‘It strips your humanity’: Civil servant wins six-figure sum over ‘insidious’ Ministry of Justice racism

A former civil servant received a six-figure pay-out from the government over discrimination after she says was subjected to “insidious” racism during a 12-year battle with the Ministry of Justice.

Olivea Ebanks, 58, worked at the ministry for almost 20 years and took it to court three times; in 2008, 2011 and finally in 2020 for cases respectively won, lost and settled, The Independent can reveal.

During that time, an internal investigation within the prison service found there was scope for institutional racism yet the ministry has denied such issues plague the department.

Ms Ebanks claims she was called racially insulting names by a manager, prevented from progressing her career and had her out-of-work activities monitored. She says she was also accused of bringing the ministry into disrepute for writing a book about her life and experiences of prejudice in the prisons service.

Feeling unable to leave the job due to financial pressures and the need to care for her ill mother, Ms Ebanks said working in an “abusive” environment led to her physical and mental health suffering.

In an exclusive interview, Ms Ebanks said: “Each time I decided to go to court, I have lost something significant in my life. The first time I went to court, I lost my good mental health. It was the first time in my life I had ever been diagnosed with depression.

“The second time I decided to go to court, I lost my marriage and the third time, I lost my job.”

In the 2008 case, Ms Ebanks alleges managers blocked access to career-enhancing opportunities and training open to colleagues.

She says her work was unfairly scrutinised and managers began to “constantly” pick at her work, and claims her concerns about this were routinely dismissed.

“I didn’t immediately think it was racism – more professional jealousy,” Ms Ebanks explained. “However, one day after asking her manager why she’s being treated differently to other members of the team during a meeting, she was shocked when the reply was: “are you accusing me of racism?”

An internal probe, which pointed towards institutional racism within the MOJ, was triggered soon after.

Ms Ebanks eventually moved to another area of the department where she continued to encounter similar problems.

After receiving damages from an employment tribunal court in 2008, she decided to write a book about her experiences – she says with her managers’ blessing. Almost British was released in 2010 and endorsed by Baroness Doreen Lawrence who wrote a favourable blurb expressing hopes that it will result in institutional transformation within the civil service.

But Ms Ebanks found herself the centre of investigation and suspended from work for “bringing the organisation into disrepute”.

She claims the government banned her from marketing the memoir, which formed the basis of her second tribunal case that she lost in 2011.

Ms Ebanks descended into various spells of sick leave for work-related stress which eventually resulted in her receiving a written warning for poor attendance.

In the years that followed the former civil servant claims she was called racially offensive names by senior staff and was subject to privacy breaches, alleging her out-of-work activities following global Black Lives Matter protests was monitored.

Ms Ebanks says she complained about the incidents numerous times but claims she was ignored.

She resigned in June 2020 after the “situation became intolerable” and then began her third case against the ministry which was settled last year.

Xural.com