Sexual Harassment Case

A Sydney based jewellery shop and its owner have been ordered to pay a record breaking $268,000 in damages after the Federal Court found an employee had been subjected to sexual harassment and victimization. The court also ordered the employer to pay the employee’s legal costs.

The case outlined that an employee sought legal advice when her employer confessed romantic feelings toward her, and continued with unwanted advances after she had made it clear she was not interested.

The employee reported that her employer made comments about her appearance, sent inappropriate text messages, gave her thousands of dollars’ worth of unsolicited gifts and had touched her inappropriately.

Following the employer again expressing his romantic feelings toward the employee while driving her home from work, she began to experience anxiety and insomnia. After taking a week off work, the working relationship began to deteriorate, and not knowing what to do, sought external legal advice.

During the court’s investigation, text messages sent between the employer and employee were examined and Justice Katzman found that the employee’s account of harassment and its impact were genuine.

The court found in favour of the employee and ordered the business to compensate the employee with $140,000 in general damages for hurt, humiliation and distress, $15,000 in aggravated damages, $23,070 for past economic loss, $46,284 for future economic loss and $3000 for future out-of-pocket expenses. Additionally, $40,000 in damages were ordered due to victimization. The court found that after lawyers wrote to the employer regarding her complaint, the employer demanded that all jewellery she’d been given be returned. This was seen by the court as retribution for the fact that she had made the complaint.

This record breaking payout exemplifies the stricter approach to workplace harassment and is a timely reminder of the obligations of employers to eliminate sexual harassment. It shows that being small and not having internal HR does not mean you can get away with it.