1. Institutional Purpose
Brief History of elerGreen
elerGreen Industry is a cleantech startup to recover valuable polymers, metals and chemicals from chemical waste and renewable electricity, at significant cost and environmental footprint reduction:
elerGreen is founded in Toronto, Canada by racialized entrepreneurs of Chinese Malaysian descent, Hui Huang Hoe and Hui Ming Hoe, who are also inventors having engineering and business background. As the top student from the University of Toronto, Canada, Hui Huang holds Master and Bachelor (High Honours) degrees in Chemical Engineering, with serial inventor records in green electrochemistry:
https://news.profoundimpact.com/2023/10/03/hui-huang-hoe/
elerGreen is innovative and unique in development of its patented unique reactor design of electrode in relative motion against stationary blades to continuously remove solid products, which is more efficient while facilitating the eco-friendlier electrochemical pathway of non-conductive polymer synthesis, otherwise impossible with conventional methods:
https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=WO2020185065
Mission
As per elerGreen’s motto “Electrification Done Green”, elerGreen strives to reconcile profitability with sustainability, via invention and innovation, beginning with elerGreen’s electrochemical technology:
https://octia.ca/economy/electrification-done-green/
2. General Principle
elerGreen respects the laws and regulations of the jurisdiction it operates in. In case of any conflict with local or applicable rules, laws or regulations of the authority, the laws or regulations overrides.
The principle in general is on reasonable standards, commonly known as “common sense”. In case of controversial analysis, consensus basis would be sought as much as possible.
elerGreen takes harassment or misconducts seriously. On the other hand, false accusations are also severely dealt with.
Balance of rights is applied in many aspects such as language, accessibility, pronoun sharing and holiday observance. For instance, there is a default system as a norm, but would be adjusted upon request.
The policy to written to be concise rather than lengthy, to ease comprehension and facilitate access.
elerGreen is very strict on intellectual property protection and confidentiality.
3. Statement of Freedom
Acknowledging its fundamental and distinctive commitment to freedom of thought, inquiry, and expression, the Organization affirms its commitment to the values of equal opportunity, equity and social justice.
In this affirmation, the Organization
– acknowledges that it conducts its working, research and other activities in the context of a richly diverse society;
– recognizes that the attainment of excellence in pursuit of its mission is furthered by the contribution made by individual persons reflecting this rich diversity;
– acts within its purview to prevent or remedy discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, family status, disability, receipt of public assistance or record of offences; and
– acts conscientiously in keeping with its own policies and existing legislation related to human rights,
elerGreen has held that the pursuit and upholding of truth is critical to the success of the Organization and the community. To achieve this, elerGreen must have as a prerequisite freedom of speech and expression, which means the rights to examine, question, investigate, speculate and comment on any issue without reference to prescribed doctrine, as well as the right to criticize the Organization and the society at large. The Organization also depends upon an environment of tolerance and mutual respect, where every member should be able to work, live and learn, free from discrimination and harassment.
An environment where unorthodox ideas, alternative modes of thinking and living, and radical prescriptions for problems can be debated contributes immensely to reformation and the advancement both inside and outside the Organization. Often this debate may generate controversy and disputes among members of the Organization and of the wider community. In such cases, the free speech of all involved should be protected, where the fullest range of debate should be allowed instead of limited by preordaining conclusions, or punishing or inhibiting the reasonable exercise of free speech.
Of necessity, there are limits to the right of free speech, for example, when speech is used by one as a direct attack that has the effect of preventing the lawful exercise of speech by another one, or interfering with any lawful conduct, the Organization may intervene. Similarly, although no language or speech shall be used with intention to demean others on the basis of their race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, creed, sex, sexual orientation, handicap, age, marital status, family status, the receipt of public assistance or record of offence, the values of mutual respect and civility may, on occasion, be superseded by the need to protect lawful freedom of speech. However, the shock, hurt anger or even the silencing effect that may be caused by use of such speech should not be weighted lightly.
