Why Providing Your Employees With Discrimination Training Is Not Enough
New York State and New York City are home to some of the most progressive laws in the country regarding discrimination in the workplace. Employers are generally advised to update their employment handbooks and policies and procedures to reflect the laws in place for discrimination in the workplace. Employees are instructed to take heed of the policies in their employer’s handbook and may be trained on the policies in the handbook and in addition may be required to attend discrimination and sexual harassment training. It’s in the best interest of today’s employers to engage in these practices as they are essential to combatting discrimination and sexual harassment. However, equally as important but unfortunately not given the attention it deserves is providing employees with sensitivity training. The Black Lives Matter and MeToo movements have heightened awareness about the injustices that individuals of color and women face and have brought these issues to the forefront of society. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve litigated claims on behalf of employers who are sued because of the microaggressions theirmanagers engage in against individuals reporting to them without even realizing it. In many of these cases, the person accused of the bad conduct wasn’t even aware that their tone, mannerisms, and body language caused someone to be offended. This offensive conduct may be described as occurring on account of discrimination and an uninformed employer may find themselves in court having to defend a discrimination case which could have been prevented. I have also counseled employers on situations where employees report managers with less-than-ideal communication skills. These managers heighten employee anxiety and tension when they feel they are being good managers by disciplining their employees. This hostility can find an employer in court defending a case of a hostile work environment and again based on discrimination as there is no stand-alone claim for a hostile work environment in New York State. Though not always the case, sometimes picking up the phone and communicating an employee’s faults as opposed to writing a harsh and stern email and clicking send can make the difference between whether an employee feels disgruntled in the workplace or has been set up to perform at their best.
My office is available to assist in providing your employees with discrimination and sensitivity training and I also provide advanced training on sensitivity and communication skills including how to discipline employees appropriately for managers and upper-level executives. You can also subscribe to this blog to receive email alerts when new posts go up.