Nigerian midwife Olukemi Akinmeji drags NHS trust before industrial tribunal over racist remarks

NIGERIAN midwife Olukemi Akinmeji has taken her former employers the National Health Service (NHS) before an industrial tribunal over cases of racism she allegedly experienced while working at the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford.

Ms Akinmeji claimed a colleague at the Kent hospital had joked that staff should check their bags as she left. She added that the comments were part of the harassment she suffered during nearly two years of working in a toxic environment where her colleagues would gang up against her.

Nigerian-born Ms Akinmeji 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. She 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.

She added that on her final day at work 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."

This joke, the tribunal heard, was then repeated in the ward’s hallway, with Ms Carr claiming she had not 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.

Ms Akinmeji made an official complaint to East Kent Hospitals University NHS Trust during her exit interview. She said: “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 conclude that she had been discriminated against by the remark. Employment judge Anna Corrigan said: “The evidence shows that Akinmeji was a subject of discussion by the group of midwives concerned, which had generated a shared negative attitude towards her and some hostility, which she picked up on in their behaviour towards her.

“We find they thereby ganged up against her and this suggests there was bullying of her by this group of midwives. This was an extremely offensive comment in the context of a black colleague leaving the workplace and the knowledge that there had been actual thefts from staff.

“The implication is clearly that colleagues should take care of their things as Akinmeji might be going to steal from colleagues on her last day.”