Mr Nikhil Nair Case

Mr Nikhil Nair was working in hospitality industry at a reputed hotel. He was being discriminated & harrassed at the workplace due to his sexual orientation of being homosexual.

He quoted that he has faced a number of incidents where reference was made to his sexual orientation in an unpleasant manner. The other coworkers who were present during these incidents found them very funny but these experiences had been very objectionable for Mr. Nair.

In one incident, a meeting was going on where the all team members were present. In the middle of discussion Mr Nair objected some point of his coworker(Mr Rai). To his reply Mr Rai got angry and commented on Mr Nair's sexual orientation in an offensive manner. Mr Nair requested him to stop passing such comments number of times which then lead to heated quarrel and the level of harassment for Mr Nair increased. Other team members also looked insensitive towards comments passed on Mr Nair. Later on Mr Nair found his team members making fun of what happened in meeting.

In one incident, a meeting was going on where the all team members were present. In the middle of discussion Mr Nair objected some point of his coworker(Mr Rai). To his reply Mr Rai got angry and commented on Mr Nair's sexual orientation in an offensive manner. Mr Nair requested him to stop passing such comments number of times which then lead to heated quarrel and the level of harassment for Mr Nair increased. Other team members also looked insensitive towards comments passed on Mr Nair. Later on Mr Nair found his team members making fun of what happened in meeting.

In another incident, Mr Nair noticed that emails from his manager were being sent to Mr. Nair's team lead and other members of the team in which he was referred to as 'just a bloody woman'.

After continuously being harassed by these incidents he reported to HR Manager. After waiting for few days no action was taken against such incidents faced by Mr. Nikhil Nair.

Analysis

Issues

* Lack of apparent corporate support: The company being unable to recognize sexual orientation as a workplace issue, does not have processes to deal with such issues at workplace. There is no external body to refer to in case of any discrimination or harrassment and Mr. Nair has only two options, either to keep suffering or to approach the court of law for justice.

* Lack of diversity training for employees: on diversity issues relating to sexual minorities. Employees have no sensititvity to these diversity issues which demostrates their lack of understanding. Due to this Mr. Nair is faceing direct discrimination in the workplace, including harassment and avoidance from colleagues and superiors as well and has become a subject of gossip and open ridicule.

Business Case

1. Legal Compliance

Homosexuality has recently been legalized in India, there is no directly applicable anti-discrimination law to protect LGBT employees in the workplace. However the companies are subjected to international influence where laws on LGBT discrimination are clearly developed and strict. So, for the companies to maintain a global image and reputation it has become important for them to come up with policies to protect the interests and provide dignity to LGBTs.

2. Reputation and Risk Management

Other than legal compliance, the pressure of maintaining reputation of a global organization and fearing the risks associated with it has led to companies to take steps to introduce their own LGBT policies and educate their employees to prevent the risk of severe embarrassment, damage to their corporate reputation and with it the potential loss of customers. A number of companies who have failed to educate or sensitise their managers on matters relating to LGBT have been exposed and suffered the consequences.