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A healthcare assistant at the Mater hospital was awarded €10,000 for racial discrimination after being falsely accused of sexual interference. The WRC found that a senior nurse-manager had exhibited 'unconscious bias' by linking the assistant to the complaint based solely on his physical appearance, despite no direct evidence connecting him to the alleged events.
WRC says hospital’s identification and suspension of worker primarily based on skin colour ‘has a clear racial overtone’ Paul Agbons, who took a successful employment claim, has been an employee of the Mater hospital for 25 years.
Photograph: Enda O'DowdA healthcare assistant who said he was wrongly linked to a hospital patient’s allegations about being “interfered with” by a worker without a “scintilla of evidence” has secured €10,000 for racial discrimination. adjudicator concluded that, at a minimum, there was “unconscious bias” at play when a manager decided Agbons was the worker described in a letter of complaint by a patient and suspended him.
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A senior nurse-manager, referred to as “FH” in a WRC decision published on Thursday, “zeroed in” on Agbons and decided, after looking at the ward roster, that he was the only member of staff working nights who “fit the description”, the tribunal noted. Agbons, the tribunal heard, is black, and a naturalised Irish citizen of Nigerian extraction. He gave evidence that FH called him in and told him: “An accusation has been levelled at you.
It is a very weighty allegation. ” He was left with the impression that the allegation had been made against him specifically, and not “against a person unknown”, adjudication officer Penelope McGrath wrote. Agbons’ barrister, Jason Murray, appearing instructed by Maria Kavanagh of Tracy Horan & Co Solicitors, said his client was “wrongly identified” as the subject of the complaint and accused “without any objective basis or verification”.
Without a “scintilla of evidence” that he had any connection to the complaint, Agbons was informed that he was suspended, it was submitted. The suspension was “direct discrimination”, Murray said, arguing his client was “treated unfairly and targeted because of his race and nationality”. , the employers’ group, appearing for the Mater, said the hospital had a duty to protect vulnerable patients and had “no option” other than to investigate the patient’s claim.
The claims were addressed “immediately and with urgency” under the HSE’s Trust in Care policy, she said. McGrath concluded Agbons had raised an inference of racial discrimination which the hospital was unable to rebut without evidence from FH. It was “frustrating” that the nurse manager was not available to testify, she wrote. She expressed concern with how FH conducted her inquiries.
Under the Trust in Care policy, FH’s job had been only to carry out a “preliminary” examination to assess whether what was alleged “could have happened” – not to make a final finding, she noted.
“The move to purportedly identify and then suspend someone primarily based on the colour of their skin has a clear racial overtone,” McGrath wrote. “At best FH made up her mind under the influence of an unconscious bias. At worst FH landed on the complainant as a black person and wrongdoer. ” She set compensation at €10,000 on the basis the suspension “only lasted six days” and the employer “had to balance two very difficult situations”.
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Racial Discrimination WRC Complaint Mater Hospital Unconscious Bias Sexual Harassment Allegation