What to Do If You’re the Victim of Racial Discrimination in the Workplace
By Carmen Van Kerckhove
Think twice before reporting racial discrimination to your company’s human resources department. Why? Because it’s not always the most effective strategy.
Read on for a step-by-step guide on what to do if you believe your supervisor is discriminating against you because of your race.
(Of course, I am not a lawyer so please do not take this opinion as professional legal advice.)
1. Ask Yourself If It’s Truly Racial Discrimination
All people of color have an internal racism radar. For some, it’s turned all the way up so that they see racial conspiracy around every corner. For others, it’s turned all the way down so that they are in denial about how racism affects their lives. For most of us, it’s somewhere in-between.
Before you take any action, ask yourself if you are sure that you’re being discriminated against because of your race. Does your supervisor treat other people of your racial or ethnic group poorly too? Or does she only pick on you? Could there be other reasons you’re being passed over for raises or promotions? Are your colleagues better situated in terms of performance, education, experience, or skills? Are they better at cultivating relationships with the boss or making their accomplishments known? Is it a personality issue? Could it be that you’re just not well-liked by your coworkers?
You don’t want to be known as the little boy who cried wolf. So be brutally honest with yourself and face your flaws. If after this thorough self-analysis you still believe that you’re experiencing racial discrimination, then you should take action.
2. Document Everything In Detail
You want to be able to prove a pattern of discriminatory behavior, so start a log to document the evidence. You should try to collect two types of items: evidence of racial prejudice on the part of your supervisor, and evidence of discrimination against you. For each item, be sure to include the date, time, a description of what occurred, and who else was around to witness the behavior.
If your supervisor makes racist jokes or comments, that is clear evidence of racial prejudice. But subtler comments could be compelling evidence too. For example, if your supervisor equates diversifying the company’s workforce with lowering hiring standards, he probably believes that whites are inherently more qualified than non-whites. Striking differences between the way your supervisor treats white employees versus employees of color would be compelling evidence too.
When it comes to evidence of discrimination against you, note down discriminatory patterns in salaries, promotions, project assignments, and overtime allocation. Also note instances where your supervisor excludes you from important meetings or credits other people with your work or ideas.
3. Talk to Your Supervisor First
Resist the temptation to go straight to your boss’s boss or to HR. As difficult as it may be, your first step should almost always be to discuss your concerns directly with your supervisor. “Give people the opportunity to correct themselves,” says the Fortune 500 HR professional behind the anonymous blog Evil HR Lady. “People who are dragged into their supervisor’s office or HR’s office are more likely to become defensive and start defaming you.”
Explain to your boss that you have noticed a pattern of racial discrimination and mention concrete examples from your log. Even if the conversation doesn’t resolve anything because your boss denies any wrongdoing, you will look good by having given your supervisor a chance to modify her behavior.
Of course, if the discrimination is extreme — your supervisor is calling you racial slurs or is making direct threats — skip steps 3 and 4 and go straight to HR.
4. Talk to Your Boss’s Boss Next
You’ve had the conversation with your supervisor but the discriminatory behavior has continued. Now should you go to HR? Not necessarily.
“I actually think it is better to go up the chain of command than straight to HR,” says Evil HR Lady. “The employee relations person may never have met your supervisor, let alone you, and may not have insight into what is going on the way his boss might. His boss may wish to pull HR in or she may wish to handle it directly.”
Workplace expert Liz Ryan agrees. In a recent column for BusinessWeek Online, she wrote: “The truth is that in nine out of 10 cases, you’re better off addressing a problem via your own functional chain of command. It’s terrifying, I grant you, to go over your boss’s head, but doing so has two advantages over running to the HR people. The first is that the line manager in your function will appreciate your keeping the issue in the family, as it were.
“The second is that, whether or not you approve of the resolution, your boss’s boss has the power to fix the problem. The HR people can wring their hands and tell you they’re sorry for your trouble, but very often that’s as far as it goes. And by ratting out your boss to HR–however badly he or she deserves it–you can get a bad reputation in your own business unit.”
5. Go to HR, But Consider Asking for a Transfer Instead of Filing a Complaint
If your supervisor’s discriminatory behavior continues even after you’ve spoken to your boss’s boss, it’s time to go to HR. But remember that the human resources department is not an employee advocacy group. Ultimately, HR represents the company, not you.
So before you talk to HR, decide what your priorities are. Is it more important for you to extricate yourself from this hostile work environment? Or are you hell-bent on seeing your boss punished?
If you just want out, consider asking HR for a transfer to a different department. Explain that you are the victim of racial discrimination, present all the compelling evidence you have collected in your log, and suggest that they transfer you to the department of your choice. They will probably be grateful that you are suggesting such an easy solution instead of embroiling HR in a long, drawn-out investigation.
If, however, you are adamant about having your supervisor disciplined for his discriminatory behavior, you should file an official complaint with your HR department.
Doing so is especially important if you think that other employees may have filed grievances against the same supervisor, or if you believe that your supervisor’s behavior is systematic of widespread racial discrimination across the firm. If the firm doesn’t take action after being informed of a pattern of discriminatory behavior, it can be held liable.
6. Be Aware of the Risks of Filing an Official Complaint
HR may tell you that your complaint will only be shared with other people “on a need to know basis,” but don’t be fooled into thinking that this equates absolute confidentiality. “We understand that most people want these types of things kept confidential,” says Evil HR Lady, “but some problems are impossible to solve without talking to others.”
