Published June 6, 2021 at 4:43 pm
Domestic. An “Afro-Swedish” woman was offended and considered herself to have been discriminated against when she was not allowed to travel with an invalid ticket on an SJ train. But the Discrimination Ombudsman, DO, has now ruled that the woman was not discriminated against.
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The woman, whom DO describes as “Afro-Swedish”, had booked a train ticket from Örebro to Västerås but had missed the departure she had booked a place on. Instead, she chose to take the next departure because she, she claims, thought that her ticket could be rebooked. However, the ticket was not rebookable.
Next to the woman sat a “white man” who the woman had perceived was not on the right departure either. In connection with the ticket control, a discussion arose between the woman and the train staff because she was on the wrong train and the company issued a surcharge of SEK 1,200. According to the woman, the staff, through their treatment and the issuance of the surcharge, treated her worse than the fellow traveler who did not receive any surcharge.
In her report, the African wrote that she “felt discriminated against, humiliated and offended by SJ's staff because of her skin color and ethnicity”.
“She felt that she was treated differently because of how she looked She now feels bad when she goes with SJ, which she does every day “, it is stated in the decision.
But DO has in the supervision investigated the current incident” on the basis of ethnic affiliation and gender “, and does now the assessment that the investigation does not provide support that there has been a question of discrimination.
SJ has in the investigation referred to the fact that the man with whom the woman has compared herself did not have the same ticket as the woman and that this has been the reason for the different treatments. As the company has deleted the passenger lists for the departure with reference to data protection regulations, the DO has not been able to identify the man in question. Nothing has emerged in the investigation that has given the DO reason to put the woman's opinion on what type of ticket the fellow passenger had before the company's claim in that matter.
The woman has also stated that the train staff's treatment of her was “aggressive and offensive”. “, which is denied by the company. Even though the DO considers that the woman has submitted a credible story, nothing else has emerged in the investigation that provides support for her information. This means that the DO cannot put the woman's tasks before the company and the DO thus assesses that the investigation also does not provide support for the company having exposed the woman to discrimination in the form of harassment.