UK: Nigerian midwife sues NHS employers over racism

A Nigerian midwife, Olukemi Akinmeji, has sued her former employers, the United Kingdom’s National Health Service, over alleged racism she experienced while working at William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, Kent.

Akinmeji claimed a colleague at William Harvey Hospital, had joked that staff should ‘check their bags’ as she left.

According to The Mirror, she said the comments were parts of harassment she suffered during nearly two years of working in a “toxic” environment where her colleagues would “gang up” against her.

She has now successfully sued her bosses after talking to an employment tribunal, where it was heard the comments were just one of several incidents of racial discrimination.

The Nigerian national started her role at William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, Kent, in March 2018, where she worked until handing in her notice in December of the following year.

On her final day in January 2020, shift coordinator Kathy Carr repeatedly said “it’s Kemi’s last day, everyone check your bags”.

While Ms Carr claimed it was “light-hearted,” Ms Akinmeji said: “I do not see what was funny in being portrayed as a thief in front of my colleagues, patients and family members”.

The “joke”, the tribunal heard, was then repeated in the ward’s hallway, with Ms Carr claiming she hadn’t realised at the time it was “in bad taste” and “inappropriate in front of colleagues”.

She told the hearing she had only just found out Ms Akinmeji was leaving and wanted to say something “light-hearted”, and that the comment was made in response to posters put up in cloakrooms over real thefts that had been reported.

Akinmeji made an official complaint to East Kent Hospitals University NHS Trust during her exit interview.

The Mirror quoted her as saying, “If the Trust have zero tolerance to racism then it should act appropriately.

“My complaint against Kathy Carr is however a formal complaint because she never was a friend nor joked with me.

“Yes, I have had a few sarcastic remarks from her but I do not see what was funny in being portrayed as a thief in front of my colleagues, patients, and family members.

Although it dismissed many of her racism claims, the tribunal did concluded that she had been discriminated against by the remark, The Daily Mail said.