Racial profiling in organizations is an issue HR needs to eradicate
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A restaurant in Toronto’s Chinatown has been fined $10,000 after making black customers pay in advance for their meals.
According to a human right tribunal, Hong Shing Chinese Restaurant forced Emile Wickham and three of his friends to pay for their meals upfront. When placing their order, a waiter informed them it was simply restaurant policy – however after asking all the other customers in the restaurant – who were all white – they found this not to be the case.
At the tribunal, the restaurant said it had introduced a new policy which asked non-regular customers to pay ahead of their meals, to stop them skipping on the bill. However, the adjudicator found against this, and concluded the restaurant had violated Ontario’s human rights code.
“The applicant and his friends appear to be the only persons in the restaurant at the time who were subjected to the requirement to pre-pay for their meals,” adjudicator Esi Codjoe said.
“Their mere presence in the restaurant as persons who are black seems to have been enough to warrant the application of the pre-payment requirement.”
Speaking to TV channel CP24, Wickham said: “I would say that I would give all of this back to just spend two hours with my friends, just bonding for my birthday. That experience was taken away from me.”
Racial profiling in organizations is an unacceptable practice, and one which HR should be taking steps to eradicate. According ot a recent study from Center for WorkLife Law, women of colour were more likely than white female counterparts to be asked to conduct ‘office housework’ - and they’re also less likely to say no.
