A care home worker whose manager said her “attitude” might be due to her Polish nationality and said Irish people were “nicer and kinder” has been awarded €1,800 for racial discrimination.
The worker, Sylwia Szuba, secured the award on foot of a complaint under the Employment Equality Act 1998 against Esker Property Holdings Ltd, trading as Hazel Hall Nursing Home in Clane, Co Kildare.
Ms Szuba was three months into probationary employment as an activities co-ordinator earning €14.50 an hour for a 28-hour week at the nursing home when she took issue with comments made to her by her manager on March 5th, 2024.
She said that on this date she had found herself alone in the care home’s day room with 17 residents while their rooms were being cleaned. She said she was unable to manage the situation when a resident started falling out of her chair.
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When she said at a meeting that day that she “needed help”, her line manager told her that if she did not like the job she should “go home”, Ms Szuba said.
On the same day, Ms Szuba told the commission, her line manager told her she “did not have a very good attitude” and linked this to her nationality. The manager said that Polish people are “fighters” and contrasted this to Irish people, whom she considered “nicer and kinder”, the complainant said in evidence.
Ms Szuba said she became upset and started to cry, and “did not understand” why she was being discriminated against.
She reported what was said to the care home’s operations executive, Alisha Boylan, the following day, the Workplace Relations Commission tribunal heard. After some discussions, Ms Szuba decided to invoke an informal grievance against her line manager by March 22nd, 2024.
Ms Boylan said that by this stage, Ms Szuba had received an apology. Ms Szuba had “confirmed she was satisfied with this outcome” on March 26th, and the matter was considered “closed”, Ms Boylan said.
Ms Szuba’s evidence was that she did not understand why the case was closed and that there had been “no consequences” for her manager’s behaviour.
The tribunal was exhibited an email of April 7th, 2024, from Ms Szuba to Ms Boylan in which she stated that she had thanked her manager for the apology but demanded to see “the report which was done” into her informal grievance.
The following day, April 8th, 2024, Ms Szuba was called to a meeting at which her bosses terminated her probationary employment, the tribunal was told.
A letter she was handed cited “performance issues” including, the WRC noted, “failure to document activities for all residents”; “failure to carry out reasonable instructions”; “failure to carry out activities with all residents” and “failure to review residents’ care plans”, it was submitted.
Samantha Henry, director at the facility, gave evidence that Ms Szuba’s conduct was at issue and said the worker had engaged in “arguing in front of residents”.
The WRC noted a letter terminating Ms Szuba’s probationary employment three days later. Ms Szuba, who was representing herself, said she “completed her work properly” as activities co-ordinator and took issue with the evidence of the company about her performance management.
Roberta Urbon of Peninsula Business Services, for the respondent, argued there was no evidence Ms Szuba was treated differently on race grounds and “was not singled out in any way”.
Ms Urbon said the respondent denied the manager’s remark of March 5th, 2024, amounted to discrimination and that it had been “promptly dealt with”.
Adjudicator Elizabeth Spelman noted in her decision that although the employer had a dignity at work policy set out in its company handbook, copies of which were available in the workplace, staff were never trained on dignity at work prior to April 23rd, 2024, after Ms Szuba was gone.
She found that the remarks made to Ms Szuba on March 5th 2024 “amounted to discrimination [or] harassment on the ground of race” and that the care home’s management was liable for the manager’s actions.
Ms Spelman ordered the company to pay Ms Szuba €1,800 in compensation, a sum equivalent to about a month’s pay.
The adjudicator also directed it to carry out a review of how it was communicating its dignity at work and bullying policy to staff within six months.
