Racial Harassment – Black Nurse Advised to ‘Bleach Her Skin White’

Insensitive race-related comments in the workplace may not be intended to cause distress, but they can nevertheless amount to racial harassment. An Employment Tribunal (ET) made that point in the case of a black nurse who was told that she needed to bleach her skin white so that patients would…

Nov 04, 2022

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The agency nurse worked in the challenging environment of an immigration removal centre. After she was racially abused by a detainee, a colleague told her: ‘You need to get a pool of bleach and bleach your skin so that you come back tomorrow white and the patients will be nice to you.’ The colleague later again referred to her bleaching her skin in a comment that she overheard.

After the nurse launched proceedings, the ET found that it was not her colleague’s purpose to intimidate her or to create a hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for her. She did not intend the second comment to be overheard and, not having experienced racial abuse or intimidation by detainees herself, she had not understood the nurse’s difficulties.

In finding that both comments amounted to racial harassment, however, the ET ruled that they were obviously likely to cause distress and hurt. Focusing on the nurse’s perception of what her colleague said, it noted that any reasonable person would have been offended and humiliated by the words used.

The nurse suffered further racial harassment when a manager expressed concern about her mental health. Although that comment was not overtly connected to her race, it was nevertheless both race-related and unwanted. The nurse perceived the comment as offending her professionalism, violating her dignity and creating a humiliating atmosphere for her.

All three comments, together with a statement by the manager that her agency role would be terminated, were also detrimental treatment constituting victimisation. If not agreed, the amount of compensation payable to her by her NHS trust employer would be assessed at a further hearing.

Redundant Automotive Industry Worker Succeeds in Unfair Dismissal Claim

A redundancy process may be genuine and necessary, yet procedurally unfair. An Employment Tribunal (ET) made that point in the case of an automotive industry worker who would have kept his job had a selection criterion not been carelessly and mistakenly applied. Amidst a round of redundancies necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the vehicle handling operative was placed in a pool of eight employees, five of whom would lose their jobs. Against his employer’s selection criteria, he was assessed…

‘Long Covid’ Recognised as a Disability in Important Employment Ruling

Following recovery from the immediate effects of COVID-19, a substantial number of people have gone on to suffer from a phenomenon commonly known as ‘long Covid’. In an important ruling, an Employment Tribunal (ET) found that the condition is capable of amounting to a disability within the meaning of Section 6 of the Equality Act 2010. The case concerned a charity worker who initially suffered mild, flu-like symptoms after contracting the virus. At the end of his isolation period, however, he…

Care Home Operator Heavily Fined Following Resident’s Tragic Fire Death

Care home operators who fail in their duty to keep residents safe can expect severe punishment. That was certainly so in the case of a wheelchair-dependent man who was engulfed by flames whilst smoking outside the care home where he lived. The man, who had suffered a stroke, had been resident in the home for almost a decade. He was a known smoker and had been left alone in a sheltered outdoor area to enjoy a cigarette. He caught fire and, despite desperate efforts to extinguish the blaze, it…