The right to free speech is complemented by the right of freedom of association. The right to free speech extends to individuals cooperating in groups. All members have the freedom to communicate in any reasonable way, to hold and advertise meetings, to debate and to engage in peaceful assemblies and demonstrations, to organize groups for any lawful activities and to make reasonable use of Organization facilities or resources, in accordance with its policies as they are defined from time to time and subject to the Organization’s rights, responsibilities and capabilities.
This policy statement does not exhaust Organization policy with respect to freedom of speech and is not intended to amend or qualify Organization policies as currently expressed.The applicable by-laws, laws, regulations supersede the Organization policy.
4. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Intent
elerGreen is dedicated to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace by providing an atmosphere free from barriers where no one is denied opportunities for reasons unrelated to their abilities. We celebrate and welcome the diversity of all employees, stakeholders, and external personnel. This policy has been adopted to foster an environment that respects people’s dignity, ideas, and beliefs. We demonstrate our commitment to this by providing a supportive work environment and a culture that welcomes and encourages equal opportunities for all employees. The company will comply with all applicable legislation in pursuit of these endeavours.
Definitions
Dignity: Being treated respectfully as a reasonable person would expect.
Discrimination: Treating people unequally or making a distinction based on legally protected grounds that results in a burden, obligation, or disadvantage that is not imposed on others or which limits access to opportunities, benefits, and advantages available to other members of society.
Diversity: The variety of unique dimensions and characteristics that we all possess.
Equity: Fair access to opportunities.
Inclusion: Creating a culture that embraces, values, and respects differences.
Microaggressions: Everyday slights, insults, or insensitive actions that may be intentionally or unintentionally offensive, especially directed at people who belong to marginalized groups.
Protected grounds: The characteristics that an employer must not use as reasons to discriminate against an individual or group under human rights legislation. Sometimes called prohibited grounds, these often include race, colour, creed, ethnic or national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, family status, marital status, age, and disability, but protected grounds may differ by jurisdiction.
Unconscious bias: The inclinations or assumptions that we all have that operate without our awareness and can include stereotypes and prejudices towards certain individuals or groups.
Guidelines
elerGreen is committed to observing and following relevant human rights, equity, and privacy legislation to prevent discrimination based on any protected grounds. Employees will not be negatively impacted by any actions or decisions relating to hiring, compensation, promotion, benefits, job assignments, transfers, layoffs, return from layoffs, or company-sponsored programs or events due to a protected ground that they may have.
elerGreen will ensure that accommodations are made for individuals who require them. Individuals are encouraged to let elerGreen management know of any required accommodations.
Cultural Competence
All employees and stakeholders of elerGreen must respect the differences of others and treat everyone with dignity. elerGreen will strive to build a culturally competent workforce by providing training about diversity, equity, and inclusion, encouraging positive attitudes towards cultural differences, raising awareness of unconscious biases and the harmful effects of prejudice, discrimination, and microaggressions, and working to eliminate such aggressions in the workplace.
Accessible Workplace
Due to the limited resource capability of elerGreen, accessibility amenities may not be able to be installed. Nevertheless, elerGreen strives to meet accessibility needs of employees, customers, partners, collaborators, agencies or any other stakeholder as applicable.
Employee Resource Group or Diversity Committee
In case of limited resource capability to maintain a permanent employee resource group, The Employee Resource Group may be assembled as a temporary group on ad hoc basis.
Training
elerGreen may use various training initiatives to foster cultural competencies. Every employee and manager will receive training around diversity, equity, and inclusion as part of their onboarding.
Recruitment
elerGreen is dedicated to recruiting and retaining a qualified workforce. By valuing a diverse workforce, elerGreen is committed to hiring practices that are fair and equitable. elerGreen will always hire the most qualified candidate for a position. A protected ground will not be used against an individual during the hiring process. The company will ensure that the search and hiring processes are fair and equitable so that each candidate has a fair opportunity throughout the process regardless of any protected ground they may have.
