Gay man who was told ‘don’t catch anything over the weekend’ awarded €8k for sexual harassment
A 29-year-old gay man who was allegedly told by a Born Again Christian colleague "Don’t catch anything over the weekend", has been awarded €8,000 for enduring sexual harassment at work.
At the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), the former trainee recruiter with the recruitment agency stated that his Born Again Christian colleague referred to certain entertainment venues as being “full of fairies and faggots”.
The recruiter viewed this comment by the Recruitment Consultant as a derogatory reference to his sexual orientation and he found it offensive.
Concerning his colleague’s alleged ‘Don’t catch anything over the weekend’ comment on more than one Friday, the recruiter interpreted this as a reference to his sexual orientation and by association a sexually transmitted disease.
The recruiter - who had previously worked for the Irish and UK Naval service - said that while he was preparing to leave his employment on November 15, 2018, the Born Again Christian colleague addressed the office in saying “If we need him, we will find him on Grindr”.
The recruiter told the WRC that he was “horrified” by such a remark.
WRC Adjudication Officer, Patsy Doyle, found that “on the balance of probability, I find that the complainant experienced the commentary he reflected in his evidence” and has ordered the agency to pay €8,000 for the sexual harassment of the trainee recruiter.
The trainee recruiter had a three-month tenure of employment as a Trainee Recruiter from August 13, 2018, to November 15, 2018.
Ms Doyle found that the recruiter did try and raise the initial comments with the employer during November 13, 2018, but they got lost in the primacy of his performance shortfalls, which was a major consideration for his employer alongside his personal issues.
Ms Doyle said: “At that time, I must accept that the complainant was very vulnerable, and this seems to have been overlooked by the respondent.”
Ms Doyle stated that she rejected the argument advanced by the complainant that the workplace had a strong religious ethos which frowned on homosexuality.
Ms Doyle confirmed that she accepted that the comments adduced in evidence occurred and constituted sexual harassment, which caused the complainant to feel degraded.
She said: “The situation was compounded by the lack of a procedural framework to address this climate.
I have not found that the complainant experienced harassment. The claim for sexual harassment is well founded.
The recruitment agency is a General Recruitment Agency covering the IT, Health and Manufacturing sectors. It has 65 employees and denied the workplace claims made by the trainee recruiter.
The recruitment consultant denied that she had said any of the comments attributed to her regarding the complainant’s sexuality.
The recruitment consultant confirmed that she was of Christian faith and a volunteer at weekend camp. She stated that she had no issues regarding homosexuality and that all sexual sin was sin in biblical terms.
The recruitment consultant denied any communication of her religious views to the trainee recruiter.
She said that “she was not there to judge“ and "was not ashamed to be Christian".
The recruitment consultant confirmed that her religious views permitted to attend a work do at the Gay Bar, but she did not go due to a previous engagement.
The consultant denied that she had addressed sexual innuendos towards the complainant or that she had not called him by name during his employment.
She submitted that she could not have articulated the innuendo as they were offensive.
She denied any discrimination and recalled that the complainant was unhappy in his job frustrated by his performance, had a lot going on personally and financial troubles.
Ms Doyle found that the complainant’s separate claim for discriminatory dismissal is not well founded as the decision to dismiss the complainant was not linked to his sexual orientation and it was not the operative cause for his dismissal.
