Racial Harassment in the Workplace
What’s Racial Harassment?
Racial harassment is simply a kind of behavior that occurs when an individual or a group uses discriminatory remarks or practices in a repetitive manner. Basically, the remarks or practices are supposed to discriminate a person basing on his/her color, culture, religion, language or decent so that the behavior can be considered racial harassment.
Some of the Examples of Racial Harassment Include:
- Showing a co-worker comic strips, images or pictures which are racially degrading.
- Trying to stop or hinder a person from being promoted simply because he or she belongs to a particular culture or religion.
- Making jokes, humiliating comments, racially oriented remarks or insinuations to a person or co-worker.
What are Some of the Consequences Associated with Racial Harassment?
- How it Affects the Victim
An individual who turns out to be a victim of racial harassment will most likely feel hurt, humiliated and outraged. He/she will feel rejected in the long run and often fail to carry out his or her daily chores in a professional manner. This is simply because there are invisible barriers trying to hinder his or her performance.
- How the Witnesses Inside the Workplace are Affected
Racial harassment can be rampant, and it can end up deteriorating the work environment as a whole. Generally, the colleagues of the victim of racial harassment may end up feeling uneasy and eventually lose interest in certain tasks they are entitled to handle in the organization.
When this form of discrimination is caused by a group of people that intend to make life unbearable to a particular person, racial harassment can lead to confrontation, hate, or even physical violence.
- How Does It Impact the Organization?
If the organization fails to handle harassment cases in due time, it might end up suffering losses of employees as people may end up resigning or losing interest in their jobs. It may make the organization incur huge losses if not corrected immediately.
What are Some of the Measures to Put into Action to Stop Racial Harassment in an Organization?
- Written or oral reprimand or warning
- Reassignment or transfer
- Demotion
- Reduction of wages
- Discharge
- Suspension
What are Legal Consequences of Racial Discrimination?
Prosecution processes and fines are applied when workplace discrimination occurs. Normally, this may happen when discrimination fails to be addressed properly by the company officials. When an employer is found guilty of causing discriminatory remarks, he/she may be required to pay fines or even face a jail term.