Company allegedly told worker that wearing pro-Palestine jewellery made customers feel unwelcome
One of the biggest businesses in the world was accused of racial discrimination in the workplace recently.
According to ABC, an Apple employee was allegedly told to stop wearing a pro-Palestine necklace and bracelet because it apparently made customers feel both “unwelcome” and “unsafe.”
In legal correspondence obtained by the news outlet, Apple allegedly told the worker the political situation was “incredibly sensitive”, and staff have been restrained from wearing political clothing.
It raises the question: How should employers both prevent and respond to allegations of racial discrimination?
HRD spoke with Peter Hindeleh, Solicitor at Bentham Employment Lawyers in Sydney, who said the issue is difficult to navigate.
“This area of racial discrimination is unique because the legislation surrounding it and governing it is really based on human rights law, which is different to other areas of federal anti-discrimination statutes, where an employee has felt that they have been subject to racial discrimination,” he said.
The challenges of handling discrimination cases in the workplace — like that faced by Apple — are difficult and often costly to the employer.
“[Employers are] dealing with legislation which is uniquely based on human rights concepts and so that's a difficulty because the law is normally exceptionally structured. when you consider section nine of the federal Racial Discrimination Act — there aren't really any elements that the Act provides to either employees or employers to consider. Instead, it's dealing with concepts such as enjoyment of life,” Hindeleh said.
“These concepts are exceptionally fluid and would never actually have any definable value to employers so, as a result, [they] need to just stay on the forefront of these emerging concepts so that they can ensure that their conduct does not inevitably cause any sort of contravention or breach.”
Also of note for employers: Gen Z workers focus more on their purpose at work – with many rejecting assignments based on their personal ethics or beliefs – which means issues such as racial discrimination can be harder to handle, according to Hindeleh.
“It’s definitely an interesting time. The question that’s ultimately bought up is the consideration of to what extent our work life and personal life flow between one another. I think the younger generation don’t have as much of a distinction between the two.”
He told HRD that this is going to be a concept employers need to contend with.
“Clear policies and procedures will be needed. There are always going to be grey areas, and I think they need to be adequately addressed.
“The problem Apple have in this case is that it was done in an effort to mitigate the employee’s political expression – this is a good lesson for employers to take time to approach these matters with the same sensitivity that employees hold to them.”
