Race Discrimination | SilverScorpio.Com

When Rahul had to become Rob at his UK office

July 4, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

LONDON: Many call centre employees in India take on western names while interacting with callers, but now a Leicester-based telesales company has been found guilty of race discrimination for forcing Indian-origin employees to adopt English names.

Employee Rahul Jain, 28, was made to change his name to Rob Matthews, by the Teachares 2 Parents company, which offers ‘effortless communication ‘ between teachers and parents. His white colleagues could retain their original names at work.

The company founded in 2007 is incidentally owned by Indian-origin entrepreneurs, Suresh Patel and Uresh Naik.
Rahul Jain complained against the forced change of name, and now an employment tribunal has found the employer guilty of racial discrimination , the ‘Daily Mail’ reported on Saturday. The tribunal was told that the company “had a number of staff of Indian ethnic origin who adopted anglicised names at work” . They included Aarti (Anna), Mehul (Max), Sarbjit (Sally), Meera (Marie), Neeraj (Neil), Prakhash (Terry), Jaspal (Jay), Jayna (Jane) and Faizal ( Fred).

The employers reportedly claimed that English names were easier for customers to spell in emails, and that customers had struggled with Indian names. The tribunal ruled that the school software company’s policy was not a ‘proportionate ‘ way to stop emails going astray and that it was enforced on Indian employees while white colleagues were allowed to keep their names.

On his first day, Rahul Jain picked the name Rob but the tribunal was told that he would “have preferred to maintain his birth name at work because he was proud of it, and was unhappy at having to change names” . After the tribunal hearing, Jain said: “I was the only person in the company to challenge what was happening. They had a policy for all Asians to change their names. There were at least 30 other people of Indian origin who did this and are still working there. What the company did is outrageous and totally racist.” The tribunal said: “If the firm was serious that the name change was optional it was incumbent to communicate that real choice. The tribunal considers that the respondent’s instruction to the claimant to adopt an anglicised name subjected him to a detriment to which it would not have subjected white colleagues and that occurred because of the claimant’s race.”

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: change, daily mail, discrimination, Employment Tribunal, race discrimination, Rahul Jain, tribunal, work

Nine out of 10 Australians believe racial prejudice exists in the country

June 25, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Sydney, June 24 (ANI): Australians are in two minds about multiculturalism, and a long-term survey has found that nine out of 10 Australians believe that racial prejudice exists in the country.

They believe cultural diversity is good for the country but they’re worried that cultural differences will stop everyone from getting along.

An 11-year study by a collaboration of Australian universities has found 85 per cent of Australians acknowledge racial prejudice occurs in the nation, and one in five has been a victim of racist verbal abuse.

The study found that 6.5 per cent of the 16,000 Australians surveyed were against multiculturalism, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Professor Kevin Dunn, from the University of Western Sydney’s school of social science, said the study revealed that the majority of Australians are pro-multiculturalism but are anxious that the diversity will not be managed well.

“Over 40 per cent of those surveyed feel that cultural differences pose a threat to societal harmony. So if you take that alongside the 87 per cent that are pro-multiculturalism, clearly you’ve got a third of the nation that tolerate cultural diversity, but are concerned at the impact it will have on society,” Professor Dunn said.

“The Cronulla riots and the recent attacks on people of Indian descent are an example of this. The figures show that 85 per cent of Australia acknowledge there is racial prejudice in the country,” he added.

Dunn believes previous governments have done nothing to address the issue for the past decade, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma spending only part of his time dealing with race discrimination.

“For the last decade, the government hasn’t appointed a full-time Race Discrimination Commissioner. Take the issue of the Indian students recently. There’s no way that the commission is resourced enough to deal with their (the Indians’) reports (of violent attacks on them), and to offer support and advice,” he said.

The survey also found that at least one in five Australians experience verbal abuse such as offensive slang names for different cultural groups, or swearing and offensive gestures, while 11 per cent feel they don’t belong or are inferior.

The study is part of the “Challenging Racism Project”. (ANI)

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