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DISCRIMINATION, HARASSMENT AND RETALIATION PREVENTION POLICY

APIUM is an equal opportunity delivery platform and strives to maintain a working environment where all individuals feel comfortable. The Company is committed to providing a work environment free of harassment, discrimination, retaliation, and abusive conduct. In addition, the Company prohibits retaliation against individuals who raise complaints of discrimination or harassment or who participate in workplace investigations.

Policy

It is the policy of the Company to accept, support, and practice the concept of non-discrimination in relation to: race, creed, color, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy-related medical condition, perceived pregnancy, age, national origin (including possession of a driver's license issued under Vehicle Code section 12801.9), ancestry, religion, religious dress practices, religious grooming practices, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, marital status, registered domestic partner status, genetic characteristics or genetic information, medical condition, military and/or veteran status, perceived membership in a category, association with an actual or perceived member of a category, and/or all other protected characteristics pursuant to applicable federal, state and local law. This policy of non-discrimination pertains to all areas of the contractor, including, but not limited to, onboarding, pay, assignments, terminations, training, benefits, and all other privileges, terms, and conditions of contractor.

Discrimination can also include failing to reasonably accommodate religious practices or qualified individuals with disabilities where the accommodation does not pose an undue hardship. The implementation of these statutes requires communication and cooperation on the part of both the individual and the delivery platform. Any individual who requires an accommodation during the onboarding process or in order to perform the essential functions of his, her or their contract services should request such an accommodation in writing specifying the accommodation he, she or they need. If the individual does not clearly communicate his, her or their concerns, the Company may not realize that a disability issue is being raised as its personnel are not medically trained. If it is determined there is a qualifying disability, the individual and the Company will then determine whether the qualifying disability impairs or prevents the individual from performing his, her or their contractor services. If it is determined that a qualifying disability will impair or prevent the disabled individual from performing his, her or their contractor services, the Company and the individual must then explore possible accommodations that will allow the individual to perform his, her or their contractor services without creating an undue hardship on the Company.

An individual whose religious beliefs or practices conflict with his, her or their contract services or with other aspects of contractor, and who seeks a religious accommodation must submit a request, preferably in writing, for the accommodation to his, her or their primary APIUM contact. The written request must include a description of how the religious practice conflicts with the individual’s contractor services and the individual’s suggested accommodation.

The appropriate APIUM representative will work with necessary stakeholders to evaluate all disability and religious accommodation requests. Requests will be evaluated and the individual will be involved in an interactive process with the Company to determine whether an accommodation is available that is reasonable and that would not create an undue hardship.

The Company and the individual will meet to discuss the request and decision on an accommodation. If the individual accepts the proposed accommodation, the Company will implement the decision. If the individual rejects the proposed accommodation, he or she may request a review by a higher level member of APIUM.

Individuals with questions or concerns about discrimination are encouraged to bring these issues to the attention of a member of APIUM management team. Anyone found to be engaging in unlawful discrimination will be subject to appropriate action, including termination of contract.

Unlawful/Prohibited Harassment

In addition to the Non-Discrimination policy, Company maintains a strict policy prohibiting harassment because of; race, creed, color, sex, gender, pregnancy, pregnancy-related medical condition, perceived pregnancy, age, national origin (including possession of a driver's license issued under Vehicle Code section 12801.9), ancestry, religion, religious dress practices, religious grooming practices, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, registered domestic partner status, genetic characteristics or genetic information, medical condition, military and/or veteran status, perceived membership in a category, association with an actual or perceived member of a category, and/or all other protected characteristics pursuant to applicable federal, state and local law.

This policy applies to all persons involved in the operations of the Company and prohibits such harassment by any individual associated with the Company. The Company also enforces this policy with third parties such as vendors and customers.

Prohibited harassment in any form, including verbal, physical and visual conduct, threats, demands, and retaliation, will not be tolerated. Similarly, harassment via any method such as verbal, non-verbal (gestures), email, text, written, fax or other will not be tolerated.

