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A car saleswoman who complained about pornography in her workplace has been awarded nearly $20,000 after the Employment Relations Authority found her employer failed to provide her with a safe working environment.
Tracy Williams had been employed by Dunedin City Ford for three years when she walked into her manager's office and found another salesperson looking at pornography on a computer.
Ms Williams was shocked and upset by this, the authority heard, and complained to her manager, who said he would deal with it.
However, Ms Williams said she saw no evidence of him doing anything about it, and she reported the incident to the dealer principal.
She eventually received an apology, and told the authority she felt the matter was finished.
But just three days later, Ms Williams saw the same colleague with a hard copy picture of a naked woman she said looked like her.
Ms Williams alleged the colleague was showing the picture to her manager and another colleague, who were all laughing at the photo.
However, the men denied this, saying the colleague only showed the picture to the manager, who told him to put it away.
Authority member James Crichton said Ms Williams felt "dumbfounded and angry" and marginalised in that her complaints were not being taken seriously.
She immediately took the matter up with her manager, but she said he did not do anything about it.
Mr Crichton said he was "absolutely persuaded" Ms Williams' had not been provided with a safe and secure workplace as a result of the employer's failure to deal with the second pornographic incident, "coming so quickly on the heels of the first".
Ms Williams also made a number of claims including that she was left out of an allocation of All Black tickets, was not paid commission and had been sexually harassed at a golf match, when her manager grabbed her breast.
Dealing with each allegation one by one, Mr Crichton dismissed all of the claims.
However, he said he was satisfied Ms Williams had proven her personal grievance claim in relation to the failure to provide her with a safe workplace free of offensive pornographic material.
The facts supported her contention there was a culture in the workplace which was supportive of pornographic material and opposed her enthusiasm for stamping it out.
He awarded her $7500 in compensation, and ordered Dunedin City Ford to pay her $10,000 as a contribution for lost wages.
- NZPA
