"We Are Not Racists!"
When racially-based issues take place in the workplace and a Black employee is complaining about mitreatment from a White supervisor, employers might choose between several tactics, including:
1) Deny everything!
2)Blame the complainant by turning the victim into the bad guy and by pointing out alleged deficiencies with the victim’s behavior. In other words, they will justify why the victim was targeted for mistreatment and may even try to set the employee up for termination.
3)When backed into a corner, an employer may lay all of the blame on the offending supervisor and may declare, "We are not racists!" or "That's not how we run this business" or they may say something like, "We value diversity here. We don't tolerate discrimination." Then, they may try to portray the supervisor as some kind of anomaly and act like it is the craziest thing that they could end up with a racist in their ranks. After letting the supervisor run wild, they may tell you about how they plan on sending the supervisor to training or engaging in some other actions.
Here's the thing about #3...
In the Supreme Court decision for Kolstad v. American Dental Association, 119 S. Ct. 401, (1998) the court says, “The test for imposition of punitive damage is the mental sate of the harasser, not of the higher-level officials…”
Therefore, it doesn’t matter how reasonably or fairly the employer may have acted or would have acted; they may be still liable for the illegal behavior of their staff, supervisors, etc. based on the totality of events that took place at your job. It doesn't matter what lines they want to feed you about them "not being like that." Employers are responsible for their hiring and management decisions. If your federal rights were being violated, it doesn't matter what the state of mind was for high-level members of management. That's irrelevant. What matters is the intent and motivation of your harasser.
The EEOC states that:
“…an employer is liable for punitive damages if its supervisor commits unlawful harassment or other discriminatory conduct with malice or with reckless indifference to the employee’s federally protected rights.”
So, your employer may still have legal liability and may have to pay punitive damages to you, depending on the specific circumstances.
1) Deny everything!
2)Blame the complainant by turning the victim into the bad guy and by pointing out alleged deficiencies with the victim’s behavior. In other words, they will justify why the victim was targeted for mistreatment and may even try to set the employee up for termination.
3)When backed into a corner, an employer may lay all of the blame on the offending supervisor and may declare, "We are not racists!" or "That's not how we run this business" or they may say something like, "We value diversity here. We don't tolerate discrimination." Then, they may try to portray the supervisor as some kind of anomaly and act like it is the craziest thing that they could end up with a racist in their ranks. After letting the supervisor run wild, they may tell you about how they plan on sending the supervisor to training or engaging in some other actions.
Here's the thing about #3...
In the Supreme Court decision for Kolstad v. American Dental Association, 119 S. Ct. 401, (1998) the court says, “The test for imposition of punitive damage is the mental sate of the harasser, not of the higher-level officials…”
Therefore, it doesn’t matter how reasonably or fairly the employer may have acted or would have acted; they may be still liable for the illegal behavior of their staff, supervisors, etc. based on the totality of events that took place at your job. It doesn't matter what lines they want to feed you about them "not being like that." Employers are responsible for their hiring and management decisions. If your federal rights were being violated, it doesn't matter what the state of mind was for high-level members of management. That's irrelevant. What matters is the intent and motivation of your harasser.
The EEOC states that:
“…an employer is liable for punitive damages if its supervisor commits unlawful harassment or other discriminatory conduct with malice or with reckless indifference to the employee’s federally protected rights.”
So, your employer may still have legal liability and may have to pay punitive damages to you, depending on the specific circumstances.
posted by S. Mary Wills at 11:37 AM
1 Comments:
Get a life "Walt."
And please don't procreate; we don't need any more ignorant, dregs of society in the gene pool. You make the rest of us look bad.
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