I'm witnessing racial discrimination/favoritism- how do I report it?

manpreet Best Answer 2 years ago

I'm an off-shift chemist in a manufacturing plant. I work closely with a group of process workers, 90% of which are minorities.

It seems like the African American and Hispanic workers are always getting write-ups and suspensions for honest mistakes.

There's a Caucasian worker on my shift who is constantly cutting corners. He's recently caused an issue out of laziness and when confronted about it, he blatantly lied. He even implicated me. When I was questioned by management, there was no doubt they believed me; however, he hasn't been reprimanded in any way. The minority workers on my shift say this type of favoritism happens all the time.

Clearly, leniency based on race is discrimination. We do have an anonymous hotline. Should I seek out an explanation from HR first? Can I do this without looking "problematic"?

manpreet 2 years ago

Clearly, leniency based on race is discrimination

All you have is hearsay from others. If the minority workers on your shift are discriminated against, they should call the hotline and present their facts. You have nothing. You have guys saying that in unspecified events, unspecified person were treated differently than in this case, where you don't even know what happened exactly to the guy in question. All you know is he wasn't fired.

In your case, you have no proof at all that it was discrimination. They might have decided exactly the same if it had been someone else. You cannot possibly know.

A hotline cannot somehow work magic. You can call them but that will end up nowhere. If you want to make a difference, collect some data they can work with. Who was discriminated against? When How do you know it was discrimination (i.e. who was treated differently when)?.

Until you have at least collected basic facts, yes, you will look problematic. Not because of discrimination issues, but because you are gossiping.