Frozen out over skin colour at Nursing home

The Swedish assistant nurse was able to work one day as a Temp at Lille Tøyen Nursing Home in Oslo. "This has left deep scars in me as a person," she writes in a letter to the Anti-Discrimination Ombudsman. The woman wants to remain anonymous. The picture is an illustration photo. Photo: Fagbladet.

Temp was frozen out over skin colour at a Nursing home in Oslo

A dark-skinned Swede was discriminated against for being a ”darkie” when she was taking on a temporary assignment at Lille Tøyen Nursing Home in Oslo. She has now been redressed.

 

The Swedish woman was hired through a temporary employment agency used by the nursing home. She met up for work on November 3rd, 2015, at Lille Tøyen for her first shift.

The nursing home beforehand requested a temporary assistant nurse, who was skilled in the Norwegian language, but it decided that a Swede was acceptable, writes the Trade Union magazine, Fagbladet.

When the woman met up for work, and colleagues and management realized that she was dark-skinned, the nursing home demanded a replacement. This is revealed in an email sent to the agency, where they request “ethnically Norwegian” temps and justify themselves by that the residents are stressed “when new employees, who do not look Norwegian, are at work”.

Trade Union

After she was disallowed from continuing in her job, the woman decided to bring the case to the Trade Union, Fagforbundet. Three years down the road, she has finally received NOK 80,000 in redress and an apology from the Municipality of Oslo.

“One of our employees made a mistake when this happened almost three years ago. Lille Tøyen nursing home has since been closed down. We regret that the healthcare professional experienced this. We have therefore accepted the remand from the Ombudsman and provided a financial redress. No employees are to experience discrimination at our workplaces,” Acting HR Director of the Oslo Nursing Home Agency, Trine Kveim, tells Fagbladet.

Kveim informs NTB that most residents are demented and/or very sick. Some refuse to be cared for by, or have contact with, some employees. According to the HR Director, this is independent of ethnic background. With this as the backdrop, the health agency is primarily concerned with ensuring that each resident is taken good care off.

“The way I perceive the case, there is no doubt that this nurse is academically competent. She could have been assigned to work with other residents – if they were unable to work out a solution to the issues related to this particular resident,” Kveim concludes.


© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today



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