Succession Planning
elerGreen is committed to developing and promoting staff fairly and equitably. Development opportunities will be offered equitably among employees as they become available and when reasonably possible. Personnel decisions will be made based on the qualifications and performance of employees and upon successful completion of the internal application process. A protected ground will not be used against an individual in consideration for a promotion.
Complaint Process
If an employee feels that this policy has been breached, they may file a verbal or written complaint with manager or supervisor, and if unresolved, subsequently with the President, Board or equivalent. Attempts should be made to reach a resolution on an individual level or with the employee’s direct manager or supervisor before filing a formal complaint; however, if the employee does not feel comfortable approaching the individual or their manager about the matter, they may contact the President, Board or equivalent directly. The complaint will be reviewed and addressed confidentially.
5. Bilingual/Multilingual Signage
English as Default Language
The official language of elerGreen is English, as a common means of communication for speakers of different native languages.
Fulfilment to Ability
Nevertheless, bilingual or multilingual signage of choice by the employee, the customer, the collaborating partner, or members of the community would be respected and fulfilled, to the ability of elerGreen.
Common Secondary Languages
While non-binding, the common bilingual options include Chinese, Malay, French and Spanish.
6. Public Land Acknowledgements
elerGreen wishes to acknowledge the land on which it operates, known as Toronto, of Ontario in Canada. Toronto is in the ‘Dish With One Spoon Territory’, a treaty between the Anishinaabe, Mississaugas and Haudenosaunee that bound them to share the territory and protect the land. Subsequent Indigenous Nations and peoples, Europeans and all newcomers have been invited into this treaty in the spirit of peace, friendship and respect. Today, this meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous people and elerGreen is grateful to have the opportunity to work on this land.
elerGreen also wishes to acknowledge other lands across the ocean which played pivotal role to development of elerGreen, known as Johor Bahru and Pontian, of Johor in Malaysia. It is also the lands where the founders were born and grew up with valuable childhood memories.
7. Public Pronoun Sharing
Public Pronoun Sharing is not mandatory by elerGreen, and in case without public pronoun being referred, the default pronoun would be:
- He/Him: For an entity initially thought of as a male
- She/Her: For an entity initially thought of as a female
- It/It: For an entity being thought of as anything other than natural person
- They/Them: For a group of more than one entity
In case of initial thought/perception being incorrect and without preferred pronoun, the public pronoun may be updated automatically. For instance, a correspondence from a natural person named “Alex” may initially be referred to as “He/Him”, and automatically updated to “She/Her” if the “Alex” turns out to be a female, absent of preferred pronoun.
In case the individual has requested to use preferred pronoun, the preferred pronoun shall be respected. In other words, the preferred pronoun declared by the entity overwrites the default pronoun. No explanation nor reason from the individual is needed for such choice of the preferred pronoun.
8. Anti-Bullying Policy
Principle
elerGreeniscommitted to providing a safe, healthy and supportive work environment by treating our employees and clients with respect, fairness and sensitivity.
Violence and harassment in the workplace can have devastating effects on employees’ quality of life and organizational productivity.
Workplace violence is:
· the exercise of physical force by a person against a worker, in a workplace-related setting, that causes or could cause physical injury to the worker;
· an attempt to exercise physical force against a worker, in a workplace-related setting, that could cause physical injury to the worker; or,
· a statement or behaviour that it is reasonable for a worker to interpret as a threat to exercise physical force against a worker, in a workplace-related setting, that could cause physical injury to the worker.
Workplace harassment engaging in a course of vexatious comment or conduct against a worker in a workplace-related setting that is known or ought reasonably to be known to be unwelcome; or workplace sexual harassment
Workplace Sexual Harassment
a. Engaging in a course of vexatious comment or conduct against a worker in a workplace-related setting because of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression, where the course of comment or conduct is known or ought reasonably to be known to be unwelcome.
b. Making a sexual solicitation or advance where the person making the solicitation or advance is in a position to confer, grant or deny a benefit or advancement to the worker and the person knows or ought reasonably to know that the solicitation or advance is unwelcome.
