Foul Play Battling hostilities in the workplace.

An anonymous note filled with racial hatred shows up on anemployee's desk. A worker persists in making sexually explicit"jokes" in front of co-workers. Another employee'slanguage is sprinkled with cruel comments about workers of certainethnic groups. What do you do? And don't say it can'thappen in your company.

"These incidents are very common," says Ann Mennell,an employment-law attorney with Foley & Lardner in Milwaukee.Just as there is still plenty of bigotry in our communities, thereare volumes of race and gender hostilities in the workplace.

"Prejudice still exists, and it shows up frequently inbusinesses," agrees Louis Penner, a psychology professor atthe University of South Florida in Tampa, who has extensivelyresearched bigotry and sexism in the workplace.