From 2015 the Claimant, who described her ethnicity as Black African, worked as a nurse at Quarryfields Care Home.
She worked night shifts on 9 and 10 March 2023 and three white staff members informed the manager Victoria Watson that they believed the Claimant was sleeping whilst on shift. The Claimant denied this.
An investigation into these allegations resulted in the Claimant being taken off night shift. She was also signed off work due to stress. Upon her return to work on 30 May Mrs Watson informed the Claimant that she would be reported to the NMC and that she should resign with immediate effect.
The Claimant attended a disciplinary hearing on 8 July. Her union representative stated that there were five other members of staff who had been working on 9 and 10 March who had not been interviewed. All five were black. The staff members who had been interviewed were all white. This raised concerns that the allegations could have been motivated by racism.
The decision maker did not then interview these staff members and explained she did not think that doing so would have made a difference to her decision. The Claimant received a final written warning.
The Claimant appealed this action, and the original decision was upheld. The Claimant resigned in December.
The Claimant raised a claim of race discrimination with the Employment Tribunal. This claim was successful. The Tribunal stated that the decision maker had “demonstrated a closed mind” to the disciplinary process and criticised the fact that the employees who made the complaint were not asked at any stage of the process if their complaints were racially motivated. Not interviewing the other relevant witnesses led to the process being found to not be “full and fair”. The tribunal concluded that the Respondent had simply “not taken the complaints seriously”.
For employers, this case demonstrates the importance of conducting a full investigation. All relevant witnesses should be interviewed, and witness statements should be gathered. Where there are serious failures in procedure, it is open to a Tribunal to conclude that the reason for those failures is race (here) or other protected characteristics.
If you have any questions on any of the issues raised in the above article, please contact Natalia Milne.