As protests rage around the country following recent grand jury decisions in Missouri and New York not to indict police officers involved in the deaths of two unarmed black men, employers may find tension spilling into the workplace.
In November, a grand jury decided not to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, a St. Louis suburb. Witnesses claim the 18-year-old unarmed Brown was trying to surrender when the officer shot him, but the officer claimed Brown was the aggressor.
In December, a New York grand jury decided not to indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo, who was among the officers trying to arrest Eric Garner, who was suspected of selling loose cigarettes. Witnesses say the officer put Garner, who suffered from asthma, in a chokehold while Garner was telling police he couldn’t breathe as they held him down.
Protesters convinced that the killings of Brown and Garner were related to the victims’ race have taken to the streets in demonstrations both peaceful and violent. A key message in the protests claims that police are often too quick to shoot non-whites.
Workplace concerns
As anger peaks around the country, it’s likely some of the emotions displayed in protests will erupt at work. When that happens, HR has a job to do to keep potentially emotional conversations from escalating into workplace disruption and even discrimination or harassment claims. Effective antidiscrimination policies and training programs are a start.
“An antidiscrimination policy should stress the employer’s commitment to a workplace free from discrimination, discriminatory harassment, and unlawful retaliation and should emphasize the responsibility of both the employer and all managers, supervisors, and other employees to follow the policy,” says Charles H. Kaplan, a labor and employment partner at Sills Cummis & Gross P.C. in New York City.
The policy should cover terms and conditions of employment, including hiring, promotions, termination, and compensation, Kaplan says, adding that employers should provide antidiscrimination and harassment training to all managers and supervisors, including senior executives.
Employers also should keep certain legal issues in mind when dealing with employee conversations about race, Kaplan says. “Employers must stress to employees that everyone has the right to express their opinions on political issues and that everyone needs to respect the opinions of others, even if you disagree with them. Nevertheless, management can caution workers not to make inflammatory political statements that express racist opinions or other discriminatory opinions that have no place in any workplace.”
Kaplan also says it’s appropriate for management to remind employees that they shouldn’t engage in conversations about race and other nonwork-related issues during time they should be working.
Diversity training opportunity
Dinita James, a partner with Gonzalez Saggio & Harlan LLP in Phoenix, Arizona, also says employers need to be aware of tension in the workplace and respond in a constructive way.
“There is no protective bubble around the workplace, so current events such as the protests going on around the country now over the grand jury decisions in Missouri and New York will come up in conversations among your employees,” James says. “I think employers miss an opportunity when they try to squelch those discussions. Instead, HR professionals should seize the opportunity to provide timely and relevant training on respect and diversity issues.”
James says such training requires ground rules and careful facilitation, but “properly presented, this kind of workplace training can be very effective because it resonates with what is on your employees’ minds at the moment.” She suggests determining whether someone in the HR department has the skills and abilities to facilitate a town-hall type session or whether an outside facilitator should be brought in.
“When announcing the session and at the beginning of it, reinforce your policies of equal opportunity and against harassment,” James says. “The antiharassment policy should prohibit name-calling, slurs, and insults and demand that employees treat each other with respect and common courtesy, and emphasize that the session must be conducted accordingly.”
James suggests videoing the session since excerpts may be useful in future training. Also, the video can be made available to employees who were unavailable to attend the live session. “The videotape also will be evidence of your good-faith efforts to foster a workplace where all employees are treated with dignity and respect,” she says.