Race means being part of a group of people who are identified by their race, colour, nationality, citizenship, or ethnic or national origins. If you experience discrimination, this counts as race discrimination. Even if you’re not part of one of these groups, it still counts as discriminates against you because they think you are. This is known as perceived race discrimination. Rce discrimination is when you are treated unfairly because of your race, or because of the race of someone you are connected with, such as your partner. If race discrimination takes place in any of the following situations it is illegal and you may be able to take action about it:
- employment and training
- education
- when providing goods and services, for example, banking, entertainment and transport
- housing
- any of the activities carried out by public authorities, such as the NHS, government departments, local authorities, the police and prisons
Race discrimination can be direct or indirect. It may also take the form of harassment or victimisation. Race discrimination does not need to be delibrated. Someone may be discriminating against you without realising it or meaning to, but this might still count as discrimination.
DIRECT RACIAL DISCRIMINATION- It is direct race discrimination to treat someone less favourably than someone else would be treated in the same circumstances, because of race. To prove direct race discrimination, it will help if you can give an example of someone from a different racial group who, in similar circumstances, has been, or would have been, treated more favourably than you. Racist abuse and harassment are forms of direct discrimination. One example of direct race discrimination is where you are from a particular racial group and an employer refuses to appoint you because, the employer says, you ‘wouldn’t fit in’ or ‘the customers would object’. It’s also direct discrimination if an employer turns you down for a job because of your connection with someone else of a particular racial group.
INDIRECT RACIAL DISCRIMINATION- It is indirect race discrimination to have a rule, policy or practice which people of a particular racial, ethnic or national group are less likely to be able to meet than other people, and this places them at a disadvantages. Examples of indirect discrimination might include an employer insisting that candidates for a job should have foreign qualification, the banning of wearing headscarves or insisting wearing skirts, an employer insisting that someone has English as a first language,etc. If you think that indirect race discrimination might have occurred, you may be able to make a complaint about it. However, if the person or organisation you are complaining about can show that there are genuine reasons for the rule, policy or practice and that it has nothing to do with race, this won’t count as discrimination. For example, an employer may be able to show why an employee needs to have gained their qualification in the foreign in order to work in a particular role. If they can do this, there won’t have been any discrimination.
RACIAL DISCRIMINATION IN EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING
It is illegal for an employer to discriminate against you because of race. This includes all employers, no matter how few people they employ. Most workers, including employees, agency workers, trainees and those who are self employed have protection from race discrimination at work. This includes recruitment, selection, promotion, training, pay and benefits, redundancy and dismissal, terms and conditions of work, etc. Trade unions have a duty not to discriminate against their members or those wanting to because members. There are some situations where employers are allowed to treat you less favourably because of your race and this won’t count as discrimination.
RACE DISCRIMINATION IN EDUCATION
It is illegal for any school or college to discriminate against someone because of race. This applies to both state and private schools and colleges. A school or college must not discriminate in any of its policies and practices. This include admission policies, treatment of pupils, exclusions and decisions about pupil’s special educational needs or disabilities. Schools and colleges also have a duty to protect pupils against racial abuse and violence from other pupils, both on school premises or on the way to or from school.
WHAT CAN YOU DO ABOUT RACIAL DISCRIMINATION?
If you think you’ve suffered race discrimination there are a number of things you may be able to do. These include:
- talking to the person or organisation that discriminated against you
- using grievance procedure or making a claim to an employment tribunal if it is an employment problem
- publicising your case through the courts
- taking legal action through the courts
- giving details of the problem to an advice agency who may able to refer it to the Equality and Human Rights Commission, if you believe the problem is widespread
When deciding what action to take about race discrimination, you will need to think about what you are trying to achieve. For example, do you want financial compensation, justice or publicity? You will also need to think about how quickly you need to get a result. If someone has been violent or hostile towards you because of your race, you can report this to the police as a hate incident or hate crime.
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