An industrial tribunal has ordered a company to pay a woman Lm1,000 in compensation for allowing sexual harassment at the workplace and a further Lm1,000 in compensation after the woman left her job as a result of the intolerable situation she was facing on a daily basis.

The tribunal, which was presided over by Dr Joseph Bonnici, had to decide on two separate cases filed by a woman against her former employer Phone Direct Ltd.

The tribunal heard that the woman was subjected to sexual harassment at the workplace. In its judgement, the tribunal ruled that the company’s management did nothing to stop sexual jokes when it was aware of the situation.

The tribunal said the management knew about the problem and quoted a company manager testifying that “he had other problems to see to” when referring to the company’s operations. Moreover, it said, the company never took any disciplinary action against any of the employees who were behind these problems at work.

The tribunal therefore ordered Phone Direct Ltd to pay Ms Zerafa Lm1,000 by way of compensation.

The tribunal heard that Ms Zerafa could not tolerate the situation at work any longer and therefore packed up and left and never returned. This, the tribunal defined as “constructive dismissal”.

The tribunal explained that a case is deemed to be one of constructive dismissal “where the employee terminates the contract with or without notice in circumstances where he or she is entitled to terminate without notice by reason of the employee’s conduct. For although the employee resigns, it is the employer’s conduct which contributed to the repudiation of the contract and the employee accepts the repudiation by resigning. The employee must clearly indicate that he is treating the contract as being repudiated by the employer and if he or she fails to do so by word or conduct, he or she is not entitled to claim constructive dismissal.”

The tribunal said that Ms Zerafa left due to the conduct of the employer and as a result of the employer’s laissez faire and therefore ordered Phone Direct Ltd to pay Ms Zerafa another Lm1,000 by way of compensation.

Dr Owen Bonnici represented Ms Zerafa.