An agency nurse who was told to bleach her skin “so that you come back tomorrow white” after reporting racist abuse has won a £25,000 payout.
Adelaide Kweyama won a race-related harassment case against Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust, brought after the comments from a more senior nurse.
In a judgment on Thursday, March 2, she was awarded £25,713 in damages in the case.
The tribunal heard how Ms Kweyama, who is Black and originally from South Africa, had reported being racially abused while an agency nurse at an immigration removal centre.
In one incident in January 2019, the panel heard how she reported being hit with racist slurs from patients, including the n-word, who were waiting for their medication.
On another occasion the following month, she reported how a patient was racially abusive towards her and pretended he did not speak English.
She stopped the triage and mentioned the incident to her manager, another nurse, who 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 following day, she overheard the nurse telling another member of staff: “I do not care, let her go and bleach her skin, I am sick and tired of people coming to work and saying they are not well.”
Ms Kweyama reported the incident electronically, but tribunal bosses found there was no proper follow-up of her complaint about that incident.
This was an “absolute abdication of the positive responsibility on managers,” the tribunal found.
Watford Employment Tribunal heard how the nurse told her agency she was no longer able to work at the centre because she felt depressed after the incident.
She was later told by an NHS manager that they had concerns about her mental health, saying some of the words used in her complaint about the comment were “concerning”.
The tribunal upheld complaints of race-related harassment over the ‘bleach’ comments, and of victimisation for the raising of mental health concern around the complaint.
A complaint of direct race discrimination was dismissed. A further hearing will take place to decide the amount owed for loss of earnings.
A spokesperson for the Trust said it had apologised to Ms Kweyama.
“It has also been used with our staff to learn from; these were not the behaviours we expect of our colleagues,” said the spokesperson.
“We feel ashamed that this has happened and we will keep this to the forefront of our work to combat racism. CNWL wants to create a culture where all colleagues work in an environment of greater respect, equity and dignity.”