Purpose of the Policy
elerGreen is committed to prevent workplace violence and harassment. This policy defines behaviour that constitutes workplace violence and harassment, and explains procedures for reporting and resolving such incidents. elerGreen is committed to providing a working environment free ofviolence and harassment by familiarizing all workplace parties with the related terminology as well as their individual responsibilities for prevention and corrective action.
Policy Statement
elerGreen recognizes the potential for violence and harassment in the workplace. We will therefore make reasonable effort to identify all potential sources of such risk to eliminate or minimize them through our workplace violence and harassment prevention program. elerGreenwill not tolerate any type of violence or harassment within the workplace or during work-related activities. elerGreen is committed to allotting time, attention, authority and resources necessary to ensure a safe and healthy working environment for all employees and clients to whom we provide care.
elerGreen will take every reasonable precaution to protect an employee from physical injury if it becomes aware, or believe, that domestic violence is a risk. This policy prohibits discrimination or harassment based on the following grounds, and any combination of these grounds:
- Age
- Creed (religion)
- Sex (including pregnancy and breastfeeding)
- Sexual orientation
- Gender identity
- Gender expression
- Family status (such as being in a parent-child relationship)
- Marital status (including married, single, widowed, divorced, separated or living in a conjugal relationship outside of marriage, whether in a same-sex or opposite-sex relationship)
- Disability (including mental, physical, developmental or learning disabilities)
- Race
- Ancestry
- Place of origin
- Ethnic origin
- Citizenship
- Colour
- Record of offences (including criminal conviction for a provincial offence, or for an offence for which a pardon has been received)
- Association or relationship with a person identified by one of the above grounds
- Perception that one of the above grounds applies.
Definitions Associated with Workplace Violence and Harassment
Physical assault: is any physical force or threat of physical force to create fear or to control another person. Some examples include: hitting, punching, blocking, shoving, choking, slapping or biting, or pulling hair; “caring” for the victim in way reasonably expected to be abusive, threats of violence, and using a weapon or other objects to threaten, hurt or kill.
Sexual assault: is any unwanted sexual act done by one person to another. Examples include: kissing or forcing/coercing the person into kissing; touching the person’s body with or without clothes on; forcing/coercing the person to masturbate; sexual intercourse (vaginal, anal or oral), penetrating with an object; causing bodily harm; removing or attempting to remove clothing; taking advantage of a position, trust or authority to solicit sexual relation; and threatening to harm someone else if the person does not agree to do any of these things.
Threat (verbal or written): is a communicated intent to inflict physical or other harm on any person or to property by some unlawful act. A direct threat is a clear and explicit communication distinctly indicating that the potential offender intends to do harm, for example, “I am going to make you scram back to your home country”. A conditional threat involves a condition, for example, “If you leave me you will regret it.” Veiled threats usually involve body language or behaviours that leave little doubt in the mind of a reasonable person that the perpetrator intends to harm.
Verbal/Emotional/Psychological abuse: is a pattern of behaviour that makes someone feel worthless, flawed, unloved, or endangered. Like other forms of abuse, it is based on power and control. Examples include: consistently swearing, put-downs/name calling over a period of time, labelling the victim in a derogatory way such stupid, crazy or irrational, acts of humiliation, extreme jealous behaviour, attacking the victim’s self-esteem in other ways. It can also include harming pets and damaging property.
Workplace Bullying: repeated and persistent negative acts towards one or more individuals, which involve creating a hostile work environment or a reasonably perceived power imbalance
Roles and Responsibilities of Workplace Parties
Managers/supervisors:
· Enforce policy and procedures and monitor worker compliance.
· Identify and alert staff to violent and hazardous situations.
· Reasonably Investigate all workplace violence, and contact the police as required.
· Facilitate medical attention for employee(s) as required.
· Debrief those involved in the incident either directly or indirectly.
· Facilitate access to further counselling to the employee as necessary
· Track and analyze incidents for trends and prevention initiatives.
