Teenager who quit after sexual harassment receives $20,000 in compensation

A 14-year-old girl said she was forced to quit her part-time job at a diner because her boss was constantly sexually harassing her, including calling her “hot” and “beautiful,” asking her if she had posted “nude photos” on social media, and talking to her about his sex life.

The boss denied the allegations, but the labor relations authority found that the young woman had been unfairly discriminated against and unfairly dismissed and that the sexual harassment had contributed to the young woman’s humiliation and increased anxiety.

In return for the torture, she received $20,000.

A recently released decision describes how the teenager had been looking forward to getting a job at the Southland takeaway, which was popular with her family, but months later, despondent and humiliated, she quit.

She claimed that she was dismissed from her employment due to sexual harassment and that she had therefore been unfairly disadvantaged.

The employer denied sexually harassing her and said employees were always treated with respect, paid an adult hourly wage and were not taken advantage of. However, he acknowledged that he once asked the employee for nude photos in connection with another employee.

When the young employee started her afternoon job as a food helper in a snack bar in April 2022, her boss seemed “more like a friend than a manager.”

But months later, things got worse when, according to her, he began to make sexual advances toward her when they were alone. Among other things, he asked her if she had posted “nude photos” on social media, talked to her about his sex life and asked her for relationship advice.

Responding to evidence provided by another worker at the workplace interview, he later said it had been normal for him to call everyone “baby,” “babe,” and “darling.”

The teenager became restless and nervous about having to work with him, especially because she knew she would be working with him alone.

She kept calling in sick until she told her mother and quit a few days later, citing sexual harassment.

The ERA has blocked her name due to the sexual nature of the allegations and issued an injunction against the company where she worked and its sole director pending a challenge to the injunction, which expires this month.

She claimed that she was dismissed from her employment due to sexual harassment and that she had therefore been unfairly disadvantaged.

The parties participated in mediation, but the matter could not be resolved.

The agency explained that the definition of sexual harassment in the workplace includes the use of sexual language that is unwanted or offensive to the person concerned and that has a detrimental effect on the employee and his or her job satisfaction or performance.

The burden of proof that the termination was a dismissal was on the young employee. The lawyer representing her, Mary-Jane Thomas, referred in her closing argument to evidence that showed that the manager had a propensity for making the kind of comments he made.

The ERA said a lawyer for defendant Belinda Allen had correctly argued that there were no witnesses to the allegedly inappropriate statements.

Authority member Helen Doyle said allegations of sexual harassment were not uncommon.

In her recently released decision, she said the investigation had focused on interactions on the social media platform Snapchat, but the main focus of the investigation was on oral statements allegedly made several months after the teenager started working.

Her mother said that after learning of the incidents, she conducted her own investigations, including obtaining permission to speak to another young person who had also worked at the same site.

The authority heard the testimony of this person, who was 16 years old when he was employed by the company in June 2021.

She said there were three young female employees working there at the time and that she liked the same manager for the first few months, but after a while her friendship with him began to become inappropriate, including when he told her at work, “You look like a dirty little slut.”

In her testimony, she said that he took every conversation to a sexual level, even the food they cooked, and that the sexualized behavior became worse when his girlfriend, who also occasionally worked at the restaurant, was not present.

She then spoke to another employee who agreed that the behavior was more than just a joke.

The couple considered calling a sexual harassment expert through a “hotline” to come to the workplace and speak to the manager, but decided instead to speak to him directly. After that, his behavior reportedly improved.

Doyle said the sexual harassment found constituted a serious breach of duty and awarded the full $20,000 in compensation for humiliation, loss of dignity and emotional injury.

She said a reduction in compensation was not justified because there was no evidence that the employee contributed to the situation.

Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter with NZME. She was previously RNZ’s Nelson-Marlborough regional reporter and covered general news, including courts and local government, for the Nelson Mail.