Laws About Racial Discrimination in the Workplace
Racism in the workplace still happens fairly regularly. Because of this, the United States government has passed laws intended to protect employees from such discrimination. This may include deliberate and direct racism, or polices that (deliberately or otherwise) have a negative impact on people of a specific racial group.
The problem of racial discrimination has been addressed by the United States government and others. As a result, there are now some laws that attempt to address and prevent racism in the workplace.
The law forbids direct racial discrimination in any areas related to employment. Employers may not use race as a factor in hiring, firing, pay or any other aspects including training and fringe benefits. It also takes steps against indirect racial discrimination. A policy that is not directly related to the job and which, while applied to all workers, negatively affects a specific ethnic group may be illegal.
For example, it may be illegal to require workers to take a writing test in English unless writing is part of their job, as this discriminates against individuals for whom English is not their first language. This affects Hispanics and also immigrants from non-English speaking countries.
Racial harassment in the workplace is also illegal. Occasional comments might not be a problem, but constant racial slurs, written or spoken, or displaying offensive symbols can constitute harassment. Basically, it becomes harassment if the worker feels intimidated or unable to carry out their job duties because of the behavior of superiors, coworkers or even customers.
More subtle forms of discrimination that may be illegal include pushing workers of a specific race into a 'job ghetto' where they have less contact with customers.
The majority of discrimination cases are based off of disparate treatment, either deliberate or otherwise, or harassment by a superior or coworker. The victim has to be a member of a protected class and prove that they were treated worse than a non-minority in some way. Discrimination law is intended to allow equal treatment and to ensure that employers treat their workers according to qualifications, not skin color.