Woman awarded €12,000 for sexual harassment

A woman was awarded over €12,000 after the Equality Tribunal found she had been the victim of sexual harassment while working for a Dublin taxi firm.

The woman, who was not named, claimed she had been subject to gender discrimination and sexual harassment in 2002 and 2003.

Equality Tribunal director Melanie Pine

She said dead fish had been thrown onto the roof of the internal office where she worked and laxative tablets and steroids had been placed in an office kettle. The woman said she felt these two action were directed at her because of her gender and weight.

The woman gave evidence that  in September 2004, "grossly offensive and humiliating pictures" had been displayed in the taxi base office, one of which had the woman's name on it. Other pictures others had the names of the other women working in the office.

The woman said she was so upset by the pictures that she had to stop work and recieve medical care for stress for a number of months.

In response, the company claimed the woman was not officially employed at the base. It argued she was a self-employed subcontractor. It accepted the pictures had been placed in the office but insisted they were removed immediately.

In her decision, Equality Tribunal director Melanie Pine ruled that she was "not satisfied that the employer took any steps at all to prevent sexual harassment" and the company was culpable.

She awarded the woman, who earned €120 per week, the maximum award of 104 weeks' pay, equivalent to €12,480.

In another rulings from last month, an employment agency was ordered to pay €7,000 compensation to a Polish woman who was racially discriminated after she applied for a job through the firm.

Borzena Czerski spotted an advert for production operatives in August 2001 and after sending off her CV to the Ice Group she went for an interview. She did not get the job.

Despite promises that her details would be kept on file, Ms Czerski claimed a short while later staff at the Ice Group arrived at her work, APC Ireland, to recruit workers.

She did not go for an interview as she believed her details where on file and when some of her colleagues were picked for jobs ahead of her with APC she contacted the Ice Group to ask why she was not selected.

Ms Czerski claimed a member of staff at the agency informed her that APC Ireland was looking for men and the complainant only had one referee when two were needed.

Ice Group told the tribunal the woman was asked if she could supply a character reference and she said she could not. The agency said on those grounds it had no option but to turn down her application.

The Equality Tribunal ruled it was unfair to ask for a second reference due to her circumstances as an immigrant and length of time out of the working world.

Vivian Jackson, Equality Officer, said it was a case of indirect discrimination and ordered the Ice Group to pay Ms Czerski €7,000 compensation for the distress she suffered. But she dismissed two other claims of direct discrimination on grounds of race and gender.

Additional Reporting: PA