Workplace Discrimination Incidents

Workplace discrimination incidents are easy to under-record, because they rarely arrive labelled as discrimination. They surface as a comment in a meeting, a roster that keeps working out the same way, or a complaint filed as a personality clash.

Record them anyway, and record them as they were described. A useful incident record has the date and time, who was involved and who witnessed it, what was said or done in the reporter’s own words, the protected attribute in question if one was named, what was done in response, and by whom.

The reason is simple. In most disputes the contemporaneous record is what decides the outcome. A note written on the day carries weight that a reconstruction written six months later never will, and patterns only become visible when individual incidents are captured consistently rather than kept in someone’s inbox.

The Australian Human Rights Commission handles complaints under the federal Acts. This is general information rather than legal advice.

See Sentrient’s incident reporting software and equal employment opportunity course, or the workplace compliance system.