THE Irish Employment Equality Agency (EEA), received more than 250 inquiries about workplace sexual harassment in 1995. But the Labour Court dealt with only seven cases and five of these were settled out of court.
The figures highlighted what a number of speakers at yesterday's "conference said was a reluctance by people - mostly women - to take formal action. Fearing embarrassment and possible damage to their careers, they tend to put up with harassment.
The EEA figures were cited by Ms Fiona Tiernan from Resolve Progressive Employment Services. She said in 1990 the agency received 44 queries about sexual harassment. By 1995 that figure rose to 267.
According to Labour Court figures, the court completed two cases in 1995. One was successful and one was not. In the successful case the complainant was awarded £5,000. It completed a record eight cases in 1992, the year after Prof Anita Hill testified against her former employer, Judge Clarence Thomas.
In 1993 the Labour Court ruled on three cases where sexual harassment was alleged. All three were unsuccessful. In 1994 two cases were completed, both successfully, with awards of £1,000 and £4,000 each. Last year the court ruled in favour of two people taking cases, awarding them £2,000 and £3,200.
The Labour Court chairperson, Ms Evelyn Owens, said while the Labour Court dealt with a small number of cases, their investigation took up more time and resources than any other cases. Employers were increasingly using legal teams, she said.
The majority of the cases involve constructive dismissal, she said, where women said they were forced to leave their jobs because harassment became intolerable. The court heard its first sexual harassment case in 1985 when a young woman claimed she was forced to resign because of continual sexual harassment. She won her case and was compensated.
Ms Owens said the court ruled in that case that every employee had a right to freedom from sexual harassment. In "95 per cent of cases" she said, the two sides gave totally conflicting evidence.
In one case, she said, an employer had all its employees testify against the complainant. Then a woman who had left the company returned from England to give evidence which supported the case.
In the only case of a man claiming sexual harassment to come before the Labour Court, a young male worker accused his female boss of sexual harassment. The court ruled in his favour and awarded him £1,000.