Nursing lecturer struck off in UK for harassing Sikh colleague

A qualified nurse and senior lecturer at a UK university has been struck off the countrys medical register over misconduct which involved the harassment of a Sikh colleague over his religious beliefs and mocking his turban as a bandage and hatThe Nursing and Midwifery Council NMC held a virtual hearing of the case against Maurice Slaven last week over allegations of racial harassment of a fellow Sikh lecturer identified only as Colleague 1The NMC Tribunal received a fitness to practice referral in March 2019 after Colleague 1 alleged he had been racially harassed on a number of occasions by Slaven since the start of his employment in October 2016 to December 2018According to the evidence before the tribunal Slaven is said to have subjected Colleague 1 with questions like Wheres your bandage andor Why arent you wearing your bandage with reference to his turbanOn 29 October 2018 following publication of an article about Colleague 1s community work in a nursing magazine i Stated you knew all about Sikhism ii Stated that Guru Nanak was your best mate iii Asked Colleague 1 where his hat was the tribunal notedAfter Colleague 1 pointed out that it was not a hat but a Turban responded with No its a hat or words to that effect it addsBesides the accused is said to have made derogatory remarks such as Indians came to the UK in a banana boat and used the phrase you lot when referencing British SikhsSlaven a Senior Lecturer in nursing at Anglia Ruskin University at the time had said he believed it was just banter between friendsThe panel appreciated that breaches of the Code do not automatically result in a finding of misconduct However it did not accept Mr Slavens explanation to the Universitys HR department that his comments were meant as banter between friends and that at the time he did not realise that Colleague 1 was offended by them the tribunal notesThe panel considered that any reasonable person would find Mr Slavens comments to be offensive and noted that Colleague 1 had made it clear to Mr Slaven he found that his behaviour to be discriminatory and deeply distressing it addsTherefore his misconduct was ruled a significant departure from the standards expected of a registered nurse and the panel determined that a suspension order would not be a sufficient appropriate or proportionate sanctionThe panel therefore imposed an interim suspension order for a period of 18 months If no appeal is made then the interim suspension order will be replaced by the strikingoff order 28 days after Mr Slaven is sent the decision of this hearing in writing it concludedAnglia Ruskin University ARU said the matter was dealt with in accordance with our internal procedures and the individual is no longer employed by ARUThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever