When To Report Discrimination to your Manager & Human Resources (HR)

Anne Marie the AntiHR Lady
Mar 15, 2022
3 min read

Updated: Mar 4, 2024

Disclaimer: The information provided in this blog post is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. It is important to consult with legal professionals for guidance on specific legal matters.

Results on engagements and online courses may vary, successful outcome is not guaranteed.

In this blog post I explain when to report discrimination at work to your manager and human resources

One of the questions I am often asked by clients and potential clients is when to report discrimination at work to management and Human Resources.

Often when potential clients come to me, they have reported nothing. They may have documented many instances of problematic behavior but they have not reported it to anyone.

Sometimes they admit fear of retaliation as the primary barrier to reporting and other times they say they were not sure whether it was something they could or should report. I am hoping this blog post and this video on YouTube forever lay this question to rest.

The time to report any act or action at work that you deem discriminatory is as close as possible to when it occurs. But it should be a part of a strategy. Do not just report until you decide what you want the outcome of your complaint to be.

A complaint to HR may likely result in retaliation and your ultimate exit from the company so why not ensure that your exit comes with a check made out to you??? If your workplace is discriminating against you, the ultimate strategy should be to get your employer to pay YOU to leave.

Document what is happening carefully (more on that in a future blog post), and report it right away! If you are unsure of how to appropriately report and to whom you should report, READ your employee handbook, most of them will have Equal Employment Opportunity provisions that include reporting of discrimination. Also look for policies on sexual harassment, discrimination, whistleblowing, and bullying. All of those policies will usually include reporting sections. Read them and follow them. If you cannot find any of those policies in your handbook (your employer is a problem) report your concerns to your manager IF s/he is not the wrongdoer. Do the following:

· Report your concerns verbally and then follow up in writing (email is good).

· Give them time to act and respond (2 weeks is reasonable).

· Follow up with them about your concerns, if there is no action on their part.

· If there is no action, or their action does not resolve your concerns, or there is any retaliation against you, enroll in my online course (see link below), follow the steps and actions outlined and THEN go to Human Resources with your concern and report it to them.

By escalating these issues timely to not just your direct manager but HR you are creating a record and trail for future action in furtherance of getting them to pay you to exit.

If your manager retaliates against you in any way, document and report those actions to HR as well. Retaliation could be in the form of demotion, taking key projects away from you, making problematic comments to you or about you in meetings with others, or behind your back. Dealing with retaliation at work can be very stressful but, in many ways, it can be a gift, as it often violates your companies’ written policies, it can support a future claim of discrimination and/or a request for separation with severance. Don’t let retaliatory actions scare you, just document and report each occurrence.

Grab my AntiHR Documentation Journal and start documenting your workplace today.

Do this for EVERY incident you experience. If matters are resolved appropriately that is a good outcome and your employer is doing the right thing. If they are not, that is where I come in.

If you believe you are being subjected to discrimination at work, Grab Access to my Online Course,