Tribunal ‘astonished’ by trust’s handling of legitimate race discrimination concerns

A children’s nurse who raised legitimate concerns over racial discrimination at a major London trust was suspended and victimised by her managers for doing so, an employment tribunal has ruled.

Jeyran Panahian-Jand, who worked on a children’s ward at Whipps Cross Hospital, parts of Barts Health Trust, had raised concerns with her manager in 2019 that staff were divided on “racial lines”, with an “unfair allocation of work”, as well as bullying of two junior staff.

Her manager Heather Roberts, as well as other superiors, told Ms Panahian-Jand she should raise a formal complaint, without offering to look at the issues raised and keep the complaint informal, which the tribunal said they should have done under whistleblowing policies.

Ms Roberts later accused Ms Panahian-Jand, who identified as white, of continuing to talk about her allegations on the ward, and with the agreement of Ghislaine Stephenson, the associate director of nursing for children, Ms Panahian-Jand was suspended for the “disruption” and “upset” she was causing, the tribunal judgment said.

Ms Panahnian-Jand then lodged a formal complaint over race discrimination, as well as accusing two other bank nurses of making “racially abusive” remarks. A subsequent internal investigation supported three allegations of race discrimination made by Ms Panahian-Jand, while a separate probe into her own alleged misconduct found there was no case to answer.

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Source: HSJ, 23 February 2021