A young woman who was bullied and sexually harassed in her job, has been awarded €10,000 damages against her employer
Ms Aisling Smith, Ashling Heights, Blanchardstown, Dublin, told the Circuit Civil Court her employer, Tom Tanner, once asked his friend in her office if he wanted "a coffee, a tea or a blow job".
Ms Smith said that on one occasion Tanner pinched her on the bottom and on a daily basis would ask her to bring him back "a packet of three" when she would go out to lunch.
Denying the allegation, Tanner told Mr Conor Bowman, counsel for Ms Smith, that such a remark could refer to condoms which he never purchased or used or had any use for.
Tanner, whose business was at Lower O'Connell Street, Dublin, said the only reason he could give for Ms Smith "making up" these and other allegations against him and another employee, Peter Harper, would be sour grapes on her part at having been paid off.
Ms Smith told Judge Alison Lindsay that Harper had been introduced to her as Tanner's business partner. He would put his feet up on his desk and stare at her genital parts.
Once while she was working at the computer, Harper bent over her and stared down her blouse at her chest while saying he was looking at figures on the screen. When she had attempted to turn her chair away, she could not because he was standing so close to her.
She told Mr Bowman that both Tanner and Harper would turn up at beer promotions she did in pubs after work.
On one occasion when she excused herself from company to go to the toilet, Tanner had said: "Say hello to her for me."
When she realised he had been referring to her genital parts, she put on her coat and left.
Ms Smith said Harper's attitude had changed towards her after she had refused to go out to dinner with him or go back to his hotel for drinks. She had never complained to Tanner about Harper's behaviour because she felt they were in it together.
Both men in evidence denied Ms Smith's allegations. Harper told the court she had invited both him and Tanner to attend her promotional evenings after work.
Tanner said he was not the employer of Ms Smith who had been recruited by Prince Haven Ltd.
Awarding Ms Smith €10,000 and costs, Judge Lindsay said she was satisfied Tanner was her employer and was the proper defendant. There had been a conflict of evidence but she favoured the evidence of Ms Smith.