Scrutinised and dismissed after sexual harassment complaint

May 2015

Sophia* worked for a small business.

She was sexually harassed by her manager who touched her inappropriately and leered at her.

After she complained to the owner of the business, her work performance was increasingly scrutinised before she was ultimately dismissed.

Sophia lodged complaints of sexual harassment and victimisation with ADNSW.

At conciliation, the manager denied that he’d sexually harassed Sophia. He also claimed that Sophia’s work performance had been poor even before she complained, and it was just coincidence that she had been dismissed.

The complaint was settled when the business owner agreed to pay financial compensation to Sophia and implement training, policies and procedures to prevent discrimination and sexual harassment in the workplace.

*Name has been changed to protect the privacy of the individual