Mater to compensate employee for racial discrimination

Mater Misericordiae University Hospital has been ordered to pay €10,000 in compensation to a Nigerian-born employee, Paul Agbons, for racially discriminating against him when suspending him for six days in June last year. The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) adjudicator, Penelope McGrath BL, made the decision, stating that the hospital's actions were based on racial overtones.

Ms McGrath pointed out that the hospital wrongly identified Agbons as the subject of a patient complaint he did not commit, solely based on his skin color. Agbons, who has been working at the hospital since 2001 and is now a proud Irish citizen, maintains that his employer made the worst assumption about him due to his race. The hospital's decision to suspend Agbons without any objective basis or verification has left him deeply upset, despite the six-day suspension being short-lived.

The hospital maintains that its actions were taken in response to a serious issue raised by a patient, but admits that the decision to identify and suspend Agbons overruled its proper investigation process.