English is the second language for 2.5 million workers. But can you insist that they don’t utter a foreign word at work, or will that be racial discrimination? And what about disciplinary proceedings
- do they have to be in English too?
Published 09.09.2009
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has ruled that an employer who told a Russian employee to speak English only in its workplace did not commit race discrimination. Why was this employer’s rule OK?
Published 15.01.2016
An employee has won her tribunal claim for harassment after her manager made insensitive comments about her cancer diagnosis. If an employee informs you that they’ve been diagnosed with cancer, what
must you not do?
Published 25.05.2021
A Polish employee, who was told by her employer not to speak using her first language, has just been awarded £7,000 by the tribunal. Does this ruling mean you can’t insist on English-only in your
workplace?
Published 19.11.2013
An employee has made an “off-the-cuff” remark to another about their ethnic background. But how offensive does it have to be for it to amount to racial harassment, and what can you do to avoid this
type of incident?
Published 19.06.2009
An employee who complained that the positioning of a large potted plant amounted to segregation has won his claim of racial harassment. What happened and where did the employer go wrong?
Published 17.11.2017
An employer has lost a tribunal claim for racial harassment simply because of the way its equality and diversity training was delivered to staff. What shouldn’t happen in these training sessions?
Published 24.05.2019
Let’s suppose that two employees often converse in their native language in front of an English-speaking colleague who doesn’t have a clue what they are saying. Can this type of behaviour amount to
discrimination?
Published 09.10.2012
An employee has been ordered to pay his colleague £2,769 after he was found to have committed acts of unlawful racial harassment against him. Why was their employer not held responsible in any way?
Published 10.10.2019
A black employee who heard a colleague use the term “dark horse” has lost her claim for race discrimination at the tribunal. Why was there no finding of race discrimination and is it generally
acceptable to use terms like this?
Published 05.04.2023