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Richland County Coroner’s Office

Title: Mission Statement

Approved by:_____________________________________

Naida Rutherford, DNP, APRN-BC • Richland County Coroner

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We commit to performing our duties with compassion and integrity, and to preserve the dignity of each of our citizens and their families and loved ones.

The Richland County Coroner’s Office will investigate all deaths within its jurisdiction according to South Carolina State Law. Duly qualified personnel will conduct investigations in a timely manner using sound scientific methods. Trust and confidence in the ability of the Coroner’s Office will be established through cooperation with related agencies and the citizens of Richland County.

The Richland County Coroner’s Office will support and provide comfort to surviving family members and their friends through a partnership with area religious leaders, community organizations, grief counselors, and other entities that can support grieving families.

Richland County Coroner’s Office Policy:

Anti-Harassment Policy:

The Richland County Coroner is committed to a work environment in which all individuals are treated with respect and dignity. Each individual has the right to work in a professional atmosphere that promotes equal employment opportunities and prohibits discriminatory practices, including harassment. Therefore, the Richland County Coroner expects that all relationships among persons in the office will be businesslike and free of bias, prejudice and harassment.

Equal Employment Opportunity:

It is the policy of The Richland County Coroner’s Office to ensure equal employment opportunity without discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, marital status, citizenship, or any other characteristic protected by law. The Richland County Coroner prohibits any such discrimination or harassment and has zero tolerance of such behavior.

Retaliation Is Also Prohibited:

The Richland County Coroner encourages reporting of all perceived incidents of discrimination or harassment. It is the policy of The Richland County Coroner’s Office to investigate every report. The Richland County Coroner’s Office prohibits retaliation against any individual who reports discrimination or harassment, or participates in an investigation of such reports.

Definitions of Harassment:

Sexual harassment constitutes discrimination and is illegal under federal, state, and local laws. For the purposes of this policy, sexual harassment is defined, as in the SC Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Guidelines.

Guidelines, as unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature when, for example:

• submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual’s employment;
• submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as the basis of employment decisions affecting such individual; or
• such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual’s work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive working

Sexual harassment may include a range of subtle and not so subtle behaviors and may involve individuals of the same or different gender. Depending on the circumstances, these behaviors may include, but are not limited to: unwanted sexual advances or requests for sexual favors; sexual jokes and innuendo; verbal abuse of a sexual nature; commentary about an individual’s body; sexual prowess or sexual deficiencies; leering, whistling or touching; insulting or obscene comments or gestures; display in the workplace of sexually suggestive objects or pictures; and other physical, verbal, or visual conduct of a sexual nature.