Like Nell 23 I also have been subjected to serious sexual harassment whilst working on an excavation last summer. Over a period of 4 months, the site manager in question subjected myself and the other female on site to daily sexual harassment that progressed for one of us to quite considerable bullying. Personally, and as an outspoken individual, I was able to put a firm stop to the bullying aspect, but the sexual harassment continued throughout regardless of my very obvious objections. This thread has done well to highlight sexual harassment in all its forms. Personally, I could 'tick off' all of the examples given as something that I was subjected to. I had comments regarding my clothing, questions regarding sexual preferences, requests to wear particular clothing on site, numerous sexual jokes (many of extremely bad taste), constant innuendoes and physical assault - more specifically, attempting to kiss me, daily unwanted hugging, prodding in the stomach, under the ribs and stroking. One particularly distressing instance was when the individual 'suggested' that with no one else on site (as the others were leaving to continue paperwork in the office), no one would have been able to hear me scream! Naturally, I find any suggestion of rape - even as 'banter' absolutely unforgivable. At every instance, I made my objection perfectly clear. This objection turned immediately into spiteful behaviour, rumour spreading, a bombardment of insulting text messages during the night and extremely malicious behaviour on site. On several occasions, I was also made to believe that my job would be in question if I didn't move closer to the individual.
As you can imagine, it was incredibly difficult to deal with, more so due to the fact that there was absolutely no route of complaint available as the the company owner was related to the man in question. Naturally, I had no intention of losing my job in such a difficult climate and so simply put up with the Borderline criminal behaviour. The end came when the individual finally went overboard, started screaming and shouting obscenities at myself and the other woman whilst alone in the site office and threw a scale ruler at us, fractionally missing my colleague. Without hesitation, we left, whilst he continued to kick around chairs. We packed our belongings and went home.
After emailing the owner, there was no serious response nor was there any form of repercussion for the site manager. Though I am not surprised by the blazay attitude, the less than adequate apology or the complete unwillingness to admit to the issue, I am appalled by this companies absolute disregard for the female staff. Since I terminated my contract, I have since learnt of a number of other female that have been subjected to the same sexual harassment by the same individual. What I hope to highlight is the issues that surround working for a family run organisation and the absolute lack of avenues available to females that are subjected to such disgusting behaviour.
As you can imagine, it was incredibly difficult to deal with, more so due to the fact that there was absolutely no route of complaint available as the the company owner was related to the man in question. Naturally, I had no intention of losing my job in such a difficult climate and so simply put up with the Borderline criminal behaviour. The end came when the individual finally went overboard, started screaming and shouting obscenities at myself and the other woman whilst alone in the site office and threw a scale ruler at us, fractionally missing my colleague. Without hesitation, we left, whilst he continued to kick around chairs. We packed our belongings and went home.
After emailing the owner, there was no serious response nor was there any form of repercussion for the site manager. Though I am not surprised by the blazay attitude, the less than adequate apology or the complete unwillingness to admit to the issue, I am appalled by this companies absolute disregard for the female staff. Since I terminated my contract, I have since learnt of a number of other female that have been subjected to the same sexual harassment by the same individual. What I hope to highlight is the issues that surround working for a family run organisation and the absolute lack of avenues available to females that are subjected to such disgusting behaviour.