因為語言的障礙, 受了工傷得不到賠償, 而政府的反歧視法諮詢和草擬工作, 還堅持說不用翻譯成小數族群的語言...
來自chattergarden的報導
A Nepalese woman, who speaks little Cantonese and encountered communication difficulties when seeking medical treatment, had her compensation claims for work-related injuries rejected on Wednesday (16/3/05).
Thapa Indra Kumari had filed claims against Tsang Lik Services LTD after she says she sustained injuries to her lower back in April, 2001, whilst working as a cleaner for Wilson Car Parks at Chek Lap Kok airport. She claims she felt “like electrocuted with knife stabbing pain” when she tried to lift a rubbish bag containing a heavy discarded car battery onto a tall rubbish cart. She said she was threatened to continue work before she finally succumbed to the pain and had to take sick leave. According to Kumari, she was then dismissed by her employers because she had taken too much leave.
Deputy High Court Judge, B. Fung dismissed her case concluding that “the plaintiff has failed to prove that her injury was caused in the manner described by her”. Judge Fung cited the lack of clear reference to her employment in her medical records as casting “the plaintiff’s allegation of injury at work to doubt”.
“The plaintiff was also exposed to be unreliable on her sick leave record and application form,” said the Judge.
During the court hearing last December, Flora Cheng, representing Kumari, argued that the Nepalese woman’s poor English and Chinese language skills made it difficult for her to communicate the reasons of her injury to the medical staff. Cheng pointed out that some medical records had noted a language barrier with Kumari. Others had mistakenly indicated her husband, who had accompanied her as an interpreter, as the patient rather than Kumari herself.
Judge Fung concluded that “that there was no suggestion that the husband had any language barrier. If so, there is no reason why the doctor would have omitted to record injury at work”.
The judge also found the defence witnesses “far from convincing” and did not believe there were clear instructions for the cleaners not to remove exceptionally heavy items of rubbish.
The case was therefore dismissed with no order for Kumari to bear any legal costs.
(So far, the government has not shown any signs of providing official interpreters for ethnic minorities whilst drafting the upcoming anti-racial discrimination laws. The problem with family and friends acting as interpreters is that they often ‘editorialise’ or even take over the whole conversation when really the consultation should be focused on what the patient has to say.)