Rise In Workplace Racism Is Unacceptable

The Equal Employment Opportunities Trust is disappointed the majority of complaints about racism are coming from employees and those seeking work.

The chief executive of the EEO Trust says figures from the Human Rights Commission over the last five years show that discrimination and harassment on the grounds of race or colour occurs most commonly in the work place and is on the rise.

Bev Cassidy-Mackenzie says in 2010 there were 59 complaints of racial harassment and 44 of them stemmed from employment, and last year of the 71 complaints 44 came from the workplace.

“Racism surrounding employment comes in many different forms – some job seekers were not given work due to their ethnicity, others suffered racist comments and abuse at work while others were treated badly because of their accent.”

Mrs Cassidy-Mackenzie says it is not acceptable to advertise a job specifying that applicants must have English as their first language.

‘I hear of racist slurs such as a staff member being told to ‘go back home where you came from’. This is ridiculous as New Zealand has an increasingly diverse population and Auckland, for example, has nearly 200 different ethnicities in its workforce.”

Mrs Cassidy-Mackenzie says companies need to make the most of people from different countries and cultures as there’s an ageing population and a looming skills shortage.

‘A lot of organisations ‘get it’ and employ the most suitably qualified person for the job but it looks like many others are failing.’

Mrs Cassidy Mackenzie says the EEO Trust can provide resources and training for all businesses to prevent bullying and discrimination, as well as cultural competency training.

Numbers of racial harassment complaints and the number of those related to employment.

Racial Harassment Employment
2008 56 34
2009 90 45
2010 59 44
2011 68 34
2012 71 44

ENDS

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