· Immediately report a death or critical injury to an inspector or police as required, including information and particulars prescribed by the regulations.
· Issue a report to the employer as required
· Ensure the workplace violence and harassment prevention program is reviewed.
Employees:
· Participate in education and training programs to respond suitably to any incident of workplace violence or harassment.
· Understand and comply with the violence and harassment prevention policies and related procedures.
· Report all incidents or injuries of violence/harassment or threats of violence/harassment to your supervisor immediately.
· Inform your supervisor or your co-worker/s about your concerns regarding the potential for violence/harassment in the workplace.
· Contribute to risk assessments.
· Seek support when confronted with violence/harassment or threats of violence.
· Get medical attention as necessary.
· At least once a year, participate in a review of the workplace violence and harassment prevention program.
Reporting and Investigation
· Workers are to report all violence-related incidents or hazards to their manager or supervisor. This report can be made confidentially at the employee’s request. However, sharing information to ensure the safety of others and prevent recurrence may be necessary (e.g., contents of a police report).
· The reporting worker may make the report confidentially without leaving a copy in the log, indicating the need for confidentiality to her/his direct manager or supervisor (or in that person’s absence, to another manager or supervisor).
· The manager or supervisor receiving the report investigates it and ensures that measures are taken to safeguard employees and curtail the violence or harassment. No report of workplace violence/harassment or risks of violence may be the basis of reprisal against the reporting employee.
· The employer reports all injuries as required.
Response Procedures
· Using the incident investigation form, the manager or supervisor documents all reports of workplace violence/harassment, hazards and measures taken to address them.
· If the resolution of the incident is beyond the authority of a manager or supervisor, the President, the Board of Director or equivalent must be made aware of the report. The President, Board or equivalent involves other managers or supervisors in the investigation as appropriate (e.g., when the incident involves clients or employees under another manager’s or supervisor’s area of responsibility).
· Management reviews all incident reports, monitors trends and makes recommendations to the President, Board or equivalent for prevention and enhancements to the workplace violence and harassment prevention program.
· These findings are shared, which is consulted about any revision to the violence and harassment prevention and training program.
· The President, Board or equivalent reviews reports of workplace violence/harassment and ensures that actions are taken.
· The managers or supervisors who investigate the reported incident warn all staff who might be affected about dangerous situations. They also tell the reporting employee about the outcome of the investigation to help minimize the chance of similar incidents.
· If a violent incident results in a critical injury to a worker, the incident or injury must be investigated and reported as required.
Support for employees affected by workplace violence
Management will respond promptly, assess the situation and ensure that these interventions are followed:
· facilitation of medical attention;
· debriefing (by skilled professional);
· referrals to community agencies, treating practitioner and employee assistance program;
· referral to trade union as required;
· completion of incident reports (especially critical injury or fatality) as required;
· reporting to police (as required); and
· team debriefing.
Risk assessment
Management (with worker involvement) assesses workplace violence hazards in all jobs, and in the workplace as a whole. It reviews risk assessments annually, as well as when new jobs are created or job descriptions are changed substantially.
Education
New employees will receive both general and site-specific orientation to the safety, workplace violence and harassment prevention program. In addition, all employees will receive an annual review of the program’s general and site-specific components. Any training developed, established and provided will be done in consultation and consideration.
Program Evaluation
The effectiveness of the workplace violence and harassment prevention program is evaluated annually by management and reviewed.
Workers, managers and supervisors are accountable for establishing and implementing the policy and procedures related to workplace violence and harassment. Responsibility for complying with the health and safety policy is part of a manager’s, supervisor’s and worker’s job description. Included in the health and safety components of job descriptions are management responsibilities for enforcing policy and procedures, investigating and responding to workplace violence and harassment.
Accountability
All workplace parties are accountable for complying with the policy, program, measures and procedures related to workplace violence.
Records
All records of reports and investigations of workplace violence and harassment are kept for five years.
