Race Discrimination in the Workplace in England and Wales

It has been illegal to discriminate based on race in the UK since 1976. As an employer, you should be aware of the law on race discrimination in the workplace. Not only do you have a responsibility not to carry out race discrimination personally, but you are also responsible for preventing it and ensuring others do not racially discriminate. Where race discrimination occurs in your workplace, you could face an employment tribunal as well as damage to your business and reputation. This article will explain the law on race discrimination in the workplace. 

What is Race Discrimination?

It is illegal to discriminate against someone in the workforce based upon a ‘protected characteristic’. There are nine protected characteristics, and one of these is race. To discriminate against someone based on race is where you discriminate against them due to one or more of the following:

• colour of their skin;
• ethnic origin or ethnic group, which is where a group of people share a history or cultural traditions such as language, religion, literature or geographical origin;
• national origin, which is where a person is born;
• nationality, which is where a person has legal citizenship; or
• racial group, where people all share a similar trait such as colour, nationality, ethnic origin or national origin. 

Likewise, it is illegal to racially discriminate through the following:

Other Forms of Racial Discrimination

In addition, it is unlawful to discriminate against a person because you believe they are a particular race when they are not. This is discrimination by perception. Further, it is unlawful to discriminate against a person because of a particular race they are connected to. This is known as discrimination by association. 

You should not discriminate against anyone in your workplace, which includes, for example:

• workers and employees;
• contractors;
• self-employed people; and 
• those who have applied for a job in your workplace.

What Are an Employer’s Obligations Regarding Race Discrimination?

As an employer, you must not personally racially discriminate in your workplace or towards your workforce. It does not matter how small or large your workforce is. It is also illegal for anyone to carry out race discrimination in your workplace. Notably, where another person discriminates, the law might hold you (as their employer) responsible for it under vicarious liability.

You must also ensure that you protect your workforce from race discrimination. The law says that you must do all you reasonably can to ensure this. You also have a duty of care towards your employees regarding their wellbeing. Where you do not carry this out, it could be a contractual breach that could cause your employee to feel forced to resign.

You also have a duty to carry out actions to prevent race discrimination from occurring in your workplace. As part of this, you should understand the advantage of having a diverse and inclusive workforce. Likewise, you have a duty to prevent race discrimination in the workplace, not only in terms of your staff discriminating but also your clients or customers and members of the public. Your workplace should demonstrate a zero-tolerance toward race discrimination.

How Might Race Discrimination Occur in the Workplace?

There are various ways that race discrimination can occur in the workplace and who might discriminate. For example, whilst you as an employer may not discriminate based on race, your staff, customers or clients and even members of the public might do so.

Common areas where race discrimination might occur, include:

• during recruitment;
• when making redundancies or dismissals;
• concerning sickness and absence from the workplace;
• through employment terms and conditions, which could include pay and promotion; and
• methods of working such as working flexibly.

There is no definitive list of ways to carry out race discrimination in the workplace. However, some of the ways race discrimination may occur are as follows:

• as a one-off occurrence;
• as a regular pattern of behaviour;
• face-to-face;
• via electronic communications such as email or social media;
• via other written communication; 
• though verbal communication such as phone calls, jokes; or
• through body language such as gestures or unwanted physical behaviour.

Regardless of how race discrimination might occur in the workplace, it may be behaviour that is either discrete or noticeable by many. Further, whether or not a person intends to discriminate does not mean that the behaviour is not racial discrimination. 

Preventing Race Discrimination From Occurring in the Workplace

You can aim to prevent all occurrences of race discrimination in your workplace by:

• communicating to your workforce and customers that you will not tolerate race discrimination and that it is illegal, such as through your work policies;
• monitoring any policies and examining the impact they might be having;
• making your workplace clear on acceptable and unacceptable behaviour;
• offering training to your staff on what racial discrimination is and the way they can report instances of it;
• supporting anyone affected by race discrimination in the workplace;
• encouraging conversation about race, including appropriate terms to refer to people and language, which is unacceptable; and
• creating an anti-racism strategy also referred to as a race equality plan or race action plan. 

Key Takeaways

It is essential that you, as an employer, are aware of the law on race discrimination. You must refrain from carrying out race discrimination and ensure that your workforce does not discriminate based on race. However, your legal duty does not stop there. You are also required to take steps to prevent race discrimination from occurring in your workplace. To carry out your legal duties, you can put steps in place such as creating a race action plan, and providing your staff with training on what racial discrimination is and how to report it. You can also encourage communication between your workforce on acceptable and non-acceptable language around race.

If you need help in understanding the law on race discrimination in the workplace in England and Wales, our experienced employment lawyers can assist as part of our LegalVision membership. You will have unlimited access to lawyers to answer your questions and draft and review your documents for a low monthly fee. So call us today on 0808 196 8584 or visit our membership page.

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