What is Race Discrimination?

Despite the UK being one of the most multi-cultural countries in the world, race discrimination is still a common offense that occurs. The government recorded 98,799 race-related hate crimes for 2023/24.

Today is the first day of the Race Equality Week (3-9 Feb). Employers must ensure they fully understand what their statutory duties are when it comes to tackling race discrimination in the workplace.

Without managing race discrimination incidents, employers could face serious consequences like tribunal attendance, financial penalties, reputational damage, and business disruption. For further advice, contact one of our expert HR consultants free of charge today.

In this guide, we’ll look at what race discrimination is, what the law covers, and how to prevent such misconduct from happening in your workplace.

What is race discrimination?

Race discrimination is when a person is treated differently due to their racial identity. The term ‘race’ can relate to any number of markers; like colour, nationality, and ethnicity.

Discrimination against race is unlawful because it’s one of nine protected characteristics. This applies whether it was a one-off or multiple events. It also stands whether it happened with or without intent (except in certain circumstances).

What is the law on race discrimination?

The Equality Act 2010 states you must not discriminate against a person’s:

• Colour.
• Nationality (including citizenship).
• Ethnic or national origins (which can be different to current nationality).
• Ethnic or racial groups.

People cannot be discriminated against because of one or more aspects of their race. For example, a person was born in Britain to Iranian parents. They might face race discrimination because of their British nationality or Iranian national origins.

Are accents a protected characteristic?

Accents aren’t a protected characteristics under British employment law. However, there are certain legal situations that can include accents. It’s sometimes known as accent bias.

Accents are included with ethnic or national origins, as well as nationality. That means it’s unlawful to discriminate against or harass a person based on their accent. This doesn’t just apply to ‘foreign’ accents; but regional ones, too.

Accent is mostly based on socio-economic indicators. Yet, people could face forms of bias, prejudice, harassment, and discrimination related to their accent.

Who is protected from race discrimination?

In the workplace, protection from race discrimination applies to:

• Employers.
• Workers.
• Job applicants.
• Contractors and self-employed people. (This applies if they’re personally hired to do work for the business).

What are examples of race discrimination in the workplace?

Race discrimination can occur in all manners in a workplace setting – with or without intent. Some of the most common examples include:

Direct discrimination: A British Bangladeshi candidate interviews for a job. She matches her counterpart in terms of skills, qualifications, and experience. The employer rejects her application stating she wouldn’t fit in their work culture due to her ethnicity.

Indirect discrimination: A company presents a sexual harassment policy to their staff. They decide not to present it to three of their cleaning staff who are Jamaican. They assume the cleaners cannot read English and won’t be able to understand the policy.

Harassment: A female Italian employee recently joins a team made up of men. They regularly make jokes about her Italian accent, cultural beliefs, and even fellow womenfolk.

Victimisation: A Mexican employee faces racist abuse from his line-manager but doesn’t feel confident enough to report it. His colleague raises the issue to HR on his behalf.  The colleague is then forced to retract their grievance or risk losing his job.

Are there cases where race discrimination is allowed?

There are certain situations where race discrimination could be allowed under statutory law. This is known as being ‘objectively justified’. Here are a few examples:

Occupational requirement: A charity support group for Syrian refugees advertises a job for support workers. They choose to only select applicants of Syrian nationality or ethnicity. They’ll only accept Syrian candidates as this will help build strong rapports with the refugees.

Positive action: A business decides to increase ethnic diversity numbers within their workforce, particularly for leadership roles. They decide to expand their talent pools to attract a wider audience. And they initiate a coaching and mentoring programme for ethnic minority employees.

Get expert advice on preventing race discrimination with Peninsula

Ethnicity, nationality, accent… Race discrimination is unlawful in the workplace environment. Employers must take reasonable steps towards eliminating such prohibited acts – during everyday work life.

Peninsula offers expert advice on preventing race discrimination. Our 24/7 HR advice is available 365 days a year. Want to find out more? Book a free chat with one of our HR consultants. For further information, call 0800 051 3685.

Sources

Hate crime, England and Wales, year ending March 2024 | GOV

Race Equality Week 2025 - 3rd - 9th Feb 2025 | raceequalitymatters