Is this term racial harassment?
CalifCallie
28 Posts
We've had complaints that some of our African American workers are saying things like "you're so white" or "that's so white" about people or things they don't like. It's clearly derogatory, but would these type of comments come under our racial harassment policy?
Comments
You would have to read through your own racial harassment policy to determine what policies you have regarding this situation, but the statements are clearly offending someone and the employees should be counseled about their comments.
I look at it this way: if someone White was telling a Black group of employees "you're so Black" or "that's so Black", would they be offended? Would it be racial discrimination then? I assume the answer would be yes - as a Mexican, I would feel offended if someone was criticizing me for my race regarding something they clearly were being condescending about.
One quick side note: if your employees of other races (not Whites) have come up to you and complained, and you have done nothing, this isn't the time to call out one group for these types of remarks. Your best bet would be to hold an EEO meeting that included discrimination/diversity training, so that all employees would know the difference between right and wrong. BLR has a great diversity Powerpoint presentation you could use.