Discrimination and Workplace Bullying's Payoff: ‘I Felt Less than Human’

04/11/11

In 2007, the EEOC settled a race and national origin discrimination suit with a Florida auto dealership. The suit alleged that senior managers, including the owner’s son, peppered black and Hispanic employees with unwelcome epithets.

“The harassment by the owner’s son and the two managers was so intolerable,” said one of the victims, “that I felt less than human.”

The eloquent statement captured what discrimination and harassment feel like to the victims. Are your employees feeling that way?

Discrimination cost that dealership $700,000 in fines and penalties. The cost to the business in lost reputation, lost productivity and damaged employee morale is likely many time that number. Other cases have returned

And the cost to the employees who experienced this kind of workplace bullying is incalculable.

Despite such penalties, cases like this one still occur with surprising frequency. “Sadly,” says attorney Ginger McRae, “many people still have prejudices against those who are different, and they don’t leave these feelings outside the door when they go to work.” McRae, a consultant in the Atlanta office of Employment Practices Solutions, points out that just a few “egregious” actions by bigots can taint the atmosphere of an entire work site.

But, she adds, legal trouble is not inevitable. “If employers demonstrate a lack of tolerance for this conduct by reacting immediately, decisively, and with actions calibrated to the level of the misconduct, the negative atmosphere can be neutralized and perhaps even made positive.”

Civil Rights in the Workplace
Discrimination is illegal in the workplace due to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, as well as other national, state, and local laws. Title VII makes it unlawful to discriminate against any employee or applicant because of his or her race, sex, color, national origin, or religion. The law covers such things as hiring and firing, promotions, compensation, training opportunities, or any other term, condition, or privilege of employment.

Discrimination turns into harassment or even sexual harassment when ethnic slurs, racial jokes, and offensive or derogatory comments—among other things—create a hostile or offensive working environment, or when they interfere with a person’s work.

How to Prevent Discrimination and Workplace Bullying
According to McRae, a company must do at least three things to prevent discrimination, harassment and bullying from occurring in the workplace.

1. Train managers and other employees. Sessions should cover equal employment opportunity laws, your anti-discrimination policy, and diversity. “Employees and managers should be educated on the critical business importance of diversity. They need to understand their role in creating an atmosphere of inclusiveness and respect for differences,” she says. Training should also cover an employee’s responsibility to report incidents of discrimination.
   
   
2. Handle complaints promptly, decisively, and appropriately. “Employers send a powerful messages,” McRae believes, “when they don’t give complaints the highest priority, and when they discipline offenders lightly.”
   
   
3. Show strong management support. Management must place a high priority on maintaining a workplace free of bullying, discrimination and harassment. It must support strongly those who bring complaints, as well as those responsible for investigating and resolving them. Without such support, the organization’s response will be weak—and that’s an invitation to disaster. “If people know that the employer will support them,” says McRae, “it will be very difficult for ongoing discrimination to occur, even in isolated parts of the company.”

Creating a Colorblind Workplace Starts at the Top
McRae believes that employees need to hear senior managers speak out against discrimination or harassment regularly—not just when there’s been a claim brought against the organization. Make it clear in both actions and words that workplace bullying, discrimination and harassment are NOT acceptable at any level in your company.

And never forget, she concludes, that employees are watching closely. “What managers say and do are critical.”

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