APPENDIX — Workplace Violence Reporting Procedures
Any member of elerGreen who believes that he or she is threatened or who experiences or witnesses any workplace violence must promptly report it. In the event of immediate danger, refer to steps outlined in the Emergency Response Procedure (cross reference organization policy or procedure).
When threatening or violent behaviour is connected to elerGreen or carried out on elerGreen property, the employee must report incidents immediately using the following procedure:
1. All staff are responsible for reporting threats or violence to their supervisor or manager. If the employee’s direct supervisor is involved in the act, the employee contacts the human resources department.
2. If the perpetrator has no relationship to the organization (Type I) or has a personal relationship with an employee (Type IV), the supervisor consults with human resources personnel and contacts the police department. The police are also to be called in incidents involving serious, life-threatening injuries to any client or employee.
3. Report incidents of client abuse immediately. The supervisor must immediately notify the appropriate agency.
4. Supervisors must investigate all reports of violence. If cases of staff-to-staff, staff-to-management, or management-to-staff incidents, contact human resources and the union representative.
5. elerGreen takes all reported incidents of violence seriously and will not ignore, condone or tolerate disruptive, threatening or violent behaviour by any member of the Organization.
6. Managers, supervisors, staff or visitors engaged in such behaviour shall be removed from the premises as quickly as safety permits. They shall be banned from access to elerGreen premises pending the outcome of an investigation. The investigation will be conducted by the selected response team members who will be assembled at the direction of the manager/administrator/director or his/her designate.
7. elerGreen will do its best to preserve and protect the anonymity of those involved and confidentiality in the alleged case. However, it may not be possible to preserve confidentiality or anonymity of those involved as it may be necessary for elerGreen to take action, including consultation with others.
8. If an individual involved believes the matter has not been resolved in a satisfactory manner, the individual may file a grievance. In no circumstances will any person who in good faith reports an incident of threats, intimidation or violence, or assists in its investigation, be subject to any form of retribution, retaliation or reprisal.
9. Any person who makes or participates in such retribution or retaliation, directly or indirectly, will be subject to disciplinary action. A person who believes to have been or is being subjected to retribution or retaliation should immediately notify the director of human resources, his/her designate or the company owner or file a reprisal complaint or file a grievance.
9. Confidentiality Policy
Confidentiality policy was designed to explain how the employees are expected to treat confidential information. Employees will unavoidably receive and handle personal and private information about clients, partners and elerGreen, requiring such information to be well-protected where it may:
- Be legally required (e.g. sensitive customer data.), or
- Constitute the backbone of business, for competitive advantage (e.g. business processes.) or facilitate operation
This policy affects all employees, including Board members, investors, contractors, interns and volunteers, who may have access to confidential information.
Confidential and proprietary information is secret, valuable, expensive and/or easily replicated. Employees may have various levels of authorized access to confidential information, including:
- Unpublished financial information
- Data of Customers/Partners/Vendors
- Inventions, formulas or new technologies
- Customer lists (existing and prospective)
- Data entrusted by external parties
- Pricing/marketing and other undisclosed strategies
- Documents and processes explicitly marked as confidential
- Unpublished goals, forecasts and initiatives marked as confidential
- Lock or secure confidential information at all times
- Shred confidential documents when they’re no longer needed
- Make sure they only view confidential information on secure devices
- Only disclose information to other employees when it’s necessary and authorized
- Keep confidential documents inside business premises unless it’s absolutely necessary to move them
- Use confidential information for any personal benefit or profit
- Disclose confidential information to external party without authorization
- Replicate confidential documents and files and store them on insecure devices
When employees stop working for elerGreen, they’re obliged to return any confidential files and delete them from their personal devices.
