I tried to ignore it - Aisha's story
"I'd been working in a department store for nearly a year. It was all going fine until Claire started in my department. I knew she had a problem with me right away: she blanked me and criticised me in front of customers. Then I realised it was my colour she had a problem with.
During breaks, she'd read out news stories about black people accused of crimes and say things like "one of your lot again..." I once heard her say crime was "part of black culture".
I tried to ignore it. I thought there wasn't much I could do anyway. I put up with it for about 6 months until I found out she had spread rumours that I was stealing from the till - and I lost it!
I went up to her while she was on the shop floor and told her I wasn't going to let her get away with it anymore. I hoped that might be the end of it, but things only got worse. Claire complained about me to our manager, saying I had threatened her. People who saw me confronting her backed up her story, and I had to go through a disciplinary procedure. I tried to explain that it was her fault, but they said I should have made a complaint. I couldn't believe it, I had tried to sort out the problem and instead I got myself in trouble!"
Aisha, London
Claire’s behaviour amounts to racist harassment, a kind of discrimination. You are not allowed to behave in a racist way at work. Employers have a duty to make sure this doesn’t go on in their workplace.
Aisha’s reaction is understandable. But when you have a problem at work, it’s important to take steps to deal with it before it gets out of hand, and to act with a clear head so you get the best result.
In Aisha’s case, her work didn’t know what had been going on, so when she finally exploded it looked like she had been the troublemaker.
What should Aisha have done?
- Aisha should have kept a diary of what Claire was doing that was upsetting her. Then she would have had a record to show her employers.
- She could have had an informal chat with her line manager. That might have stopped it right away.
- If that didn’t work, Aisha could have raised a formal grievance.
Once Aisha had told her work what Claire was doing, it would be their responsibility to deal with the problem. - If Claire was allowed to continue acting in the same way, Aisha could have taken her employer to an employment tribunal.
