A POLISH care worker has been awarded €1,800 in compensation after Ireland’s Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) found she was subjected to racial discrimination by her manager at a Kildare nursing home.
Sylwia Szuba had been employed on probation as an activities coordinator at Hazel Hall Nursing Home in Clane, operated by Esker Property Holdings Ltd.
Ms Szuba’s line manager told her she did not have a “good attitude” and suggested this might be because she was Polish, according to RTÉ.
The manager allegedly added that Irish people were “nicer and kinder”, while Polish people were fighters.
Ms Szuba said she was shocked by the remarks and reported them to the nursing home’s operations executive.
After discussions, she lodged an informal grievance and later received an apology from her manager.
But Ms Szuba told the tribunal she was not happy with the lack of disciplinary action that followed and that the matter had been marked as closed without her consent.
In early April 2024, Ms Szuba emailed management requesting access to the grievance report.
The next day, she was called to a meeting and informed that her probationary employment was being terminated due to alleged performance issues.
The dismissal letter cited failures in documenting activities, following instructions and reviewing residents’ care plans.
During the hearing, Samantha Henry, the nursing home’s director, said that Ms Szuba’s employment was ended solely for performance reasons and denied any discrimination.
The company’s representative argued there was no evidence the complainant had been treated differently on racial grounds and that the manager’s remarks had been “promptly dealt with”.
But WRC adjudicator Elizabeth Spelman found that the comments made to Ms Szuba amounted to racial harassment under the Employment Equality Act 1998.
The adjudicator ruled that Hazel Hall Nursing Home was responsible for the manager’s discriminatory behaviour and ordered the company to pay Ms Szuba €1,800, roughly equivalent to a month’s pay.
She also directed the employer to review how it communicates and implements its dignity-at-work and anti-bullying policies within six months.
Cases involving remarks about nationality have become a growing feature of WRC hearings in recent years.