A former RTÉ newsreader found to have been sexually harassed by inappropriate texts from a senior newsroom colleague just ten days before she was due to be married is seeking damages of up to €300,000 over the broadcaster’s handling of the affair.
Kasia Czernik has complained to the Workplace Relations Commission under the Employment Equality Act 1999 alleging that RTÉ was in breach of the act by refusing to disclose what disciplinary action was taken against fellow night-shift news anchor Noel Fogarty, who was sacked last September.
His dismissal was on foot of a finding that Ms Czernik had been sexually harassed by a series of texts, emails and attempted phone calls between Friday June 18th and Monday June 21st that year, the tribunal was told.
“My home and bedroom will be open to you,” read one, with another offering Ms Czernik a spare key.
“This was ten days before her wedding,” her solicitor Barry Crushell told the tribunal.
After she brought the texts to the attention of her line manager, Paul Ferris, Mr Fogarty was suspended pending investigation and Ms Czernik was informed she would not have to work with him, the tribunal heard.
Investigators found the messages were “intrusive, invasive, unwelcome and unwanted, both in their content and their persistence”, the report found.
Giving evidence, the complainant said she was satisfied with the report but that she was not made aware of any disciplinary proceedings against Mr Fogarty.
“I only learned from the recent article in the press exactly what happened. I was never completely aware of what happened to him in terms of his work – whether he was suspended or whatever,” Ms Czernik said.
“I know it’s hard to understand [but] when you’re in a situation like this you need very clear information,” she said.
She added that she raised concerns at later meetings about security arrangements for the night shift on the RTÉ campus, which she said had “many ways in and out”.
Head of HR for RTÉ News and Current Affairs Tanya McNulty said in her evidence that Mr Fogarty was instructed from the outset of his suspension pending investigation not to contact Ms Czernik either directly or through any other colleague.
“We had also removed his [security] tag access so he had no direct access to buildings on the RTÉ site,” she said.
She said there had been a series of “check-in” meetings with Ms Czernik going into the autumn of 2021 after the report was issued and while Mr Fogarty was appealing his dismissal.
Ms McNulty said that there were “procedures not complete” at the time of a meeting in mid-October which prevented her from giving Ms Czernik information on the outcome of the matter.
She said Mr Ferris could be “categoric that [Mr Fogarty] was no longer employed by RTÉ” in advance of another meeting in December that year, which she said had been attended by the complainant’s solicitor.
Mr Crushell submitted that the notes taken at these meetings had not been circulated to his client for comment as minutes.
Ms McNulty said she was “surprised” by Ms Czernik’s resignation the following March.
“She’s a very valued employee, a very valued colleague, who had very good relations with her line manager,” she said.
Under cross-examination from Mr Crushell, she accepted Ms Czernik had said she found it difficult to be on the RTÉ campus at night after the harassment.
Under further questioning from the adjudicating officer, Maria Kelly, Ms McNulty said consideration was given to switching the complainant to a daytime roster but that management “never had an opportunity to have that discussion” with Ms Czernik.
“In terms of the human element, the engagement, that’s where we feel RTÉ failed in its duty of care,” Mr Crushell said.
“We would contend that victims of sexual harassment have a right to know the consequences a harasser faces,” he said.
He said that the broadcaster had been left with a conflict between the privacy rights of the man disciplined over the texts and his client’s “right to closure”.
He added that information on the sanction applied could have been given with a proviso that it was still subject to appeal when his client asked.
“This is a claim Ms Czernik has made for €300,000 compensation, far in excess of the jurisdiction. It is a claim that must fail,” said Mairead McKenna SC, who appeared for the broadcaster.
Ms McKenna said the RTÉ HR officer had been “subtle in her communications” to the complainant at the December meeting when she had said the perpetrator was no longer working for RTÉ.
Counsel argued that the complainant’s solicitor, who the tribunal heard had attended that meeting, should have been able to “read between the lines” and advise his client on the situation.
She said Mr Ferris and Ms McNulty “acted in an exemplary manner and could not be criticised” and urged the adjudicating officer to find RTÉ had made out a defence under the act.
Last month Mr Fogarty withdrew a complaint under the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 challenging his sacking for gross misconduct after the texts were read out at hearing.