How bad is this?

an9i77

Please can you give your views on the following situation? I think it is totally ridiculous and a complete over reaction of my employer but maybe I am mistaken.

I had an internal interview, I work in HR and had to do a case study where there were two employees one was indian and one was british. The Indian employee was complaining of racial harrassement and the british employee had been heard telling someone that 'he didn't like those sort' and generallly displaying a racist attitude.

I was asked what the HR issues woudl be, and I said that I would try to get the british employee to go on some diversity training, but if he was very resistant to this for example if he said 'I don't like pakis' or something, then I would take disciplinary action and could potentially dismiss for gross misconduct.

As far as I know the actual advice side of what I said was fine, even though I didn't get the job.

However, a few days later I am taken into a room with the head of department for a chat and severely b*ll*cked for using the word 'paki'. I tried to explain that this was not a word I would use, but a word the racist employee would use in the case study, that I described in order to show when disciplinary action would be appropriate.

Next thing I know I have a long, stern letter from the head of dept saying that I should never ever use this word, it was offensive and displayed a serious error of judgement etc. And how she won't take formal action on this occasion (ie she could have done)

Question: Do you think work are over reacting or do they have a point? Clearly, I won't use this word again and have apologised, but I really don't see why it is such an issue taken in the context I describe.

Or am I missing something?

I am just really upset at her reaction, and wanted to get a feel for what other people thought of this.

Thanks

AP007

You stated that the example person was overheard to say ''he didn't like those sort' but then in your example back you used the P**ki word. Maybe you should have said something different in place of that like just saying 'I don't like 'an offensive word'.

LittleVoice

an9i77 wrote: »

Please can you give your views on the following situation? I think it is totally ridiculous and a complete over reaction of my employer but maybe I am mistaken.

I had an internal interview, I work in HR and had to do a case study where there were two employees one was indian and one was british. The Indian employee was complaining of racial harrassement and the british employee had been heard telling someone that 'he didn't like those sort' and generallly displaying a racist attitude.

I was asked what the HR issues woudl be, and I said that I would try to get the british employee to go on some diversity training, but if he was very resistant to this for example if he said 'I don't like pakis' or something, then I would take disciplinary action and could potentially dismiss for gross misconduct.

As far as I know the actual advice side of what I said was fine, even though I didn't get the job.

However, a few days later I am taken into a room with the head of department for a chat and severely b*ll*cked for using the word 'paki'. I tried to explain that this was not a word I would use, but a word the racist employee would use in the case study, that I described in order to show when disciplinary action would be appropriate.

Next thing I know I have a long, stern letter from the head of dept saying that I should never ever use this word, it was offensive and displayed a serious error of judgement etc. And how she won't take formal action on this occasion (ie she could have done)

Question: Do you think work are over reacting or do they have a point? Clearly, I won't use this word again and have apologised, but I really don't see why it is such an issue taken in the context I describe.

Or am I missing something?

I am just really upset at her reaction, and wanted to get a feel for what other people thought of this.

Thanks

I have to say that, as soon as I read the word which has caused the problem, I thought "oh, no - not a good idea for someone in HR to volunteer the expression".

I expect that you employer's policy is very clear about not allowing racist words in the workplace and therefore it is not an over-reaction, they do need to enforce it and that is clearly vital for HR staff.

I also thought that describing the two case study employees as "indian" and "british" somewhat odd. Were they testing your understanding about what "British" means?

mrbrightside842

I wouldn't have said it in an interview. I'd have just said that if he was using racist language I would have taken action I wouldn't have used any form of offensive language in an interview or in work as there was no need to be specific or give examples of the language which could have been used.

chewynut

Foul language and the workplace just don't mix. No matter how well you know the people you're talking to and no matter what the context is, it's best just to steer well clear of it. There will always be somebody who takes offence.

I'm glad there haven't been any serious repercussions for you. We see so many disciplinary/job loss threads.

an9i77

Point taken - you can't even use racist words when describing a situation where someone could use a racist word that could lead to gross misconduct.

Good job they didn't do ME for gross misconduct then!

AP007

an9i77 wrote: »

Point taken - you can't even use racist words when describing a situation where someone could use a racist word that could lead to gross misconduct.

Good job they didn't do ME for gross misconduct then!

Well unless you were conducting a disciplinary and were quoting back to someone what they had said I would say no its not the best things to say in examples.

an9i77

AP007 wrote: »

Well unless you were conducting a disciplinary and were quoting back to someone what they had said I would say no its not the best things to say in examples.

I don't think I'd even feel safe doing that now. The p-word will always just be stated as the p-word now, I don't think I'll ever say it again!

Good job I didn't really want the job anyway.

AP007

an9i77 wrote: »

I don't think I'd even feel safe doing that now. The p-word will always just be stated as the p-word now, I don't think I'll ever say it again!

Good job I didn't really want the job anyway.

Yes but you'd like to keep the one you have already!

Dogger69

an9i77 wrote: »

I don't think I'd even feel safe doing that now. The p-word will always just be stated as the p-word now, I don't think I'll ever say it again!

Good job I didn't really want the job anyway.

There is no need to state it as anything more than 'a racially offensive term'.

an9i77

Thanks ValHaller, I thought I was the only one who thought it was an over reaction.
Its like, if they asked me in the interview 'Can you give me an example of a phrase so rude that someone saying it at work could be suspended for gross misconduct' and I said 'F** off you st*pid C***' and then they suspended me for gross misconduct.

OK well not exactly like that as technically I did not have to give an example in the case study, but the logic is pretty similar.