Equal Opportunity
Provide fair consideration for qualified people across employment, programs, research, partnerships, and service.
Nondiscrimination & Equal Opportunity
Opportunity should be based on ability, merit, and fair access.
The JR Institute is committed to an environment free from unlawful discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and unnecessary barriers.
Institutional Standard
This policy should be coordinated with applicable employment law, civil-rights requirements, grant obligations, program rules, accessibility procedures, and formal complaint processes.
Our Commitment
Create a culture where people can contribute without discrimination.
The Institute intends to provide equal opportunity across employment, research, education, partnerships, events, publications, volunteer service, public programs, and access to institutional resources.
Decisions should be grounded in legitimate qualifications, mission needs, performance, conduct, safety, and applicable law.
Core Principles
Fair access requires policy, practice, and accountability.
Respectful Conduct
Maintain professional environments free from unlawful harassment, intimidation, hostility, and degrading conduct.
Reasonable Accommodation
Evaluate disability, religious, pregnancy-related, and other legally protected accommodation requests through appropriate processes.
Accessible Participation
Reduce avoidable barriers in digital services, facilities, communications, meetings, and public programs.
No Retaliation
Protect people who raise concerns, request accommodations, participate in reviews, or report suspected violations in good faith.
Prompt Review
Review concerns fairly, preserve appropriate confidentiality, document findings, and take corrective action where warranted.
Scope of This Policy
This policy is intended to apply to trustees, officers, employees, applicants, researchers, fellows, interns, volunteers, contractors, program participants, visitors, vendors, partners, and others interacting with the Institute.
It applies to conduct in Institute facilities, digital systems, events, travel, fieldwork, meetings, programs, communications, and other activities connected to the Institute.
Protected Status and Equal Treatment
The Institute intends not to discriminate unlawfully on the basis of any status protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.
Depending on applicable law, protected categories may include race, color, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, familial status, veteran status, military status, or other legally protected characteristics.
The final list and legal wording should be reviewed for each jurisdiction in which the Institute employs people, operates programs, owns property, or receives public funding.
Discrimination and Harassment
Unlawful discrimination may include adverse treatment based on protected status in hiring, compensation, promotion, discipline, program access, research opportunity, partnership decisions, use of facilities, or other institutional activities.
Harassment may include unwelcome verbal, visual, physical, written, or digital conduct that creates an unlawful hostile environment or materially interferes with participation.
Examples of conduct that may require review
- Slurs, degrading comments, threats, or targeted ridicule
- Unwelcome sexual conduct or repeated inappropriate advances
- Displaying offensive material directed at a protected group
- Excluding a qualified person for an unlawful reason
- Interfering with an approved accommodation
- Using institutional authority to pressure or intimidate another person
Reasonable Accommodations
The Institute should maintain clear processes for requesting reasonable accommodations in employment, programs, events, communications, facilities, and digital services.
Requests should be evaluated through an interactive and good-faith process, considering the individual need, essential requirements, available alternatives, safety, program integrity, and undue hardship as defined by applicable law.
Protection Against Retaliation
Retaliation against a person for raising a concern in good faith, requesting an accommodation, participating in an inquiry, supporting another person, or exercising a protected right is prohibited.
Retaliation may include threats, exclusion, punitive scheduling, adverse assignments, intimidation, interference, or other materially harmful treatment connected to protected activity.
Reporting a Concern
A report should include enough information to understand the concern, identify the people or activity involved, locate relevant records, and determine whether immediate protective measures may be needed.
- What happened and when
- Where the conduct occurred
- Who was involved or witnessed it
- Relevant messages, documents, photographs, or records
- Whether there is an ongoing safety, access, or retaliation concern
Anonymous reports may be reviewed, but limited information can make investigation and corrective action more difficult.
Institutional Response
The Institute should respond promptly and impartially, considering safety, confidentiality, evidence preservation, fairness, conflicts of interest, and the rights of everyone involved.
Possible responses may include informal resolution, interim measures, accommodation, training, policy changes, supervision changes, corrective action, discipline, referral to authorities, or closure where evidence does not support a violation.
Shared Responsibility
Leaders, supervisors, program managers, researchers, staff, contractors, and participants share responsibility for maintaining a professional environment and raising concerns before problems escalate.
Managers who receive reports should not promise absolute confidentiality and should promptly route concerns through the designated process.
Policy date: July 2026
Report a Concern
Raise concerns early so they can be reviewed responsibly.
Use the Institute’s contact process for discrimination, harassment, retaliation, accommodation, or equal-opportunity concerns.
- Describe the conduct or barrier
- Identify relevant dates and locations
- Include supporting records when available
- Explain any immediate safety or retaliation concern
- State any requested accommodation or interim measure