Racial Discrimination in the Workplace and What You Can Do About It

Racial discrimination. The words themselves leave an unsavory taste in the mouth. Though there have been many legal measures put in place to prevent racial discrimination, the law cannot change the way people think, act and feel. Unfortunately, as advanced as America has come in the races relations arena, people are still often the victim of personal discrimination in the work place based on their race.

The first thing an employee should do if they feel they are being racially discriminated against is to get a full definition of what constitutes racial discrimination according to the law. What one person may feel constitutes racial discrimination may be different from the legal definition. This can be obtained through the employers human resources department or through contacting the Equal Employment Opportunity Commissions local branch office.

What should you do if faced with racial discrimination at work? Well there are several ways to face the issue. Understand that racial discrimination is intolerable in ANY work environment. It is ILLEGAL and can have serious consequences not only for the person who is doing the discriminating but for the management and even the owner of a company or business even if they are unaware of what is going on. For this reason, most corporations and larger businesses have a NO TOLERANCE policy. Many companies will terminate an employee on this issue over the first offense.The first thing to do when dealing with racial discrimination at work is to find out what your employers policy is regarding racial discrimination.

If an employee feels like they are being racial discriminated against they should first follow the steps outlined in their employers policy. If they work somewhere that there is no formal policy, they should make the employer aware of the issue. Document every instance of perceived discrimination and every contact regarding an attempt to report it to the employer. The employee should keep a journal describing exact remarks made in their presence, any directions given them that they perceive as discriminatory, or any other instance where they felt they were being racially discriminated against, complete with dates and if possible times.

Once the employee has made an effort and given reasonable time to the employer to rectify issues of racial discrimination and they have not done so, the next step would be to notify the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. This is the agency the federal government has designated to regulate issues of discrimination in the workplace. The EEOC representative will interview the employee to determine if there is cause to believe the employee has been discriminated against. It is helpful to the EEOC agent to have as many incidents on record as possible in order to determine the full extent of the complaint. Written documentation of any disciplinary action taken by the employer, any unusual tasks requested that are not normally assigned, irregular changes in an employees schedule that do not affect other workers, incidents of other employees making racial slurs or comments in the presence of the employee. All these will help the investigation by the EEOC agent to be more efficient.

Once the EEOC steps in to resolve an issue of racial discrimination, they will usually do a thorough investigation during which time the employer will have the right to refute the employees claims. If the EEOC representative finds that there is a reasonable grounds for complaint, the employer must undergo a series of federally mandated measures to ensure that discrimination will not continue. Based on the degree of the evidence the EEOC representative finds, the employer may be subject to hefty fines, a series of regulation enforcements or even have their business license revoked until the employer takes corrective action. Sometimes the employer may terminate an employee for causing the environment of racial discrimination, or the employer may be unaware of EEOC mandates and be required to complete a training course explaining the laws and rules which regulate discrimination issues along with paying a hefty fine to the federal government.

The number one thing NOT to do when an employee feels they are being racially discriminated against is to ignore it. This can create an environment where discrimination is not only tolerated but acceptable because nothing is done to deter it.