A nurse who made several racist remarks, in particular by using the “n-word” towards his colleagues, was fired by the Philippe-Pinel Institute.
The decision of the arbitration tribunal against Éric Boulé is disturbing to say the least. The nurse, who challenged his dismissal, made several disgraceful and racist words.
The arbitrator who heard the dispute even took the trouble to warn that he used the “n-word” in certain passages of his decision.
“Speaking of an ISPS [intervenant spécialisé en pacification et sécurité] black-skinned, Mr. Boulé says of him that he “smells the host of N…”; he often tells a fellow nurse, who is a black man, to ‘go back to work in the cotton fields,’” the decision read in the last few days.
Shortly after the death of George Floyd – a black man suffocated by a white police officer in the United States – the nurse clinician reportedly told a colleague that “he got what he deserved”.
Photo taken from Éric Boulé’s Facebook page
Éric Boulé had fifteen years of experience before his dismissal. He was accused of insubordination, inappropriate remarks towards colleagues and violence against a patient.
Terrorists
The ruling also alleges that he regularly hums or plays songs containing the “n-word.” Finally, he would also have made disparaging remarks towards a colleague of North African origin.
“He says, speaking of the terrorists: ‘It’s your brother, your uncle, your father,'” reports lawyer Frédéric Tremblay, who heard the case.
During the hearing, Éric Boulé however denied having made racist or unacceptable remarks. However, he admitted having made inappropriate remarks towards his ex-spouse in the context of a difficult break-up.
“I consider that his explanations are improbable and implausible,” wrote the author of the decision, who said he himself heard Mr. Boulé make denigrating and discriminatory remarks in court.
Abuse of a patient
The derogatory words are not the only reason that led to the dismissal of the nurse, who had fifteen years of experience.
The facility said that on Christmas Eve 2018, the nurse allegedly crushed a patient’s foot with his own while he was held down by other staff.
Mr. Boulé denied having committed this act. The union defending the nurse argued that his colleague was not credible and that he had reported this story two years later in revenge.
However, the court accepted the latter’s version based in particular on notes which were indicated in the file and which corroborated certain aspects of the testimony.
Photo Martin Alarie
The Philippe-Pinel Institute in Montreal where the nurse worked.
Voltage in unit
It must be said that the atmosphere on the night shift was far from rosy.
For example, some staff members preferred to keep the lights dimmed in the console located in the middle of the care unit. Some also played video games between patient rounds, a practice tolerated by management.
However, the issue of low lighting has become a point of tension and the tone even rises between staff members.
With a colleague, Mr. Boulé had convinced his superiors to put an end to video games and reduce the time between surveillance rounds. About 20 staff members then complained and an investigation was launched before he was fired a year later, in 2021.
Mr. Boulé defended himself and applied to the arbitration tribunal to have his dismissal reversed. The union that defended him notably maintained that his remarks were jokes and that the colleagues who testified did so out of revenge.
However, even if certain testimonies were contradictory, the court granted little credibility to the dismissed nurse. He even accuses him of having exaggerated certain facts.
“Some of Mr. Boulé’s statements are implausible and [il] deny the obvious. He claims to have never made racist remarks at work. Yet… many witnesses, some of whom have no interest in the litigation, claim that he has made racist remarks at work regularly, and has been for several years, ”wrote Me Tremblay.