This is especially true if you file an official complaint. The typical procedure will be for someone from HR to take your statement, then take the statement of your supervisor, and then interview witnesses. There is simply no way to perform an investigation without talking to other people in the company. And the more people who get involved in the process, the more likely that word will spread about your situation.
“If you file an internal complaint at your company alleging that you are the victim of harassment or retaliation,” writes the anonymous HR professional behind the blog The Black Factor, “your employer is supposed to inform staff that it will not accept you being subjected to any mistreatment, while your complaint is being investigated. In addition, any employment decisions that are made, after you file a complaint, should be reviewed by your employer in order to ensure that the decisions are not a disguise for continued punishment.”
Although there are strict laws governing retaliation against employees who file complaints, you should still be prepared to deal with some backlash, even if it doesn’t take the form of firing or demotion. Your colleagues may suddenly stop inviting you to social functions. Your supervisor may keep you out of the loop on important projects or give you unfairly harsh performance reviews.
© 2004-2009 New Demographic.
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR NEWSLETTER, BLOG OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it:
Carmen Van Kerckhove, president of the diversity education firm New Demographic, specializes in working with corporations to facilitate relaxed, authentic, and productive conversations about race. She has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, and has visited as a guest lecturer at Harvard, Princeton, and Columbia, among many other colleges and universities across the country. If you want to learn how to boost your career by mastering the changing dynamics of race in today’s workplace, get your FREE TIPS now at www.NewDemographic.com.
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of 
Yoli Said,
May 19, 2009 @ 1:41 pm
There is nothing you can do my dear, honestly there isn’t, it will all get turned around and you will end up loosing your job. In this day of gross unemployement and job loss, you just have to suffer in silence. From one that is there.
Amy Johansson Said,
May 19, 2009 @ 1:54 pm
One of the biggest reasons I took on my husband’s surname, instead of keeping my maiden name, was that my maiden name frequently prompted exchanges during job interviews that took on a racially uncomfortable tone. My father is from Thailand, (my mom is American/Caucasian) and I guess that I appear “white” or ambiguous. Interviewers frequently asked me, upon meeting me and seeing my Thai last name “what kind of a name is this?” which they are legally NOT allowed to ask. Not wanting to be rude, I’d usually say “a long one!” or “the reason I’m a great speller!”and more pushing would occur if they didn’t get the hint. I understand that queries for the most part were harmless curiosity, but i have noted since acquiring a less ethnically ambiguous surname, I’ve not once been asked this question during any exchange at work.
Liz Ryan Said,
May 20, 2009 @ 1:57 am
Great articlle. Thanks for mentioning the Business Week piece. The Catch-22 associated with reporting racial discrimination (or any kind of discrimination) is that the HR people, well-intentioned as they may be, are much more in the service of the management team (including your discriminating boss) than they are advocates for you. So they’ll say “We can’t help you unless you file a formal complaint” and then, more often than not, they’ll report to your boss that you’ve filed a complaint. They may say “Please don’t retaliate.” Right! That’s why, intimidating as it can be, in my experience you’re better off going to your boss’s boss – the person, in any case, who bears the liability for your boss’s bad behavior in the eyes of the company’s top leadership.
Michael W. Jones Said,
May 22, 2009 @ 12:39 pm
I worked until yesterday at a place where discrimination against blacks existed in the form of our district manager always coming into our store and pulling all the white people aside to tell them ignorant black jokes. He was told a long time ago that his comments were not appreciated but he continued anyway. Upon informing the african american workers at our store of what was going on and talking to the owner of our store I was told I was threatening our district manager and I was immediately let go. There are a lot of people who can testify to the fact that the racism existed. Where do I go from here to try and get some justice for not only myself but the affected workers as well? Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thank You. Sincerely, Michael W. Jones, St. Louis, Mo.
Charles Reaves Said,
June 30, 2009 @ 3:13 pm
This article provided excellent advice on defending oneself from racism in the workplace when one is a member of American minority group. I am an African American man, who, after nearly a decade of self employment, has decided to pursue a new career in public accounting. Although I am apprehensive about “carrying someone else’s briefcase” for a year or two, there are certain experiences and credentials I can only obtain in this environment. So I am a little tepid as to how I would handle racial discrimination in the workplace, since I have been my own boss for so long. At least the article gives a step-by-step process by which the victim can handle the problem with minimal risk to one’s professional reputation. Believe me, I know from my own past eemployment experiences that unprotected, ill-advised whistleblowers are despised, retaliated against, discredited, and blacklisted.
Marcy Webb Said,
July 2, 2009 @ 2:09 pm
Carmen, good suggestions, but, they make the assumption that everyone works in multi-layered corporate conglomerate. Getting transferred may not be an option, and, going to HRD? One’s place of employ may not have one, as hard as that may be to believe.
Personally, I would retain a good attorney.
Michael Said,
September 21, 2009 @ 3:18 am
The best way you can do about it is contact your manager or if the company management is responsbile, report to the EEOC about your rights may be violated. There have been too many false or misunderstood cases of racial discrimination at the workplace, this is why companies and states (Cal. professional code) banned or curtails anyone discussing race or other social groups. To curb freedom of speech if it’s hailed to be offensive or hurtful is a thin line, but what if it was a boss or someone (a co-worker) gives you a mean stare or said “you’re not one of us?” now you’ll know for sure this is an open racially motivated attack. +