WHAT TO DO IF YOU’RE FACING WORKPLACE DISCRIMINATION

Discrimination is defined as the act of unjustly treating of a group of people usually based on but not confined to race, age, sex and nationality among others.

In the case of workplace discrimination, it is when an employee or job applicant is treated unjustly based on their race, sex, age, religion, skin colour or other traits unrelated to the line of work. Discrimination can take on many forms including stating a preferred race for a job opening, unequal pay despite equal qualifications, discrimination when issuing promotions/retrenchments, and the worst of the worst, harassment.

Another common workplace discrimination? Workplace bullying. Unfortunately, this is sometimes seen as a grey area because it can hide under the excuse of ‘tough love’. But like all kinds of discrimination, bullying in the office has detrimental effects on one’s self-esteem and confidence.

Are you a victim of workplace bullying? You are if this is something you face at work regularly:

• Assigned useless tasks
• Unrealistic deadlines
• Work sabotage
• Having your ideas belittled or ignored
• Deliberately being denied leave

Here are some tips of what you can do if you’re being discriminated at the workplace.

KEEP RECORD Want to build a strong case with evidence? Then you need to keep a record the discriminatory behaviour including the time of the event along with relevant details. Any evidence in the form of emails, phone conversations or text messages should also be kept.

REPORT Inform the relevant authorities in your workplace. This can be your direct manager or even the HR department.

GET EXTERNAL HELP Speaking to a friend or a loved one about what you’re going through can help ease the burden off your chest. There are also some organisations that fight discrimination including Pusat Komunikasi Masyarakat (KOMAS) which fights discrimination through popular media and the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia, SUHAKAM.

LEAVE Running out of options on what to do about the bullying? Unfortunately, your only option is to just is to leave and never look back.

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