Condoning racism within a company

[Grizzly]

Let's play the hypothetical game.

Let's say a supervisor is reprimanding an employee. The supervisor goes on to say something to the effect of, "you argue too much. It must be that hot blooded latin temper you've got".

Said employee tells the owner what the supervisor said and the owner replies with, "Oh, she was just joking. You know all sorts of innapropriate stuff gets done around here."

Is this illegal? Is this considered condoning discrimination within your company or something? Hypothetically, of course.

[joeycrabcakes]

doesnt sound good. If the boss was close to employee and joking, might not be as bad, but being she was reprimanding him.......

[Bob Smith]

The comment would be a stereotype, but I doubt it falls under the category of employment racism. Since it is only a single comment during one conversation it is highly unlikely that it would be deemed illegal. Inappropriate? Probably.

If you had asked a day ago then I could have asked my HR Management professor.

[Bigkarch]

it could Bob...if the employee felt it was a racist statement or he/she felt based on that statement it was a hostile work enviroment it could be trouble...now it was so basic that probably no one would get in trouble other than an oral counselling.

[Bob Smith]

The difficulty the subordinate would have is proving a hostile work environment. With one comment, I simply dont think that its possible. Now, if the comment was something like "You better f*ck my brains out or else Ill make your life a living hell" then one comment could be considered hostile. But in the incident described, I dont think it would stand a chance in court.

[Bigkarch]

true Bob but it can start the paper trail process. and most companies dont want to be on that fine line of a law suit...as sensitive as discrimination is now days...just that mere commment could raise flags..but I do agree it is weak...again something that an oral counselling can take care unless there are future incidents..

[Neodavid]

All that pc stuff is garbage. Rule following pencil pushers who wouldn't know what's really important if it stared them in the face.

Only thing that matters is what was really in each person's heart. the motivation for the comment could have been horrible, or it could have been jovial and meant to break the ice or foster a relationship.

The other guy could be overly sensitive and self centered, or he could be very intuitive and in touch.

Legal schmeagle, good GRIEF let's just stop the BS and stop enabling people to allow their inablity to have relationships, ruining everyone elses personal freedom.

If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen. If there is something truly evil going on, it will be easy to find. This petty crap makes the real thing sound like the boy who cried wolf once too often.

Originally Posted by Bob Smith

The comment would be a stereotype, but I doubt it falls under the category of employment racism. Since it is only a single comment during one conversation it is highly unlikely that it would be deemed illegal. Inappropriate? Probably.

If you had asked a day ago then I could have asked my HR Management professor.

[Bob Smith]

Originally Posted by legal eagle

true Bob but it can start the paper trail process. and most companies dont want to be on that fine line of a law suit...as sensitive as discrimination is now days...just that mere commment could raise flags..but I do agree it is weak...again something that an oral counselling can take care unless there are future incidents..

I agree, its all about establishing (or preventing) a pattern of potentially hostile comments.

In this instance, it sounds like the subordinate was probably more pissed off that he was being repremanded for his actions than he was actually offended by the comment. So he went to the owner as a form of retribution against the supervisor. If someone said to me "it must be that Scottish (or Irish) temper of yours" I would think it was more amusing than anything else.