Suspended from work for hearing racist comment - Please help.

[krypton]

Re: Suspended from work for hearing racist comment - Please help.

I stand corrected, I'm wrong again.

I must learn to not get involved, sorry for adding to this post.

Andy I agree with what you say, but sadly this world has gone mad.

I'll keep out of this now, it getting to a case of " shoot the messenger "

You may well have attended a diversity training course but that really has very little to do with this situation.

I think you need to understand it's the actual message you are conveying.

[krypton]

Re: Suspended from work for hearing racist comment - Please help.

In this case the op should have approached the person presumed insulted and said are you alright mate,not made mention to a third party, smacks to me of someone wanting to appear to be politically correct rather than having genuine concerns for the person involved.

I think that is probably the very most the OP should have done if anything at all.

Certainly before proceeding any further the OP should have fully consulted the 'presumed' insulted person as you say. Acting the good citizen without any objectivity or co-ordination is rather naive to say the least. Some would even say best to mind your own business.

To then file a statement that contradicts his own earlier conversations with the manager is incredibly undermining. For the OP to continue to file a statement and instigate an investigation he has to say he either heard the comments or not. It's a complete loss of credibility if he then goes on to state he 'possibly' heard comments in a conversation he eavesdropped at distance and he was not party to.

The real crux of the issue for the OP now is not that he was offended or acting the good citizen. He has in effect proceeded to make allegation of racist behaviour and he doesn't have a leg to stand on. The people he has alleged have made racist comments will probably in any defence or investigation simply raise a counter grievance against him. The result of which unsurprisingly may result in a disciplinary on him as to wrongful/deliberate and unfounded accusations.

The world has not gone politically mad. Some people simply cannot interpret political situations correctly. Unfortunately there are some that think they are politically minded when they are clearly not.

[jon1965]

Re: Suspended from work for hearing racist comment - Please help.

The problem here is that there is no one who can back up the OP . No one heard or is willing to say they heard the alleged racist comments . From what has been said it has all been blown out of all proportion . If I hear someone making comments that offend me then I have the right to report them. I was on a train a while ago and some youths racially abused an elderly muslim guy, should I stand back and let that happen?
You do not have to be in the minority to be offended by racist/sexist/homophobic comments

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Suspended from work for hearing racist comment - Please help.

The problem here is that there is no one who can back up the OP . No one heard or is willing to say they heard the alleged racist comments . From what has been said it has all been blown out of all proportion . If I hear someone making comments that offend me then I have the right to report them. I was on a train a while ago and some youths racially abused an elderly muslim guy, should I stand back and let that happen?
You do not have to be in the minority to be offended by racist/sexist/homophobic comments

I fully agree with this, I've also been offended by racist and homophobic comments addressed at people of Asian and Afro-Caribbean origin even though I am a straight white person (though not a straight arrow nor whiter-than-white ).

The problem is that UK employment law seems to allow people to get sacked for taking deep breaths, if you see what I mean. This is a case of shooting the messenger, where the OP made no racist remarks, yet they are being shot for passing on the message.

There may be a number of things beneath the surface, the black worker may well be fed up with his race being the subject of discussion one way or other which is why he's not saying anything, he may be worried about stirring up trouble that would lead to his own dismissal or may even be somehow afraid of the person who made the racist comment, we just don't know what lies beneath.

Given that similar things can happen outside the relatively safe confines of the workplace, it's little wonder people often refuse to get involved when someone is abused or attacked on the street, on the train, etc.

[Guest]

Re: Suspended from work for hearing racist comment - Please help.

I think also there is the question of malice.
Someone overhearing a conversation which in itself is not addressed to the "injured party", can be misunderstood either way, and generally has more to do with the prejudices, or the particular hobbyhorse of the listener as to how it is interpreted.

[jon1965]

Re: Suspended from work for hearing racist comment - Please help.

Does anyone know what the outcome to this is?
I would hope that the suspension was just part of the process and assuming everything played out as described no further action was taken.

[nemesis45]

Re: Suspended from work for hearing racist comment - Please help.

Does anyone know what the outcome to this is

I would hope that the suspension was just part of the process and assuming everything played out as described no further action was taken.

Still ongoing it seems.

nem

[krypton]

Re: Suspended from work for hearing racist comment - Please help.

I think also there is the question of malice.
Someone overhearing a conversation which in itself is not addressed to the "injured party", can be misunderstood either way, and generally has more to do with the prejudices, or the particular hobbyhorse of the listener as to how it is interpreted.

That is entirely correct.

If you allege wrong doing against someone and you really have nothing to back it up then you have to be fully prepared that those accused parties will retaliate and say you have done it with some kind of malice and prejudice.

The OP has been suspended and will probably be subject to a disciplinary. The company has done exactly the right process. He is in hot water for the right reasons.

The morale of the story is if you decide to take a step forward in this manner, think carefully and make sure you don't put your foot in your mouth.

[krypton]

Re: Suspended from work for hearing racist comment - Please help.

This is a case of shooting the messenger, where the OP made no racist remarks, yet they are being shot for passing on the message.

There is nothing there to say that he is telling the truth. The evidence all suggests and supports he is not telling the truth.

A messenger only passes on the message. If the messenger starts passing on hearsay or adding his own interpretations, he will of course be shot.

[des8]

Re: Suspended from work for hearing racist comment - Please help.

Looks like we might have lost the OP

He came asking what he should do in a particular situation and all we did was to discuss and criticize the actions that got him in that situation in the first place.
Not exactly what he needed

[jon1965]

Re: Suspended from work for hearing racist comment - Please help.

Krypton
There is no evidence to suggest or support any hypothesis that he or she is or is not telling the truth. If you think there is please explain
I do not know how you can suggest he will probably face disciplinary action unless you are party to details that have not been posted .

Maybe the poster should not have handled it the way they did but from what has been said the company took it seriously . The problem seems to be that the story may have changed , or at least the way it has been explained has changed.

Sometimes people hear a comment that at first sound seems offensive but after discussing it with someone or just sleeping on it they see it from a different perspective.

[Guest]

Re: Suspended from work for hearing racist comment - Please help.

Looks like we might have lost the OP

He came asking what he should do in a particular situation and all we did was to discuss and criticize the actions that got him in that situation in the first place.
Not exactly what he needed

I think it is probably precisely what he needed, perhaps not what he wanted i grant you.

[krypton]

Re: Suspended from work for hearing racist comment - Please help.

Krypton
There is no evidence to suggest or support any hypothesis that he or she is or is not telling the truth. If you think there is please explain
I do not know how you can suggest he will probably face disciplinary action unless you are party to details that have not been posted

If he cannot provide any evidence of the conversation he stated he 'possibly' heard added to the fact no other party present has supported his statements added to the fact he changed the version of events he told his manager.

It only stands to reason no one is going to believe his statement as the truth.

Quite frankly the investigation will find it absurd he has instigated an investigation stating he 'possibly' heard something. They will simply go through the motions and he along with his accusations will be ridiculed by all and sundry.

[krypton]

Re: Suspended from work for hearing racist comment - Please help.

I think it is probably precisely what he needed, perhaps not what he wanted i grant you.

Yes agree, it's precisely what he needed or perhaps a wake up call on why he has simply gone about it the wrong way.

If he doesn't understand why he's been suspended then I'm sure he will by the end of the investigation.

[krypton]

Re: Suspended from work for hearing racist comment - Please help.

....