Resolved complaint (301) about sexual harassment and sex discrimination in employment

About the complaint

The complainant was employed as an office administrator with the respondent building company. She alleged that colleagues subjected her to sexual harassment, sex-based harassment and a hostile workplace environment. The conduct alleged included inappropriate jokes about her father's genitalia, unwelcome hugging and touching, exposure of genitalia and comments on her body and appearance. The complainant said she raised these concerns with her employer and it failed to properly investigate her concerns, pressured her to decide how the matter should be handled and did not appropriately discipline her colleagues.

The building company acknowledged that inappropriate and unacceptable conduct occurred involving their staff members. They say that upon being made aware of the complaint, immediate, decisive and appropriate action was taken to address the misconduct, to support the complainant and to implement measures to ensure safety in the workplace.

The complaint was resolved by conciliation with an agreement that the complainant’s former employer write to her apologising for the events giving rise to the complaint, provide her with a statement of service and pay her $65,000 as general damages and $22,000 as a contribution to legal costs. One of the individual respondents also agreed to pay the complainant $5,000 as general damages.

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Please note:

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