Command
Utilizing the Captain's Spare ID Without a Readily Apparent Emergency
Outside of Emergencies, the Captain's Spare ID may only be taken temporarily for the express purpose of assisting with a specific task (ie, unlocking Access-locked crates to produce rare materials or unlocking Secured crates to assist with a non-essential goal). As soon as the exact need for this access has been resolved, the Spare must be returned at once.
- For example, if you take the Spare to unlock a Particle Accelerator crate so R&D can produce rare materials, you must return the Spare immediately after unlocking the crates.
Vacancy in the chain of command
In the event of any command role (excluding Colony Director) being unoccupied, it is advised (though not required) that the current Colony Director promote someone within the department to be head of staff.
In the event that the Colony Director is absent, please refer to the the Chain of Command guide book for more detailed instructions.
Senior Employees & Command
Senior employees do not hold any authority in their department beyond that of a standard employee. They are, however, expected to be a responsible example for those in their department, should mentor trainees and interns, and assist their department heads with operations and timely reports on department activity.
Promotion and Demotion
Heads of staff are in charge of promotions and demotions within their respective departments, and both the Head of Personnel and Colony Director are expected to honor these requests unless under outstanding circumstances.
Although some parts of Policy/Corporate Regulations list demotion and dismissal as a possible punishment, under no circumstance should the Head of Personnel honor a request to demote non-Security by the demand of the Head of Security alone. However, the severity of the infraction should be considered, and if necessary, the Colony Director or Acting Colony Director may enforce a demotion if the head of staff for the offending party's department refuses to do so.
The Colony Director (and any Acting Colony Director) may promote or demote anyone for any reason (excluding nepotism or discrimination) up to and including replacing their own rank. No permission is required from any heads of staff for any changes of rank, but it is still considered courteous to ask.
The Head of Personnel cannot promote or demote other heads of staff, but may promote or demote any other staff with the permission or at the request of their relevant head(s) of staff. They may also promote any staff up to and including replacing their own rank, with a limit of no more than two Heads of Personnel at any time, provided that one of their roles be titled "Assistant Head of Personnel". The Head of Personnel may demote or promote an Assistant Head of Personnel (thus switching places with them), but an Assistant Head of Personnel cannot demote or promote the main Head of Personnel. The Head of Personnel may not promote themselves or anyone else to Colony Director without a head of staff vote or by Central Command's authorization, but they may promote themselves to Acting Colony Director in the event that it is considered necessary by the Chain of Command.
All staff may ask to be demoted down to and including resignation at any time, for any reason. Note that if you resign, Security may not charge staff with Failure to Execute an Order (Corporate Regulations §111), and if you are already being charged, that charge is to be dropped upon announcement of your resignation. If you are in the brig at the time of your resignation, the time added to your sentence by your violation of §111 is to be revoked. However, if your resignation directly results in serious damage, injury, or fatalities, you are still liable for the violation of Failure to Execute an Order with Serious Consequences (Corporate Regulations §201) regardless of your resignation. For example, an Engineer resigning after being told to set up the engine is not liable, even if the power goes out. However, if the engine explodes as a direct result of their failure to follow orders, they may be charged accordingly.
Refusal to change rank
All staff may refuse a promotion except under the circumstance that your current role is required by the Chain of Command to assume the role of Acting Colony Director. If a staff member does not wish to be the Acting Colony Director, they may use their position as Acting Colony Director to promote a willing replacement candidate to Acting Colony Director.
If a staff member is demoted by the appropriate superior, they are to be informed directly (in person or via PDA). Within no more than 10 minutes, the demoted individual must either report to the Head of Personnel to surrender their ID's access, or must surrender their ID to Security, or must surrender their ID to their own head of staff. If the staff member being demoted openly refuses to cooperate, or is unresponsive to news of their demotion after 10 minutes, Security may be dispatched at request of the demoted individual's current/former head of staff to locate the individual and confiscate their ID. If the individual continues to resist confiscation, they may be charged with Exceeding Official Powers (Corporate Regulations §214).
If a demotion has been performed for reasons believed to be unjustified, the demoted individual should cooperate with the demotion, but immediately file a complaint to the next highest person in the chain of command. For example, if your own head of staff demoted you, complain to the Colony Director. If the Colony Director demoted you, or rejects your complaint, complain to Central Command. If you are still rejected, the decision is final.
Unique roles
In the event that it is deemed necessary, a head of staff may request to alter a subordinate's role to anything within their department, with any title they desire, so long as it does not cause any obvious confusion. Furthermore, multiple heads of staff may cooperate to create hybrid roles that have access to multiple departments.
Please note that for the purposes of this particular section, a Quartermaster is considered a head of staff, and should be consulted prior to the creation of any unique or hybrid roles in the fields of cargo or mining operations.
Hybrid roles should not be used to replace duties that are already covered by other staff. For example, a scientist should not be given mining access when there's perfectly good miners already present. Hybrid roles are meant to make current duties easier to fulfill, such as a Security Officer being given access to engineering because they are assigned to the security detail for a construction site.
