The Mater Hospital has been ordered to pay €10,000 compensation, following a ruling that they had racially discriminated against a Nigerian born employee due to the colour of his skin.
The Mater, one of the largest hospitals in the country, was ordered to pay this sum by the Workplace Relations Commission adjudicator, Penelope McGrath BL, for discriminating against their employee, Paul Agbons, after he was suspended by them for six days between 6-12 June last year.
Ms McGrath had said that the hospital had to balance two very difficult situations and that she was aware that the suspension only lasted for six days. It was ruled that Mr Agbons, a healthcare assistant, was discriminated against on the grounds of race.
This comes after he had been told by his employer last June "that he did not have a case to answer" following his complaint.
It happened after a female patient had claimed that an unidentified member of staff had behaved inappropriately against her on three separate occasions in a letter of complaint, saying that "the sexual nature of these events happened over a three-night period. There was one person involved and I do not know his name".
The woman also claimed that it was "the same person that interfered with me on all three nights. He was tall, dark skin, shaved head, not Irish".
Following this, Mr Agbons' legal team, Jason Murray BL and Maria Kavanagh of Tracy Horan & Co, had said that the employer had wrongly identified their client as the subject of this complaint, and had accused him without any objective basis or verification.
In her ruling, Ms McGrath mentioned Mr Agbons' statement, which read "without a scintilla of evidence that Mr Agbons had any connection (save for the colour of his skin) to the patient’s complaint, he was informed that he was suspended from the workplace".
Ms McGrath also said in her findings that "the move to purportedly identify and then suspend someone primarily based on the colour of their skin has a clear racial overtone".
She stated that at best, the Directorate Nurse Manager, FH had "made up her mind under the influence of an unconscious bias. At worst FH landed on the complainant as a black person and wrongdoer".
The adjudicator said that following the complaint from Patient X, a Trust in Care committee had met on June 10 last year, but was "was not happy to progress the issue in the absence of any detail including dates and times".
She further stated that Mr Agbons was understandably "deeply upset at having been suspended from the workplace under such a cloud of suspicion".
While she accepts that the patient in question's description could have linked Mr Agbons in a general way, she insisted: "I do not accept that it wouldn’t also fit with another dozen people in the hospital over that period of time".
She also said that FH were too quick to think the very worst of their employee, based on race and skin colour, and "overstepped what was being asked of her which was - to ascertain if it is possible that an abusive interaction could have occurred - and went into full accusatory mode and went ahead and identified a prime suspect".
"Even though the suspension only lasted six days the effect has been long lasting", she stated, before adding that Mr Agbons "struck me as being a good man who has worked hard and reared his family well".
She stated that Mr Agbons "has an exemplary work record and seems to be a trusted and valued member of staff", and while originally from Nigeria, is "now a proud Irish citizen".
Ms McGrath said that this "is problematic in circumstances where Patient X had not attempted to name her assailant".
She added that FH had called Mr Agbons on June 6 to say that "an accusation has been levelled at you" and "it is a very weighty allegation".
From this, Mr Agbons had reportedly formed an impression that whatever allegation was made, was specifically against him when it was not the case. The allegation was made against an unknown person, who may have resembled Mr Agbons, and Ms McGrath said that "all I know is that FH immediately zeroed in on the complainant".
At this hearing, FH was not available to give evidence, and McGrath said that this was a serious issue, as the witness was not available to give evidence on the day and not made available to do so.
The hearing also hear that the hospital had rejected claims that they had discriminated against Mr Agbons, and said that any actions were taken in response to a sever issue raise in the workplace.
They stated that their obligations are governed by the Trust in Care Policy, aimed at protected vulnerable patients, while also providing a fair, objective and natural justice-complaint investigation process for all accused members of staff. (All quotes in this piece according to RTÉ).
