A woman who claimed she was constructively dismissed because her employer failed to investigate properly a complaint of sexual harassment has been awarded €17,000 by the Labour Court.
The employer claimed it had investigated the woman's complaint of "inappropriate touching" by another member of staff, but there had been a lack of evidence to support it.
In a decision just published, however, the court said the employer had neither taken the complaint seriously nor treated it in a sensitive manner. It said the woman, who had 15 years' service with the company, was discriminated against under Section 77 of the Employment Equality Act.
Neither the woman nor the employer was named in the court's decision. The woman told the court that the incident took place on January 8th, 2003. On January 14th she was told by the general manager that he had investigated the complaint and could not justify disciplinary action against the alleged harasser.
The company had offered her two weeks' paid leave, but had subsequently deducted her pay for the final three days. She felt so traumatised by the events that the following month she felt unable to return to work and submitted a sick cert from her doctor. She had continued to send in certs until August 28th, 2003.
The employer told the court that the woman had said she would resign unless the alleged perpetrator was immediately dismissed. The company's general manager had interviewed five people about the incident and had not acquired sufficient evidence to support the complaint.
It had decided, however, not to renew the contract of the alleged perpetrator, a foreign national, when it terminated on January 31st, 2003. The general manager had informed the complainant of this and had asked her to remain at work, in a section of the plant away from the alleged harasser, until January 22nd, when an important audit was to take place.
Following that, it would pay her for seven days leave until the alleged perpetrator had left the company.
The court said the company's main concern was to have the woman available for the audit. It appeared to have been indifferent as to whether she remained in its employment after that date. The woman had acted reasonably and her treatment had amounted to constructive dismissal.
The court did not make a finding as to whether sexual harassment occurred. That issue is the subject of a separate complaint to the Equality Tribunal.
