Mercedes has taken the initiative to fight Islamophobia after the hate manifested among some employees — an essential move more companies and institutions should consider.
In early August, the car giant's Mercedes-AMG F1 team - also known for being racer Lewis Hamilton's team - fired four employees from its UK-based headquarters in Brackley and disciplined three others for subjecting a colleague to bullying based on his religion.
The four sacked IT employees were found harassing their Muslim co-worker and calling him "Muslim Terrorist F**k" in the smoking area.
According to The Sun, the group of four put up a signed and dated poll on the staff noticeboard during the month of Ramadan with bets on when their Muslim colleague would break his fast.
These are only two incidents that were reported publicly, according to a source who spoke to The Sun, as the man had been enduring this badgering by his colleagues for years.
A complaint was filed against this behavior, leading to an investigation that found that Mercedes-AMG F1 staff was in breach of its diversity and equality policy.
"We condemn this behavior in the strongest terms and acted immediately upon the complaint. We value the diversity of our employees and it is a source of strength for our team," a spokesperson for Mercedes-AMG F1 said.
Lewis Hamilton is the only black racer in Formula One and has publicly stood against racism in the past
In March, Lewis Hamilton, a Mercedes-AMG's five-time world champion driver and first and only Formula One racer of color, spoke out about racism.
"It is crazy to think that at this time in the world, racism is still such a prominent thing."
"I remember being at school and you got a slap on the hand for it [racism] and it is just allowed to slide. That shouldn't happen anywhere. Action should be taken and we should be a lot stricter with it," he recalled.
His comments came after football players from England's national team were faced with racist chants in a Euro 2020 qualifier against Montenegro.