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 be nice to her.

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.