The EOC has looked at 54 employment tribunal decisions, in sexual harassment cases that were heard between 1998 and 2001, to see what those cases revealed. .
Successful cases.
The employee.
Thirty-four cases were successful. In three of those cases the person making the complaint was male. .
In most cases the harassment began while the person bringing the complaint had been working for that employer for less than one year, and their work tended to be low paid (e.g carers, shop and factory workers, office staff). .
Shift work was a factor in a third of cases. .
In most cases the employee said they hadn't reported the harassment initially because they were afraid of losing their job. Some felt they should be able to handle it for the sake of their jobs, but several made a complaint after they became too ill to cope any more. .
In two unlinked cases the people being harassed didn't realise that what was happening to them was unlawful until they saw a discussion on the Kilroy show, at which stage they decided to take action.
The harassment.
In half the cases the harassment had continued for over two months, and in over a quarter of cases the harassment had continued for over 12 months before the employee made a complaint.
Only two of the cases refer to an isolated incident (one was harassment at a job interview, the other a serious indecent assault).
Half the complaints were about verbal abuse. A further third of cases included verbal and physical abuse. A minority of cases involved abuse such as stalking, indecent assault and severe bullying, which are potentially criminal offences.
The harasser.
The harasser was the director or owner in a third of cases, the immediate manager of the person being harassed in over a third of cases, and in a fifth of cases they were a colleague or colleagues. .
The employer.
Just under half were small employers (less than 15 employees); a fifth were medium employers (less than 200 employees); the remainder were large employers (over 200 employees).
