Court rules dismissal without notice unjustified in sexual harassment case
The employee had already made unwanted comments to another female employee and had touched her inappropriately.
Keystone
A consultancy firm that fired an employee without notice for making rude, sexual comments about a female colleague did so unlawfully, the Swiss Federal Court has decided.
The 31-year-old man who lost his job had made explicit sexual remarks about a co-worker to three male colleagues at a bar after work, which he also repeated at a later stage. The young woman who was the target of the comments reported them to her company’s human resources department. After the matter was investigated and other employees questioned, the man’s contract was terminated with immediate effect.
The investigation also revealed that the individual had already made unwanted comments to another female employee and had touched her several times with his foot underneath the table.
The Federal Court, in its ruling published on Friday, confirmed that the employer must pay its former staff member the wages he would have been due during the ordinary notice period. It rejected the company’s appeal against a lower court decision.
The ruling does not justify or downplay the man’s inappropriate behaviour; his “sexist and rude remarks”, the Federal Court wrote. The incidents had not been grave enough, however, to justify a dismissal without notice, it added.
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An online campaign revealed that many women in Swiss parliament deal with everyday sexism. A study shows it's an issue around the world.
In Switzerland, an online campaign caused a firestorm on social media – and a swelling list of female politicians registering their reproach – after Andrea Giessbühler, a female parliamentarian from the conservative right Swiss People’s Party, said in an interview that certain punishments for rape should be lowered when naive victims are partially at fault.But the experiences of Swiss female parliamentarians, who were also reacting to the controversy over US presidential nominee Donald Trump’s comments about women, appear to be just the proverbial tip of the iceberg when placed in a global context.
A study released on Wednesday by the Geneva-based Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) showed more than 65% of women parliamentarians worldwide surveyed by the IPU reported being the victims of “humiliating sexist remarks” during their time in office. A quarter had been victims of physical violence because of their position in government, and 21% had experienced sexual violence. Another 32% had seen sexual violence committed against female colleagues.
Over the past few weeks, after Basel-based gender researcher Franziska Schutzbach and some of her colleagues began using the hashtag #SchweizerAufschrei, or “Swiss outcry”, on social media sites, people across Switzerland began offering everyday examples of sexism levelled against women.
Parliamentarian Min Li Marti of the left-wing Social Democrats chimed in with her own experience, saying she had been told by male colleagues that “this topic is just too complicated, maybe your husband can explain it to you”. (Marti’s husband, Balthasar Glättli, also serves in parliament).
Marti’s fellow Social Democrat Mattea Meyer tweeted about “parliamentary ‘colleagues’ who snicker and ask when there will be naked photos of you”.
Many other female parliamentarians from Switzerland told the Blick tabloid of their experiences with sexual harassment on the job.
Claudine Esseiva of the centre-right Radicals said she has been directly propositioned by male members of both the House and Senate. Social Democrat Yvonne Feri reported similar advances made by journalists who asked her whether she wanted to sleep with them.
And the speaker of the House of Representatives, Christa Markwalder of the Radicals, says she’s been the victim of “sexist statements at the lowest level”.
Threats and recommended action
According to the IPU study, the situation abroad appears to also involve threats of physical violence against women parliamentarians. Nearly 45% of those surveyed said they had been threatened with death, rape, beatings or abduction.
One politician from Asia reported receiving threats about kidnapping her son, while another from sub-Saharan Africa said she is constantly asked whether she is a lesbian and “accused of being aggressive and a bad mother”. Nearly 40% of respondents said the harassment affects their ability to carry out their parliamentary mandates, with some reporting having to adjust their schedules and physical movements to avoid potential violence and intimidation.
About 60% of the survey respondents believe the sexist acts are due to clear-cut positions they had taken on specific issues, and 61% think the acts are meant to dissuade them and their female colleagues from continuing in politics, according to the IPU. Only about 40% of respondents reported having been targeted because of a political rivalry.
To counter and address harassment against female politicians, the IPU recommends that governments strengthen laws and parliamentary codes of conduct and that the media undergo sensitivity training with regard to reporting on women politicians. The study concluded that having more women in parliament “helps to change the political culture” and that “once the phenomenon is visible and recognized, solutions either exist or can be found”.
The IPU, an international organisation representing parliaments around the world, interviewed 55 female politicians from 39 countries for its first study on sexism in parliament. It also gathered data from 42 global parliaments about structures in place to prevent sexual harassment and violence.
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