€30,000 award for catering assistant who suffered sexual harassment at hands of chef/manager

A facilities firm has been ordered to pay €30,000 to a female catering assistant who had her bottom pinched by a chef/manager in a series of sexual harassment incidents involving the senior male employee.

The €30,000 award represents 18 months of pay to the worker and Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) Adjudication Officer, Catherine Byrne stated: “As an instance of sexual harassment, a pinch on the bottom may not be at the extreme end of the scale, but it is well within the definition of unwanted behaviour of a sexual nature.”