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Posted on July 29, 2024 in Employment Law
Preventing workplace discrimination should be a top priority for employers across San Diego and the entire state of California. Companies that can protect their employees from being treated as “less than” due to their sexual orientation, age, religious beliefs, disability, gender, or race is not only the right thing to do, but can help promote loyalty, boost productivity, and protect not only employee’s rights, but their mental health as well.
Employers who fail to prevent workplace discrimination may find themselves facing legal action in civil court. Employees who have been discriminated against may have the right to file a complaint for termination, harassment, discrimination, or other employment violations. Make sure to contact a San Diego workplace discrimination attorney for legal guidance if you feel stuck.
Employees, supervisors, managers, and companies as a whole should prioritize the prevention of workplace discrimination. Here are several ways you can do your part to reduce the likelihood of harassment or discrimination in your work environment:
Companies should be writing policies with workplace discrimination and harassment as defined by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in mind. Policies should explicitly state that this type of conduct will not be tolerated. It should outline specifically what will happen to employees who engage in such conduct.
Issues should always be discussed confidentially. These policies should be reviewed and updated regularly to ensure employees are explicitly notified of their responsibilities and expected work behaviors.
Before hiring employees or bringing on new hires, it is important to create policies and training processes that are inclusive. These should include monitoring of employee interactions and considering employees’ work-life balances.
Companies should be hiring with diversity in mind, ensuring that women, people with disabilities, and visible minorities are considered for not only lower-level positions but leadership and management roles as well.
When onboarding new employees, training processes should include discussions surrounding discrimination and harassment at work. Not only should employees understand what behaviors could be discriminatory or harassing, but employees should also understand their rights.
Your employees should know who they should talk to if they are harassed or discriminated against and what steps they should take if they find themselves in a hostile work environment.
Be open about any unconscious bias that may have been holding your company back. If your management team has been discriminating against older people or stereotyping employees of a certain race, it is important to address these issues to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), as described by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
Offer regular employee training and educational opportunities. You can send out emails, require employees to participate in discrimination, DEI, and harassment training sessions, and encourage them to respect your business’s priority to create a hostile-free work environment.
Taking actionable steps to prevent discrimination in the workplace is the right thing to do. But beyond that, doing so can protect companies from liability if employees still find themselves discriminated against or harassed.
Employers who have implemented DEI-friendly hiring and onboarding processes, hold those who discriminate or harass others accountable, and offer ongoing education may be less likely to be liable for victim’s damages. However, companies that fail to implement anti-workplace discrimination protocols could find themselves on the receiving end of a complex civil lawsuit.