Title VII claims based on race may be filed due to the work environment created by an employer. Racial harassment cases are generally aimed at specific conduct–or lack of corrective conduct–by an employer that results in unpleasant or abusive working conditions or atmosphere inflicted on an employee based on his or her race or color. Examples of racial harassment include referring to an employee or his or her racial group in derogatory terms, assigning unpleasant or menial duties to an employee based on his or her race, making non-racist derogatory remarks to a person because of his or her race, or telling racial jokes.
An employer can be liable for racial harassment even if its managers or supervisors–i.e., its agents–are not perpetrators of the harassing conduct. Many racial-harassment cases involve the conduct of non-supervisory co-workers or sometimes even customers of the employer. If an employee reports harassment due to race coming from such co-workers or company customers, the employer remains under a duty to make all reasonable efforts to end the harassment, including disciplining or even discharging any employees found to be responsible for such conduct. If the employer ignores the conduct, or does not act in a reasonable fashion to protect the employee from it, the employer will likely be found liable for racial harassment under Title VII.