Disclaimer
"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." Whoever came up with that old saying probably never talked with employment law attorneys and the employees who file lawsuits against their employers based in part on hurtful language at the workplace. The days when people can say whatever they want to without fear of recrimination are gone forever, if they ever really existed at all. Here is another old saying that one never seems to hear in court: "To err is human; to forgive is divine." Employers sometimes err, but should not count on employees being divine. Court cases and newspaper articles dealing with employment discrimination are often replete with words that employers end up wishing they had never spoken. This article outlines some of the many things that, once uttered, cannot be unsaid and usually end up being thrown back in an employer's face in court. The various epithets and sayings are organized into the categories of discrimination they implicate, and all are examples of epithets, offhand remarks, or conversational snippets that have appeared in real court cases. One way to think of them is as "never-says", for they are things that an employer that wishes to stay out of court should never say either to or in the presence of an employee.
Racial Discrimination Never-Says
Racially-oriented jokes - laughter is cheap; lawsuits are expensive
Singling out racial minorities for obscene gestures or words
Criticizing only racial minorities
Telling minority employees that the only reason they're not fired is because the law won't let them be fired
Well-known racial slurs
Antiquated terms relating to race or color
Terms based on assumptions about a person's ethnic background
"You people"; "your people"
"wrong side of the tracks"
Do not say: "Do you prefer being called 'black', 'African-American', or what?"; "… 'brown', 'Hispanic', 'Latino', 'Mexican-American'…?" - this shows far too much preoccupation with ethnicity; the employer should stick to worrying about whether someone can do the job; just call employees "employees" and refer to them by name
EEOC guidance on racial discrimination: http://www.eeoc.gov/types/race.html
National Origin Never-Says
National origin-related jokes
Referring to people in terms of their assumed nationalities
Making fun of accents
Constantly bringing up shortcomings of people's supposed countries of ancestry
EEOC is focusing on discrimination against people who are assumed to be of Middle Eastern descent
EEOC guidance on national origin discrimination: http://www.eeoc.gov/origin/index.html
Age Discrimination Never-Says
Jokes that depend upon making fun of older people
"You can't teach an old dog new tricks."
"over the hill", "past his prime", "she's seen better days", "golden-ager", and cruder slurs typically associated with age-related put-downs
Referring to older employees as "Prunella" or "Methusaleh" or other names associated with old age
"Over-qualified"
"We need new blood around here."
"We need fresh faces around here."
Frequently asking when someone is finally going to retire
Subtler - even this can be misconstrued: asking someone if they're going to be comfortable working under someone younger than they are (too much focus on age – find another way to get an idea on that)
EEOC guidance on age discrimination: http://www.eeoc.gov/types/age.html
Links to good articles on the value of recruiting older workers:
http://www.aarp.org/research/work/employment/workers_fifty_plus.html
http://www.conference-board.org/knowledge/matureworkforce.cfm
Disability Discrimination Never-Says
Disability-related jokes
Making fun of various disabilities
Disability-related slurs
Frequently calling attention to someone's limitations
"Now he'll probably go and file a workers' comp claim!"
EEOC guidance on disability discrimination: http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/accommodation.html
DOL Guide to hiring people with disabilities: http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/disability/hiring.htm
Job Accommodation Network: http://janweb.icdi.wvu.edu/
Religious Discrimination Never-Says
Religion-based jokes
"You're not going to Heaven."
"There's only one way to get into Heaven."
"Atheists are going to hell."
"That's a Jew/Muslim/Buddhist/atheist for you!"
EEOC guidance on religion-based discrimination: http://www.eeoc.gov/types/religion.html
Gender Discrimination Never-Says
Jokes that depend upon making fun of one gender or another
Always calling attention to male/female worker ratios, or differences between genders (isn't there something related to the actual work that people can talk about?)
Unsolicited remarks about a person's appearance, even if they seem like compliments
Words relating to female stereotypes: the "b" word, "honey", "darling", "cute li'l thang"
Try to avoid the term "ladies" - most people nowadays consider it either fawningly patronizing or even disrespectful, depending upon the context, and especially when uttered by a male employee
Don't pronounce job titles with "-person" in them sarcastically or comically on a regular basis; better solution: find and use generic, gender-neutral job titles, such as director, manager, board chair, driver, operator, designer, and so on
If there are people in the office who are unusually attractive, do not call attention to their appearance or to what their appearance can supposedly do for the company
Avoid jokes or speculation about marital status, marital relations, body parts, and mechanical or drug-related body part enhancers
"She's pregnant? Well, great – now she'll be off for who knows how long!"
To someone who has just experienced possible sexual harassment: "Don't worry about him – that's just the way he is!"
EEOC guidance on gender-based discrimination: http://www.eeoc.gov/types/sex.html
The foregoing are just some examples of what the EEOC, judges, and juries sometimes consider in order to find that a hostile work environment exists in a company that has been accused of illegal discrimination. Sometimes good manners and common sense help avoid remarks like that, while training or fear of lawsuits might wield more influence at times. Whatever it takes, though, employers should be very careful to keep from ever uttering such things, because even though others might seem to smile or nod in agreement, or at least remain quiet, such words hang on the air like the scent of a skunk, and if a discrimination claim or lawsuit is ever filed, it is almost inevitable that the one who said them, as well as the company that employs him or her, will have to eat those words.