Crew Restrictions: Special Concerns
- To address justified and self-evident concerns regarding the mental stability and evolutionary impulses of certain species employed by NanoTrasen, Central Command has issued updated policy restricting certain species from applying for, or attaining employment in, departments deemed sensitive or hazardous. Where these restrictions may be applied to any specific department, such as [Security], such restrictions equally apply to Command positions overseeing said department.
- Pursuant to the above policy, the position of [Facility Director] may not be held by any of the following species - regardless of personal assignation or self-identification:
- Protean
- Vox
- Xenochimera
- Pursuant to the above policy, the position of [Facility Director] may not be held by any of the following species - regardless of personal assignation or self-identification:
Internal Affairs
Impartiality Clause
An Internal Affairs Agent is not to serve the interests of any group or individual, including their own superiors up. Their only loyalty is to the rules as they are written, and to the party that follows them. Their job is only to ensure that those rules are being obeyed, and that if they are not, they make it known to those who can enact changes.
An Internal Affairs Agent is not a lawyer, though many may come from a background in practicing law. They will only defend and protect a party who is following the rules of the company, and any laws that the company is supposed to follow.
Any faults in those rules such as inconsistencies or oversights should be brought to the attention of NanoTrasen.
An Internal Affairs Agent should never make assumptions of anyone's intentions, nor include speculation of intentions in any given report. The Internal Affairs Agent is to summarize the facts and only the facts in their report.
Employee Comments and Concerns
If an employee wishes to address a matter with Internal Affairs, they must go to an Internal Affairs Office at their assigned station or facility. They should contact an Internal Affairs Agent in advance to let them know that they are coming.
If an Internal Affairs Agent is not presently available on the station, your facility should have a fax machine available somewhere in public for you to contact Central Command directly. For general comments and positive feedback, Central Command will make note of your report and forward it to the relevant parties. For complaints and negative feedback, Central Command will usually send an Internal Affairs Agent to the station regardless of whether or not you have included these complaints in your fax. The Internal Affairs Agent will conduct an investigation for which the objective is merely to gather the facts.
Prisoner Comments and Concerns
Prisoner comments and concerns will be handled in the same way as employee comments and concerns except in that a prisoner cannot come to the Internal Affairs Office. Instead, Security must arrange for the Internal Affairs Agent to meet with the prisoner in safety, but privacy.
All NanoTrasen holding facilities are equipped with at least one visitor booth wherein an Internal Affairs Agent and a prisoner may meet face-to-face without having to be in direct physical contact. If such a facility is not available, and the Internal Affairs Agent does not feel comfortable conducting the interview elsewhere, the condition of safety has not been met. If a third party not participant in the interview is able to listen in, then the condition of privacy has not been met. Note that there is no reason for Security to require that a guard be kept directly in the room, as the prisoner's visitation facility already ensures safety of the Internal Affairs Agent.
If safety or privacy cannot both be reasonably accommodated, the interview cannot proceed, and the reason why should be noted in your report.
As a final note, bear in mind that an Internal Affairs Agent is at no point required to help a prisoner. Their only job is to decide whether or not the company rules were followed. If no wrongdoing occurred, the Internal Affairs Agent can decide not to bother filing a report, and may decide not to hear grievances from that prisoner in future.
Violations of Employee Rights
If the Corporate Labor Charter of employees are being violated, Internal Affairs must make note of these violations regardless of whether or not the victims of such violations are even aware of their rights. A report to Central Command must be made, and the parties (such as command staff) who are violating these rights should be made aware of their violations.
If corrective action is not taken by the staff, Central Command should be alerted to this failure immediately.
Harassment
Harassment is unwelcome conduct that is based on species, race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age, disability, or genetic information. Harassment is against NanoTrasen's corporate policies, and it is therefore Central Command's obligation to address and investigate any harrassment report.
Harassment is against Corporate Regulations already, but becomes unlawful to Central Command when enduring the offensive conduct becomes a condition of continued employment, and the conduct is severe or pervasive enough to create a work environment that a reasonable person would consider intimidating, hostile, or abusive. Anti-discrimination laws also prohibit harassment against individuals in retaliation for filing a discrimination charge, testifying, or participating in any way in an investigation, proceeding, or lawsuit under these laws; or opposing employment practices that they reasonably believe discriminate against individuals, in violation of these laws.
Petty slights, annoyances, and isolated incidents (unless extremely serious) will not rise to the level of illegality, but may still violate company policy.
Offensive conduct may include, but is not limited to, offensive jokes, slurs, epithets or name calling, physical assaults or threats, intimidation, ridicule or mockery, insults or put-downs, offensive objects or pictures, and interference with work performance. Harassment can occur in a variety of circumstances, including, but not limited to, the following:
- The harasser can be the victim's supervisor, a supervisor in another area, an agent of the employer, a co-worker, or a non-employee.
- The victim does not have to be the person harassed, but can be anyone affected by the offensive conduct.
- Unlawful harassment may occur without economic injury to, or discharge of, the victim.
Prevention is the best tool to eliminate harassment in the workplace. NanoTrasen encourages all employees to take appropriate steps to prevent and correct harassment. Employees should feel free to raise concerns and be confident that those concerns will be addressed.
