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As an alternative, her office can be contacted to inform alleged offenders that they are potentially violating policies. "Our hope is that they can resolve it, but we're not expecting them to resolve it on their own," she said. "That's why this department is here."

An anonymous complaint also can be filed through the university's compliance hotline.

Meneses finds that discrimination sometimes continues unchecked because no complaint is made.
"If they come to this office, we will investigate it," she said. "However, if we don't know about it and they keep it to themselves, then obviously we aren't going to investigate it. We don't hunt for cases."

Federal (and state) laws require that employers have a place for people to report complaints. Meneses hopes that university employees understand that they have one. "This office will address all complaints regardless of the person bringing forward the concern," Meneses said, "and it doesn't matter to us if the person is a nurse or a janitor or a renowned scientist. We will look at all complaints and take all matters very seriously."

Contact Joan Sosin at joansosin@aol.com

What can you do about discrimination in the workplace?

Communicate it.

"Frankly, the majority of the time, when people are asked to stop, it stops," said Dianna Johnston, assistant legal counsel at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Washington, D.C. "Secondly, if the person is not a direct supervisor and no complaint is made, the employer is not going to be liable if they don't know about it."

If direct confrontation is not possible, make a complaint to your supervisor. If it's your supervisor who is doing the discriminating or the harassing, you may need to go up the chain of command or to your human resources department.

Consult your employer's policy manual regarding where and how the complaint should be made. Retaliation for making a complaint is also illegal.

"One of the interesting things that happens is that you will see case after case in which the court finds an employee was not discriminated against because of race or sex," Johnston said, "but the employer was liable for retaliating when the employee complained."

Document it.

This cannot be overstated, and it applies to both employees and employers. Write down conversations verbatim, identify witnesses, the action you took and the response you received (or didn't receive). Dates, times, names and places are all things you may not remember later on. Keep a small notebook handy, but don't leave it at work.

Whether a claim is proved often comes down to a credibility contest between the only two witnesses: the alleged discriminator or harasser and the victim. Johnston cautions that the burden of proof is on the person who makes the complaint of discrimination or harassment.

"You have to have more evidence on your side showing that some event happened or statement was made than the employer has on their side that it didn't happen," she said.

Defend against it.

Have a history of good evaluations and a satisfactory work record. Always request and keep a copy of all written evaluations.

Seek legal advice from an attorney well versed in this area of the law when it comes to bringing a lawsuit or taking action against an employee for engaging in prohibited conduct. You can contact your state's nurses association for information and guidance.

Educate yourself.

Learn about the law and institutional policies and procedures. Keep up with changes. Offer in-service training to prevent prohibited behavior and legal action.

"Discrimination and harassment are a reality in this country, but there's legal recourse and I think people aren't accepting it anymore like they used to," said Nilda Peragallo, DrPH, RN, FAAN, president of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses. "They shouldn't have to."

Joan Sosin, RN

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