Introduction This article discusses two recent Constitutional Court judgments, which deal with racism, or perceived racism, in the workplace. Although each judgment and respective outcome should be understood in the context of the specific facts, certain parallels are worth noting. Both judgments had to decide whether the language used in the context was racist. In both cases, the employees concerned …
Dismissing an employee for racism
There are different reasons why an employer might consider firing an employee. After teacher Keith Arlow had been fired from St John’s College in Johannesburg for being found to have victimised pupils based on their race, the question of dismissal due to racism was brought up. Initially, Arlow was issued with a final written warning, stepped down from senior positions …