A girl has been awarded £5,200 by the Labour Court for sexual harassment she endured while working part-time at Lal Qila, a restaurant on Lower George's Street, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin. She was awarded £5,200, the equivalent of two years' pay and the maximum possible.
She told the court she was subjected to physical and verbal sexual harassment by a chef between March 1995, when she was 15, until she left in October 1997. She said she had been constructively dismissed. She had asked the chef to stop and reported him to her employer, Mr Mindy Jasser. The girl's mother also complained to the owner and to Mr Jasser's wife.
Neither Mr Jasser nor his company, Bon Port Ltd, attended the court or made any written submission. The chairman of the Labour Court, Mr Finbarr Flood, said he was satisfied the claimant had been harassed sexually and had to leave her employment. The employer had failed in his duty to protect her.