Harassment in the Workplace: Outrageous Behaviors Not a Thing of the Past

The blatant cases of harassment and discrimination are gone, people keep telling us. When our clients give us feedback about our Civil Treatment^® programs, we usually hear the same refrain: “The classroom cases need to be subtler…focus on the gray areas. We don’t need to address the most outrageous forms of misconduct because those things just don’t happen around here any more. We’re past that.”

Since the launching of the modern civil rights movement, there’s no doubt that progress has clearly been made. And yet...we continue to learn of stories that remind us we can’t drop our guard. Some of the most outrageous symbols of hatred and prejudice -- nooses, swastikas, Klan regalia -- have surfaced in workplaces of all types in recent years, showing that longstanding prejudices remain, even if they lurk deep below our collective consciousness.

In the past year, an African-American professor at Columbia University found a noose outside her office. One would think the halls of academia (Ivy League academia, at that) would be the last place this symbol of racial oppression would appear. This and other similar episodes in New York recently prompted the passage of legislation that makes it a felony punishable by four years in prison to use the noose as a symbol for racial intimidation and harassment. (Similar incidents have occurred in other areas of the country, most notably in Louisiana.) Some say New York’s law will be challenged on constitutional grounds. Whether or not it’s challenged, though, the issue is why have these symbols arisen now. Why, in this environment where we hear that “we’re past this,” is this happening to such an extent that there is a need for a law to prohibit such noxious practices?

The answer, I think, is that longstanding prejudices and the symbols used to express them don’t vanish quickly. They arose over time, hundreds of years in some instances, and became cultural icons. As such, they should be seen as latent viruses silently incubating, waiting for the right conditions to rapidly spread. And complacency is one of the key conditions that will allow the behaviors to spread. 

It’s too soon in our cultural history to assume the resentments that gave rise to these symbols have been purged and all of us are cured. We need to remind people regularly what constitutes appropriate behavior, providing clear standards and examples of not only what is acceptable but what is not acceptable. It’s when we fail to do so that episodes arise and the need for legislation is triggered. This is an ongoing responsibility for employers and a civic responsibility as well. We have to keep talking about the origins of these symbols of hatred and why we have laws. We’ve made progress. We’re not past it.

Stumble It!