‘All workers have the right to freedom from sexual harassment in the workplace’
In a one-of-a-kind ruling, a sex worker in New Zealand has been awarded a pay out in a sexual harassment case against a business owner.
The BBC reported that the worker, who will remain anonymous, is set to receive a six-figure sum to compensate for "emotional harm” she suffered.
Read more: How to proactively stamp out workplace sexual harassment
The worker was represented by the Office of Human Rights Proceedings. The organisation’s director, Michael Timmins, commented on the importance of the ruling in a media statement to the BBC.
"All workers, regardless of the type of work they do, have the right to freedom from sexual harassment in the workplace. We encourage all business owners and employers to ensure that they understand and respect those rights.”
According to Stuff, the tribunal added that “context is everything”.
“Even in a brothel, language with a sexual dimension can be used inappropriately in suggestive, oppressive or abusive circumstances,” Stuff wrote.
“It follows that it is not possible to ask whether a ‘reasonable sex worker’ would find the behaviour unwelcome or offensive.”
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Earlier in the year, HRD reported on the rising concern leaders have around sexual harassment during COVID-19.
Speaking to HRD, James Warren, partner at Dentons Kensington Swan, explained the prevalence of abuse in remote work.
“There is less likely to be situation where an employee is doing something inappropriate in the office late at night or making stupid comments after a few drinks,” he said.
“However, offices are much less occupied environments now. More people are out of them and you only have a few people left in them.”
Read our full interview on sexual harassment in NZ workplaces here.