Nursing home worker compensated for race “harassment”

Friday 07 February 2020

A former reception worker at a Jersey care home has been awarded thousands in compensation after a campaign of race-related “harassment” by his boss, who mocked him, followed him to the toilet on his breaks and threw his coat on the floor over claims it smelt of “Indian curry”.

The Employment Tribunal concluded last week that the behaviour of the line manager at St. Peter-based care home Lakeside Manor, which persisted despite multiple complaints to management, was the result of “unconscious bias against Indian people”.

In her judgment, Tribunal Chair Hilary Griffin ordered that Barchester Healthcare, which owns the home, award the employee over £7,000 in compensation for harassment and direct discrimination, and urged that it provide diversity training to all staff.

Following the judgment, Barchester told Express that Equality and Diversity training was now a “fundamental part” of new staff inductions, noting that it was important to the company that “our diverse and caring staff are supported at work”.

Pictured: The Lakeside Manor website.

Called to give evidence at a hearing in November, the victim’s line manager claimed she had not thrown his jacket on the floor, but moved it elsewhere due to its smell, likening her reaction to if the employee had been a smoker. 

But the Tribunal said it was sure the actions were race-related, and that it didn’t believe “that she would have used the word ‘Indian’ to describe the smell of curry to someone who was not Indian”.

It was one of many examples, the Tribunal said, of the former Administrative Assistant receiving treatment different to other employees. 

Noting that she was not a “credible witness”, and describing her accounts as “evasive and inconsistent”, the Tribunal also rejected her denial that she had repeatedly dismissed the employee when he asked for help.

On one occasion, she was said to have refused to help him when he approached her five or six times, shouting “get out my office” in front of other staff.

In comparison, the man said, she would have lengthy conversations with other members of staff.

Pictured: The reception worker was awarded more than £7,000 in compensation.

The Tribunal also found that she repeatedly checked on him, following him to the toilet where he would make private phone calls to his wife on his breaks, and even turning up to Lakeside on a weekend in order to simply taunt and laugh at him at work. 

He also accused her of demeaning him when he spoke to others, telling him to “chop chop”, and mocking the way he spoke – though she contended that she was simply teaching him how to speak more clearly on the phone. 

Overall, the Tribunal described the less favourable treatment to the man as “serious”, adding that it “led to a culture within [Lakeside] Manor, where it became acceptable to be disrespectful” to him.

Indeed, one other employee was found to have “violat[ed] the claimant’s dignity” when she shouted at him in the reception area of the home.

In her evidence, the colleague said that she had “experience of Indian and Bangladeshi men not being respectful towards women” and that she believed the man did not respect her. 

The administrative assistant raised these issues with management, and even made use of a whistleblower hotline, many times during his employment, but his concerns were never upheld.

At the time, he was undergoing review for performance-related issues, including his attitude, which eventually led to his dismissal.

However, Mrs Griffin noted in her judgment that his line manager's “behaviour… went beyond the conduct of a frustrated manager towards an underperforming employee”, adding that the Tribunal “did not accept that poor performance alone provided an acceptable reason for continually treating the Claimant in this manner”.

She also noted: “…If the Claimant’s manner was disrespectful… such behaviour was in response to the Claimant’s perception that the management team… was blindly supporting [his line manager], who continued to harass him.”

Overall, he was awarded £7,200 in total from Barchester Healthcare: £2,300 for direct discrimination, £4,000 for harassment by his line manager, and £900 for harassment by another colleague.

He made an additional claim for unfair dismissal, which failed. While the Tribunal accepted that the harassment was linked with his race, they did not believe this had directly caused his dismissal.

In a statement, Barchester Healthcare said: “We dismissed an employee on the grounds of poor performance – which was upheld by the Tribunal.

“Equally it is important to us that our diverse and caring staff are supported at work. Our Equality and Diversity training is a fundamental part of new staff inductions - and our records from both Lakeside and Lakeside Manor reflect this  - the training is ongoing and regularly updated in line with best practice.

“The quality of care for our residents is at the heart of everything we do and we will always take action to ensure the highest standards of care. To this end, we are committed to ensuring our staff feel supported at work while also empowering our management team to positively deal with unacceptable under-performance.”