Worker awarded €40,000 over colleague's sexual harassment

A LOGISTICS company employee has been awarded €40,000 by the Equality Tribunal for sexual harassment by a colleague, which included grossly offensive graphic remarks .

At a Christmas party the colleague had loudly asked the man in front of other co-workers how it felt to be gay, according to details of a case released by the tribunal today.

This was followed by “grossly offensive remarks of a more graphic nature” by his colleague, the tribunal said in its finding.

The 2007 incident was witnessed by a supervisor, who told the employee to leave if he found it upsetting, the tribunal said.

The supervisor “does not appear to have followed up on this incident in any way whatsoever,” the tribunal said.

Neither the employee nor the company was named in tribunal documents.

The employee told the tribunal he was subjected to sexual harassment and discriminatory treatment over the course of his employment. He worked at the contract logistics company for nine years and resigned in 2008.

He told the tribunal his colleague had repeatedly caressed and touched him in a sexually suggestive manner. On one occasion his colleague had pushed his groin into his face, he told the tribunal.

The employee complained to his supervisor about sexual harassment by his colleague in late 2006. The tribunal found the claim was investigated informally by the company but the employee was treated in an unfavourable manner because he had made the complaint.

He told the tribunal about being treated differently after he made the complaint. Items would be left in a hazardous manner to trip him up and his colleague had led a campaign to “bad-mouth” him and shout at him, the employee told the tribunal.

He said the company did not have adequate grievance procedures in place. He later withdrew the complaint to his employer because he had wanted to be left alone, he told the tribunal.

The tribunal said the supervisor and the harassing colleague were “on friendly terms” throughout the period.

The employer denied the allegations of discrimination.

It told the tribunal the first complaint was investigated but was inconclusive. It said the employee did not raise any issues following the Christmas party.

Tribunal equality officer Conor Stokes found the employer had not rebutted the discrimination claim and did not have an equality policy in place.

Mr Stokes found that only the 2007 Christmas party incident was inside the legal timeframe for the complaint. However, because the harasser was the same person it was a “chain of events” .

He found a prima facie case of sexual harassment had been established and awarded €40,000.