Two months ago, an administrative agent at Pontoise hospital reported to his management racist remarks made by two of his colleagues against him. Despite this alert, the two authors have not, to date, been sanctioned. The Guadeloupean took legal action to order the hospital to take measures.
Without a word, Master Cabral gets up. The lawyer submits a photo to the magistrate. “This is what we receive, in a public hospital, in 2023”, asserts the lawyer to launch his pleading, this Tuesday, January 9, in the courtroom of the administrative court of Cergy, in Val-d’Oise. The photo represents a monkey holding a bunch of bananas, and by hand, the authors added the words “ I’m on a banana diet.”
This photo, Sandra (the first name having been changed to preserve anonymity), received it in her professional mailbox on August 31, 2023, at the Novo hospital in Pontoise. An act that is not isolated. Monkey cries in the corridors, nicknames and imitation of a West Indian accent, for months, the Guadeloupean was the target of “quite inappropriate jokes” from two of his colleagues.
In November, Sandra ended up alerting her management and filing a complaint for “moral harassment”, as well as “racist insult” et “incitement to hatred“But since then, nothing has been done by the hospital administration, believes his lawyer who denounces a situation of “in which state”. Raphaël Cabral appealed to the Cergy administrative court on Friday, January 5, so that justice could order the hospital to take measures.
“We appealed to the judge in extreme urgency on the basis of a summary liberty order so that the situation of moral harassment and the attack on my client’s dignity ceases. The purpose of the summary proceedings is to explain that the situation exists, that the situation continues, because there is nothing that is implemented by the hospital administration.”
Five months later, Sandra still struggles to look at these photos. “I want things to move forward, to find a solution so that everything calms down, timidly confides the hospital agent who shared with the audience the state of “fear” where she now lives. Every morning, Sandra parks her car as far as possible from the entrance to the establishment, for fear “let it be damaged”. Every lunchtime, Sandra avoids the cafeteria so as not to “meet them”. A situation which “encroaches on his personal life”.
“I asked a doctor to examine my client, her diagnosis is that she is in a worrying condition and that it is deteriorating,” insists Me Cabral. For the lawyer, this discomfort is explained by the lack of measures implemented by the hospital administration, despite reminders made by Sandra and the SUD-Santé union. “These two agents continue to work, they have kept their office” denounces Master Cabral. Et c“It’s even the victim who is asked to change services.”
“The hospital has never disputed the seriousness of the facts, replies Me Beaulac, in charge of defending the establishment. It is said that the hospital did nothing, but we had the agent followed by a psychologist, we applied functional protection, and his department offered to remove him from his office.” A proposal accepted by Sandra at the end of December, who is now far from all her colleagues and feels “isolated”.
“Why didn’t we consider that it was these two gentlemen who changed offices?” notes the representative of the Cergy administrative court. “When I spoke to my client on the phone last night, I was told that we wanted to act quickly,” says the lawyer. An answer, which shows “the disinterestedness of the hierarchy” for this matter, argues Matthieu Peyr, the departmental co-secretary of the SUD-Santé-Sociaux 95-60 union: “No one is there at the hearing to support the officer, to try to understand.”
The victim’s lawyer also disputes this argument of the “speed” invoked by his colleague: “My client was questioned by the administration a month after the facts were reported.” According to hospital management, “internal investigation was immediately opened” to identify the perpetrators. “Out of around twenty agents in the service, only four people were received by management, underlines Me Cabral, who disputes “the form and substance” of this investigation. The supposed perpetrators were never interviewed.”
“The two agents will be received in a few days, retorts Me Beaulac. It’s because we didn’t want them to know.” An argument swept aside by the magistrate: “With the articles appearing in the press, they still have to be aware.” In the hospital corridors, news travels quickly. Since the media coverage of this affair, Sandra has suffered accusatory looks from some of her colleagues.
“These are two people who walk around the hospital, who point their finger at her and who can say whatever they want about her, breathes Josette Aatillah, departmental secretary of SUD-Santé-Sociaux 95-60, who calls for a suspension of the two agents during the internal investigation. They are becoming prospect by calling their actions “dubious jokes”, so all the agents will say to themselves that they have the right to do the same thing.
In the context of a summary liberty order, the judge has 48 hours to rule. The magistrate, however, postponed the closure of the case, following the sending of new elements. The judge should finally issue her order early next week. Since our meeting, Sandra has been stopped by her doctor. She is waiting to know what administrative follow-up will be given to this case, as well as to her complaint for “moral harassment” filed before the court.
2024-01-24 17:23:21
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