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A Workplace Relations Commission adjudicator has ruled that a receptionist at an Affidea diagnostics clinic subjected a Dublin GP and her elderly Pakistani mother to demeaning and disrespectful treatment, awarding 12,000 euros in compensation under the Employment Equality Act.
A Workplace Relations Commission adjudicator has ordered a medical diagnostic clinic to pay compensation of 12,000 euros to a south Dublin general practitioner and her elderly mother following a finding of discriminatory and disrespectful conduct by a receptionist nearly three years ago.
The complaints were brought under the Employment Equality Act 1998 against Affidea Diagnostics Ireland Ltd by Dr Shereen Gul and her mother, Mehr Un Nisa. In decisions published on a Tuesday, the adjudicator described Mehr Un Nisa as a 75-year-old Pakistani woman who was visibly timid and frail and had virtually no English. She had been visiting her daughter, who practises as a GP in Saggart in Dublin, and attended an Affidea radiography clinic in Dundrum for a scan.
The adjudicator found the actions of the receptionist were notably different from how Irish patients were treated and ruled that her behaviour was demeaning and disrespectful. The dispute arose from a mix-up about slotting Mehr Un Nisa into a cancelled appointment the previous month, which led to a tense interaction and an accusation that Gul had given abuse to clinic staff. Gul strongly denied this allegation and had initiated defamation proceedings against Affidea at the time of the hearing.
Gul told the tribunal that her mother came from a village in a tribal area in northern Pakistan where people traditionally use only one name. On the day in question, a receptionist identified in the ruling as Karen Fitzpatrick, on seeing the name, reportedly said, Oh, what kind of a name is that and what is the surname, according to Gul.
She is said to have repeated twice that the name did not make sense when Gul tried to explain, and asked Gul to produce an identity document for her mother. The receptionist then allegedly asked Gul whether her mother knew any English and, on being told she had only a few words, asked how she could have no English.
Gul was then told she could not enter a changing area to assist her mother for infection control reasons, despite having been allowed in on previous visits and having seen other patients enter with family members. Fitzpatrick denied telling Gul that her mother’s name did not make sense but said she needed to check the spelling. She maintained she asked about English because a safety questionnaire had to be completed.
When counsel for the complainant put it to her that she had simply decided to be awkward, she replied that she was just doing her job correctly. Adjudicator Patricia Owens concluded that Fitzpatrick’s evidence was not credible and accepted Gul’s account of the questioning about her mother’s name. Owens wrote that Fitzpatrick was demeaning and disrespectful towards the women and went beyond what was required to identify the patient.
The adjudicator further noted that the receptionist’s actions were notably different to how Irish patients were treated. The tribunal ordered Affidea Diagnostics Ireland Ltd to pay compensation totalling 12,000 euros to Dr Gul and her mother in recognition of the discriminatory treatment they experienced
WRC Affidea Discrimination Workplace Relations Commission Employment Equality Act
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