Racial discrimination in the workplace is illegal. As an employer, you must take an employee\u2019s racial discrimination complaint seriously by dealing with it promptly. If you fail to deal with a complaint, your employee may take the complaint to an employment tribunal where you may be liable to pay damages. To avoid this from arising, this article will explain racial discrimination law and how to effectively deal with complaints. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Racial discrimination is when someone treats your employee less favourably based on their race. This includes your employee\u2019s:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many business owners are aware that racial discrimination in the workplace is illegal. However, many business owners are unaware of how this discrimination can manifest in the workplace. For example, direct discrimination is when your employee is mistreated based on their race or what a person perceives to be their race. On the other hand, indirect discrimination is where you might have policies that put particular racial groups at a disadvantage. For example, you might ask certain employees whether they studied in the UK. This is all to say that even unconscious racial discrimination is still discrimination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Racial discrimination can also include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An employee may raise a discrimination complaint regarding another employee or your business overall. When they do, you must look into the complaint immediately and follow your workplace complaints procedure<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When you handle a complaint, you should act reasonably and sensitively to the needs of those involved. This means that you:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The complaint should be kept confidential, and you should only make a disclosure to those who need to know about it, such as people in management positions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first thing you should do when faced with a racial discrimination<\/a> complaint is to speak to the person who raised the complaint. Speaking to the person who has raised the complaint will allow you to understand the issue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When you speak with the affected employee, you should allow them to have a support person present. While this is not a legal requirement, it can facilitate the resolution of the issue.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n During this initial meeting, you should establish how you will approach the complaint. For example, your employee may want:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although it is essential to listen to how the affected employee would like to deal with the complaint, it may be sufficiently serious to warrant disciplinary action. In this instance, you should consider the nature of the complaint and whether you should go beyond the internal dynamics of your business to resolve the issue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you decide that dealing with the complaint informally is the appropriate course of action, you will not need to use a formal grievance procedure. Dealing with the complaint informally may require a meeting with the perpetrator to look further into the complaint. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Where you need to look further into the complaint, you should:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Where action is required to resolve the complaint, it could include::<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dealing with a racial discrimination complaint formally requires you to follow a grievance procedure for handling complaints of racial discrimination. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Before dealing with the racial discrimination complaint, you must decide who will investigate it. Where possible, this should be someone neutral who is not part of the dispute. You may also need to separate employees. If so, this should be done fairly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your workplace\u2019s formal grievance procedure should align with the Acas Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n When dealing with a complaint formally, you must:<\/p>\n\n\n\n As racial discrimination is a legal issue, those attending have a right to be accompanied by a colleague, trade union representative or someone employed by the trade union. During the meeting, both sides should present evidence. At the end of the meeting, you should let employees know how long you may need to decide the outcome, and whether you need time to investigate further. If you require more time, this could require another grievance meeting. You should also give those involved a copy of the meeting notes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you are deciding how to resolve the complaint, you must base your decision on:<\/p>\n\n\n\n You may decide to take disciplinary action or that you should not take any action. Regardless of your choice, you must inform your employees in writing and as soon as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n Continue reading this article below the form\n <\/i>\n<\/a>\n1. Speak With the Affected Employee <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
2. Deal With the Complaint Informally<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
3. Follow a Formal Grievance Procedure <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
4. Reach an Outcome<\/h3>\n\n\n\n