Amanda Harvey on how to eradicate racism at work
One in three black and minority ethnic respondents to a recent survey said they believed racism had cost them the chance of a job and 40% said they had come across racism at work.

To further the battle against racism in the workplace, the government has made a number of changes to the Race Relations Act 1976. The Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 imposes additional statutory "general" and "specific" duties on more than 25,000 public bodies, including local authorities and the Housing Corporation. In reality it affects many more organisations, including RSLs.

As from 31 May 2002, key public authorities are subject to a number of specific duties to enable them to meet their general duty to promote racial equality, including the obligation to implement and publish a race equality scheme.

Specific duties apply in relation to employment. Their aim is to provide a framework for measuring the progress of equal opportunities of employment in the public sector and to provide data for initiatives to create a more representative public-sector workforce. To meet these, relevant public authorities should:

  • collect ethnic monitoring data as set out in the Race Relations Act 1976 (Statutory Duties) Order 2001
  • analyse the data for patterns of inequality
  • take any necessary action to remove barriers and promote equality of opportunity
  • publish the results of monitoring each year.

Where the results of monitoring demonstrate that current employment policies and practices are leading to unlawful racial discrimination, there is an obligation to take action to end it.

Public authorities should examine their existing policies and practices and, where necessary, make changes. The results of monitoring will no doubt be scrutinised by employee representatives, and the existence of discrimination and public authority inaction could form the basis for future legal action.