Types Of Racial Discrimination In The Workplace

Racial discrimination is one of the most common forms of discrimination, affecting millions around the world both inside and outside of the workplace. There are many reasons why racial discrimination takes place, many of which touch on implicit and deeply-rooted biases and prejudices around certain races or ethnicities.

However, regardless of the reason, discriminating or judging someone based on their race can lead to really harmful effects on that person’s mental and physical health and possibly even their career opportunities. Engaging a professional and experienced attorney that either specializes in discrimination cases or racial harassment cases can help ensure that you secure the fair treatment and compensation that you deserve.

However, before you know how to engage a lawyer, it is first important to learn how to identify signs of racial discrimination. As such, we have compiled a list of various types of racial discrimination in the workplace.

Direct Racial Discrimination

This is generally the most obvious form of discrimination where someone is actively treated differently due to their race, their perceived race, or by association with someone of a certain race. For example, a person can be of a certain race or look like a certain race and therefore be treated disfavorably, like not being hired or being denied a certain type of work.

Discrimination by association is more complicated as it means that a person is being discriminated against because they have ties to someone of a certain race. For example, someone might be denied a promotion at work because their partner is of a different race, and this goes against the family values that the company wants to promote.

Indirect Racial Discrimination

Indirect racial discrimination takes place when a policy, rule, or practice at a workplace is uniformly applied to everyone but actively discriminates against a certain race. This does not have to be a company-wide application and can also apply to policies made in teams or departments. Due to the different cultural and lived experiences of individuals in a workspace, overly general sweeping policies can put certain affinity groups at an unfair disadvantage.

Common examples of such policies include dress codes, selection criteria for jobs or redundancy, policies on methods of working, and certain terms and conditions. For example, when dress codes include regulations on headdresses, it actively discriminates against many races and ethnicities that might practice religions that require them to wear some form of headwear on the day-to-day. This then disadvantages these affinity groups as they are forced to choose between adhering to the dress code or going against the attire expectations of their affinity group.

Racial Harassment

Harassment takes discrimination to the next level, involving participating in unwanted behavior. This can include racist comments, hurting actions, and others. The common requirements that determine actions or language to be harassment are that they should have violated the recipient’s dignity in some manner and created an intimidating or hostile environment.

It is still considered harassment even if the effect was unintended or if there was malicious intent that did not manifest in harm to the recipient. More importantly, it can also be considered harassment if you witness someone else being harassed and then feel intimidated or unwelcome due to their actions.