A report recently published by the Trades Union Congress (“TUC”) following extensive research reveals that racism and racial inequality continue to be commonplace at work, with 2 in 5 people reporting that they have experienced racism in the last five years.
The report reveals that 27% experienced racist jokes and banter whilst 26% reported being made to feel uncomfortable through use of stereotypes and comments on their appearance. 21% reported racist comments being directed at them or made in their presence and feeling bullied and harassed as a result. Unsurprisingly this has a negative impact on employees, with 31% reporting it affecting their mental health, 35% saying they felt less confident at work and 34% feeling embarrassed.
Most instances of racism were perpetrated by fellow employees, but 15% were made by a customer, client or patient. Most worrying for employers is the fact that the report reveals that for 1 in 6 of those surveyed, the racist behaviour came from a manager or supervisor.
Only 19% of those who experienced racist incidents chose to report the most recent incidents to their employer and almost half of those surveyed said that they did not believe that their employer would take the issue seriously. This is evidenced by the fact that the report reveals even when complaints of racism were made to an employer, action was only taken to prevent further racist behaviour taking place in just 29% of instances, and in 24% of cases nothing was done at all.
Claims in the Employment Tribunal for discrimination and harassment on the grounds of race can result in unlimited compensation being awarded, as well as significant reputational damage. Given how widespread racism continues to be in UK workplaces, as revealed by the report, it is clear that further work needs to be done by employers to ensure that race equality is embedded into working practices, that there is an open culture where employees are encouraged to report instances of racism and that swift disciplinary action is taken which sends a clear message that racism will not be tolerated.
Key to this is for employers to have a strong equality, diversity and inclusion policy in place that explicitly states that there is a zero tolerance policy to racism, discrimination and harassment, explains what constitutes this sort of behaviour and sets out how employees can raise concerns with their employer, and the action that will be taken in response.
If you feel that you have been discriminated against at work because of racist behaviour or you are an employer and feel that your Equality Policy or working practices could benefit from being reviewed or strengthened, our specialist employment lawyers can help. Contact the team today on 0345 646 0406 or fill in our online enquiry form and a member of our Team will be in touch.