Sexual harassment may include one or more of the following, but is not limited to:

  1. Unwanted sexual advances;
  2. Sexual advances, propositions, requests or comments,
  3. Threats and demands to submit to sexual requests in order to keep your contract or avoid some other loss, offers of benefits in return for sexual favors,
  4. Visual conduct such as leering, sexually suggestive posters, photography, cartoons, drawings, or gestures,
  5. Verbal conduct such as epithets, derogatory comments, slurs, jokes, invitations, sexual advances or propositions, graphic verbal commentaries about an individual’s body or sexually degrading words used to describe an individual;
  6. Sending or otherwise communicating sexually related messages, videos or pictures by any method,
  7. Physical conduct such as unwanted touching, impeding or blocking normal movement, or assault;
  8. Physical or verbal abuse concerning gender, gender identity or gender expression or
  9. Verbal abuse concerning characteristics such as pitch of voice, facial hair, size or shape of a person’s body.

Sexual harassment does not need to be motivated by sexual desire to be unlawful or to violate this policy.For example, hostile acts toward an individual because of his/her/their gender can amount to sexual harassment, regardless of whether the treatment is motivated by sexual desire. Prohibited harassment is not just sexual harassment but harassment based on any protected category.

Other examples of prohibited harassment or discrimination may include but are not limited to the below when concerning any protected class:

  1. Written, verbal or electronic jokes,
  2. Inappropriate verbal, graphic or physical conduct,
  3. Sending, posting or otherwise communicating harassing or discriminatory messages such as; videos, text messages, instant messages or via social media,
  4. Racial or ethnic slurs, epithets or any other offensive remarks,
  5. Threats, intimidation or other menacing behavior or
  6. Other harassing or discriminatory conduct based upon one or more of the protected classes identified in this policy or by federal, state or local regulation.

Prohibited harassment which impairs an individual’s working ability or emotional well-being at work violates this policy and will not be tolerated. While such conduct is generally unlawful only if it is severe and pervasive, the Company’s policy is a "no tolerance" policy which prohibits all such unlawful harassment even though the harassment may not be sufficiently severe or pervasive to constitute a violation of law.

Reporting Discrimination, Harassment and Retaliation

The Company takes all complaints and concerns of discrimination, harassment and retaliation very seriously. An individual which believes he, she or they have been discriminated against, harassed, experienced retaliation or has observed discrimination, harassment or retaliation based on a protected class as explained above, should immediately follow these steps:

  1. The individual must immediately report, orally or in writing, including electronically, any complaints or concerns of discrimination, harassment or retaliation to a supervisor, manager or any other manager of the Company.
  2. If the Supervisor or Manager does not respond timely or if there is continued discrimination, harassment or retaliation concerns, the individual must immediately report complaints or concerns to the CEO.

The individual should include the details of the incident or incidents such as; the names of the individuals involved, the names of any witnesses, details of the incident, date, time and location.

Managers receiving complaints or concerns of harassment must immediately report such to the CEO to allow for consistent resolution throughout the Company.

The Company will take various steps to resolve a complaint or concern such as; timely response and impartial and timely interviews or investigations involving all parties and conducted by qualified personnel; investigations will be documented and tracked for reasonable progress; and investigations will be closed in a timely manner. Individuals will participate in such interviews or investigations to assure accurate evaluation and determine whether the Company’s Non-Discrimination, Unlawful/Prohibited Harassment or retaliation policies have been violated. If the Company determines that a policy has been violated, the Company will take timely, remedial action commensurate with the severity of the offense. Action will also be taken to deter any future violation of Company policy.

All information obtained regarding complaints or concerns of discrimination, harassment or retaliation and throughout any interview or investigation process will be kept confidential to the extent possible. Only individuals with a legitimate business need to know in order to allow for proper resolution may receive necessary information related to the complaint or concern.

The Company will not retaliate against any individual for filing a complaint or participating in any investigation. The Company will not knowingly permit retaliation by management or co-workers. Any retaliation must immediately be reported using the process above.

Individuals should also be aware that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Department of Fair Employment and Housing of the State of California have the authority to investigate complaints of discrimination, harassment and retaliation. The nearest office can be found by visiting www.eeoc.gov and www.dfeh.ca.gov.

The Company also recognizes the detrimental consequences of abusive conduct such as a reduction in productivity and morale. Abusive conduct means conduct of a delivery platform or individual with malice, that a reasonable person would find hostile, offensive, and unrelated to the delivery platform's legitimate business interests. Abusive conduct may include repeated infliction of verbal abuse, such as the use of derogatory remarks, insults, and epithets, verbal or physical conduct that a reasonable person would find threatening, intimidating, or humiliating, or the gratuitous sabotage or undermining of a person's work performance. A single act shall not constitute abusive conduct, unless especially severe and egregious. The Company will review all complaints of abusive conduct.