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Racial Discrimination in the Workplace

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Racial Discrimination in the Workplace

Workplace unequal treatment based on race does not occur in developed countries only.

Even though in the United States, from 1991 to 2013, almost 670,000 race discrimination

charges were received by the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) and 93,727

of those charges belonged to 2013 only (Maria del Carmen Triana et al.,2015), in July 2018 the

Colombian Constitutional Court ordered structural reforms to make current Colombian

regulations against workplace abuse based on race more effective due to John Becerra’s case of

racial harassment at work (Maryluz Barragán González, 2018). As a global issue, racial

discrimination persists in the workplace and is significantly more common than most people

believe. One of the solutions should be to implement the PRESS model created by Robert

Livingston and to expose racial discrimination situations until to generate changes in the

country’s current legislation such as John Becerra’s case in Colombia.

According to Robert Livingston (2020), racial discrimination in the workplace occurs due

to wrong perceptions or beliefs about it. He cited a 2011 study by Sommers & Norton, which

found that non-colour people in the United States believe that racism against colour people has

dropped drastically over the past 50 years, while racism against non-color people has increased

exponentially over the same period, leading to a group of non-colour people believing that

racism against them is more prevalent than racism against colour people (pag.4). According to

another survey conducted by the same researchers, 57 percent of non-colour people and 66

percent of working-class non-colour people believe that prejudice against them is as serious as

discrimination against people of colour. (pag.4). These erroneous perceptions or opinions are

significant because they sabotage efforts to combat racism by eroding support for diversity

programs.
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Regarding John Becerra’s case in Colombia, an article by Maryluz Barragán González

(2018) cited that the first time he informed about his coworkers' bully was in October 2011. The

company not only rejected his pleas but also told him multiple times that it was all in his head

and fired him without cause and that no institution assisted him in resolving his problem. In

2016, John Becerra filed a constitutional petition in the hopes of securing protection for some of

his fundamental rights that had been violated by his employer but they were denied after three

years by the Ministry of Labor and the public prosecutor's office. Finally, the Court issued a

notice of its ruling in July 2018, recognizing that John Becerra had been the victim of racial

discrimination and ordering structural changes to Colombian legislation (pag. 2). The author

exhibits the problem of having ineffective legislation against racial discrimination.

As a solution to workplace unequal treatment based on race, Robert Livingston (2020)

created a model of 5 stages named PRESS which refers to:

● Problem awareness

● Root-cause analysis

● Empathy

● Strategies for addressing the problem

● Sacrifice for strategy implementation.

The article refers to problem awareness as unless the workforce believes racism exists in

the business, diversity programs will be seen as a problem, instead a solution and root-cause

analysis as knowing the origins of an ailment is crucial to selecting the most appropriate remedy

(pag 4). Many psychological factors can contribute to racial prejudice, including false beliefs,

personality traits, ideological views of the world, mental fragility, perceived danger, or a desire

for dominance and ego satisfaction. (pag.4-5). Regarding empathy, when individuals are aware
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of the situation and its causative factors, explained the author, the next concern would be

whether they care sufficiently to take action (pag.6). As strategy, the article indicates that most

practical change plans address three different but interlinked classifications: personal behaviors,

informal societal practices, and institutionalized norms (pag.7). Finally, the fundamental

difficulty here seems to be that "sacrifice" may merely entail abandoning so little, according to

the text. Even if people's intuitions lead them to believe anything other than that, if we see others

with a better band of ability and choose the diverse job applicant over the top scorer, we have not

sacrificed quality in the least—in terms of statistics—but the focus should be on hiring well-

qualified individuals who have demonstrated performance appraisal, and then investing time,

effort, and resources into helping them reach their full potential.

For John Becerra’s case in Colombia, the author states 3 benefits resulting as precedent

for future racial discrimination charges. The first one was that offensive language used by

coworkers represented work abuse. As a consequence, it was determined that verbal bullying

from peers represents workplace discrimination and that the employer cannot tolerate such

behavior. Secondly, the court's decision recognized that private enterprises have the

responsibility to prevent and denounce workplace abuse. Lastly, the Ministry of Labour was

instructed to train its personnel on how to accept and properly process claims of workplace

harassment based on race. In addition, it was imposed a six-month deadline on the ministry to

develop a framework for treating victims of racial unequal treatment or abuse (Maryluz Barragán

González, 2018, pag 5).

In conclusion, although unequal treatment based on race in the workplace is a global

problem it can be tackled by using the PRESS model by Robert Livingston (2020) and by

changes in legislation such as John Becerra’s case in Colombia. Racism in the workplace is
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frequently practiced by lettered and friendly individuals with good intentions who are merely

swimming along, completely misreading the pull of the dominant current on their acts, attitudes,

and consequences. Like a salmon swimming against the tide, anti-racism necessitates battling

against the current. Going with the flow needs far more energy, bravery, and commitment but

concrete actions, according to Livingston.

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References

Del Carmen Triana, M., Jayasinghe, M., & Pieper, J. R. (2015). Perceived workplace racial

discrimination and its correlates : A meta-analysis. Journal of Organizational Behavior,

36(4), 491–513.

Gonzalez, M. B. (2018). The Challenge of Overcoming Institutional Barriers to End Racial

Discrimination in the Workplace. Sur - International Journal on Human Rights, 28, 57–

64.