A Female Teacher v Board of Management of a Secondary School [2012]

In this case, the respondent school had an acknowledged and effective dignity in the workplace policy together with a code of conduct which dealt comprehensively with the issue of sexual harassment. The respondent school provided evidence to the Equality Tribunal of the significant efforts made to investigate the teacher’s complaints of sexual harassment against students. The respondent school said in evidence that:

“without some independent evidence, from someone else present, of the fact of the impuned words (which were sexually motivated) having been uttered, the respondent could not proceed to impose a sanction on the alleged perpetrator.”

The Tribunal agreed and accepted that the