Employees are encouraged to inform the harasser directly that the conduct is unwelcome and must stop. Employees should also report harassment to Internal Affairs at an early stage to prevent its escalation. Remember that Internal Affairs is not hired to protect the company, and that if someone within the company is complicit in harassment, it is in the long-term benefit of NanoTrasen to take corrective measures up to and including termination of the harasser.
Violations of Standard Operating Procedure
If Standard Operating Procedure is being ignored by an individual or group of individuals, it should be brought to the attention of that party's superior. For example, if there are medical staff are not compliant with the NanoTrasen Dress Code, then the Chief Medical Officer should be informed.
If a head of staff is involved with the violation, or fails to take corrective action against subordinates, the Colony Director should be alerted to the infraction, noting that the relevant head of staff had already been contacted.
If the Colony Director is involved with the violation, or fails to take corrective action against subordinates, Central Command should be informed when possible, noting any previous efforts to bring the problem to the attention of command staff already present.
Note that there may be extenuating circumstances in which Standard Operating Procedure is ignored. An Internal Affairs agent should still make note of such an incident, but they should also provide full context as to why Standard Operating Procedure was not followed, whether deliberately or not. The reason for this is that Standard Operating Procedure may be updated to lend guidance on future incidents if NanoTrasen deems it worthwhile to do so.
An Internal Affairs Agent may personally recommend additions, edits, and removals to Standard Operating Procedure based on the findings of their investigation.
Violations of Corporate Regulation
If Corporate Regulation is being ignored by an individual or group of individuals, it should be brought to the attention of Security.
If Security is involved with the violation, or fails to take corrective action against offending parties for at least a medium infraction or worse, the Head of Security should be alerted to the infraction, noting the failure of their subordinates.
If the Head of Security is involved with the violation, or fails to take corrective action against offending parties for at least a medium infraction or worse, the Colony Director should be alerted to the infraction, noting the failure of their subordinates.
If the Colony Director is involved with the violation, or fails to take corrective action against offending parties for at least a high infraction or worse, Central Command should be alerted immediately.
Note that there may be extenuating circumstances in which Corporate Regulation is ignored, and note that the Colony Director is allowed to issue pardons. If a pardon is issued, an Internal Affairs agent should still report the incident to CentCom, but the urgency of doing so is greatly reduced. Any pardons issued should be mentioned in the report, as well as why they were issued. The reason for this is that Corporate Regulations may be updated to account for future incidents if NanoTrasen deems it worthwhile to do so.
An Internal Affairs Agent may personally recommend additions, edits, and removals to Corporate Regulations based on the findings of their investigation.
Altering Company Policy, Regulation, and Procedure
As mentioned previously, an Internal Affairs Agent is able to suggest changes to documents found on the company wiki, and these changes will be reflected in any physical documents that are distributed to employees.
Changes should be made in the event that a contradiction, error, or oversight is discovered among Standard Operating Procedure and Policy/Corporate Regulations. These two documents are often updated independently of each other, and sometimes references between these documents do not align as they should. References might be missing, topics may refer to defunct policies, a frequent issue is not accounted for, etc. Bring these problems to the attention of Central Command, and offer your suggestions as to how the wording of these documents can be improved.
Note that suggested changes should not be based on one specific post; they should account for stations and facilities all across NanoTrasen's corporate network. Site-specific rules may be employed for a particular location based on the needs and circumstances of that location. Internal Affairs Agents should ask and make note of any such rules that may contradict or add to these otherwise company-wide procedures. For one extreme example, the NSB Adephagia is equipped with state of the art experimental cloning facilities, and so the edition of Policy/Corporate Regulations issued to them is written with more lenient punishments for crew fatalities. Be aware of site-specific changes to the company's usual rules.
Applying for Permits
Any permits that the crew wishes to apply for can be done through an Internal Affairs Agent, who will guide you through the application process, and then forward the application to the department responsible for processing that application.
Weapon Permits
There is one kind of weapon permit at the Station or Vessel level: the Temporary Permit. These are issued at the discretion of the Head of Security, and are good for up to one shift. In the event that the Head of Security is not present at the facility, the Facility Director may issue Temporary Permits.
Medical Prescriptions
The Chief Medical Officer is in charge of medical prescriptions. Internal Affairs is not a medically qualified entity, and may not play any role in obtaining a medical prescription. Anyone seeking to obtain a prescription should make an appointment with the medical department for an evaluation. However, in the event that an already valid prescription is being denied treatment, then an employee's labor rights are being violated. The Chief Medical Officer, the Colony Director, and Central Command should be contacted immediately and simultaneously, as failure to provide treatment could result in a medical emergency.
Company Events
Internal Affairs will often be involved in the planning and execution of company events including (but not limited to) awards ceremonies, training seminars, employee cookouts, weddings, birthday parties, and other special functions.
If an employee wishes to reserve company property, or to invite employees to an event that does not take place on company property, Internal Affairs should help plan and coordinate with the heads of staff and Central Command in order to ensure these events run smoothly. Often times, events that have been approved by Central Command will be broadcast on the channel of the NanoTrasen Chatroom App specific to your site of employment.