Race hate incidents are acts of violence or hostility against people because of their race and are illegal in criminal law. If these occur in the workplace, they are also unlawful race discrimination under the Equality Act 2010 and can amount to gross misconduct for example, where one employee threatens another employee with physical violence because of the colour of their skin.
Employees expect to be treated fairly and considerately in the workplace. When it comes to issues of race discrimination and race hate, fair treatment is a moral and legal duty and employers have a responsibility to investigate and respond to any issue they become aware of, as well as take all reasonable measures to protect employees from harassment for example, if a customer abuses an employee over the shop counter because of their accent.