Measures to ensure that confidential information is well protected include:
- Storing and locking paper documents
- Encrypting electronic information and safeguarding databases
- Asking employees to sign non-compete (as allowed by jurisdiction and as necessary) and/or non-disclosure agreements (NDAs)
- Ask for authorization by senior management to allow employees to access certain confidential information
Confidential information may occasionally have to be disclosed for legitimate reasons. Examples are:
- If a regulatory or enforcement body requests it as part of an investigation, audit or proceeding
- If elerGreen examines a venture or partnership that requires disclosing some information (within legal boundaries)
In such cases, employees involved should document their disclosure procedure and collect all needed authorizations. Employees are bound to avoid disclosing more information than needed, and notify manager or supervisor in due course if a disclosure is compelled.
Employees who do not respect confidentiality policy could face disciplinary and, possibly, legal action. This policy applies even after separation of employment.
Breach of confidentiality policy would be investigated, where employee who wilfully or regularly breaches our confidentiality guidelines for personal profit would be terminated. Depending on frequency and seriousness, unintentional breach of the confidentiality policy may result in disciplinary action or termination.
10. Holiday Policy
Our company holiday policy outlines the days our company acknowledges as holidays and provides relevant guidelines for holiday pay.
This policy applies to all our employees. Our employees’ exempt or non-exempt status calls for different provisions, which we will describe in this policy. This policy doesn’t apply to employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement.
elerGreen observes statutory holidays for the respective jurisdiction it operates, including in Canada and Malaysia:
- New Year’s Day
- National Day
- Labour Day
- Christmas Day
These holidays are considered “off-days” for most employees, unless a particular department or branch must operate during these days.
If a holiday falls on a day when elerGreen’s department doesn’t operate, that holiday will be observed on the closest business day. For example, if a holiday falls on a Sunday, the following Monday will be observed as a holiday.
Also, elerGreen offers a floating day which individual employees can take as a holiday any day they choose. Unused floating days do not usually accrue. If an employee misses a holiday due to a compressed working week, they can take a substitute day as time off. Employees who want to take their substitute day must inform their manager or supervisor.
Whenever working on holidays becomes necessary, elerGreen will:
- Inform employees at least 1 (one) week in advance, if they’re expected to work on a holiday.
- Pay non-exempt employees their regular hourly rate with a premium, and in case of overtime, at the established overtime rate for extra hours worked.
- Offer exempt employees additional day off within 12 (twelve) months after the holiday.
Hours employees worked on a holiday will be counted to decide whether an employee is entitled to overtime pay or to calculate the overtime amount due.
Holiday pay entitlement policy
Exempt employees are entitled to their normal compensation without any deductions for holidays observed, whether they work on the holiday or not. Part-time employees will be paid according to the number of hours they would have worked on that particular day.
Permanent non-exempt employees are entitled to receive holiday pay in addition to their regular compensation after they have been with elerGreen for more than 3 (three) months on a full-time basis.
Holiday pay when employees are on leave
Sometimes, employees may be on leave (sick, vacation, et cetera) on a holiday. In this case, they will be paid them the amount they are entitled to, if they are on a pay status. If they are on a non-pay status (e.g. temporary layoff), they are not entitled to holiday pay.
Apart from observed state and national holidays, some employees may observe separate religious holidays. In the spirit of anti-discrimination practices, the employees could take unpaid time off for a religious holiday, unless such an arrangement will cause undue hardship or inconvenience to other stakeholders.
Alternatively, employees can also choose to use their floating day or paid time off (PTO) for religious holidays.
11. Intellectual Property Policy
To support various stakeholders, elerGreen takes intellectual property and confidentially very seriously. By default, employees, partners and collaborators are required to sign confidentiality agreement, unless allowed otherwise in writing.
Intellectual property generated by employees under the scope of employment belongs wholly to elerGreen. Intellectual property generated under external collaboration is co-owned by elerGreen and collaborating entity according to contribution, where elerGreen reserves the pre-emptive rights to buy out the collaborators’ co-ownership, at a price reasonable to the cost.
Industrial espionage is strictly prohibited. Upon discovery, such conducts may lead to termination for cause or legal actions.
Members should declare conflict of interest immediately as available. Note that conflict of interest would not be subject to penalty, but failing to disclose such conflict, or even concealing when it is due would be.