Woman harassed at work awarded ?30,000

An office worker has been awarded €30,000 for discrimination and victimisation by the financial institution for which she worked after she was sexually harassed by a manager.

The Equality Tribunal made the award, the largest seen this year, after ruling that the woman's employer allowed her to be arbitrarily removed by the manager and effectively demoted and isolated after making her complaint. It said the company failed to investigate the matter adequately.

The woman, who worked as a mortgage advances clerk in the company's head office, said she started to experience "demeaning treatment" from a temporary manager from August 2001. When she asked for help with a customer query, he responded with abusive language and a masturbatory gesture, she alleged.

She also complained of "an abrupt dismissal" of a suggestion she made during her annual review, "ongoing shouting and sneering" and a threat to kill her if she raised her review suggestion again. The treatment frequently occurred in front of other members of staff and she was both humiliated and upset by it, she alleged.

After raising the manager's behaviour with his superiors, she was transferred to a branch office and assigned work as a cashier. Following an investigation by the company, the manager apologised for any hurt he had caused. Six months later, the woman returned to head office and the manager was moved to another floor.

The equality officer in the case ruled that the company had not taken the matter seriously and that it had not followed its own harassment and bullying policy. She awarded €15,000 in compensation for the discrimination suffered by the woman and €15,000 for the effects of victimisation.

It is the policy of the Equality Tribunal not to name the parties involved in sexual harassment cases.

In another employment case, the tribunal ruled that Ms Deborah Costello was discriminated against on gender grounds when she was refused a second job interview with the Pamela Scott fashion shop because she was pregnant.

The Equality Office said the "various and overlapping" reasons given by the shop for the cancellation of the second interview lacked credibility. Ms Costello was awarded €7,000.

The tribunal yesterday published 16 decisions, seven under the Employment Equality Act and nine under the Equal Status Act.

The Donegal Democrat newspaper was found to have discriminated against Ms Anne Treanor on gender grounds and was ordered to apply retrospectively the same pay rate as two male colleagues. The equality officer found that two other women employees did not perform "like work" as four male colleagues and had no entitlement to equal pay.

A Traveller, Mr Martin Sweeney, was found to have been discriminated against when a Sligo company, John McHale Ltd, rejected his job application. He was awarded €3,000.

A teacher, Mr George Dunbar, was discriminated against on age grounds when Good Council College in New Ross, Co Wexford, failed to promote him to the post of assistant principal at the school. Mr Dunbar, who was later appointed to the position, was awarded €6,500.

Six of the seven cases brought by Travellers against pubs and hotels under the Equal Status Act were rejected. In the only such case that was upheld, Ms Mary McCarthy was awarded €300 after she was refused service in the Laneway Bar in Cork.