy should be addressed to the Chief Administrative Of?ce, Employee and Labor Relations Division at (504) 658?8613. Attachment EMPLOYEE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF RECEIPT I, have received the Standards of Behavior for City Employees (Policy Memorandum No. 83 I understand that ifI do not follow these standards, disciplinary action may be taken against me. Date Employee Signature Updated 6/17/20