The South African Police Service has been ordered to pay R50k to an unnamed woman after investigating her claims that her superior was sexually harassing her.
According to the Labour Court, which awarded R50,000 to a police captain who had been the victim of sexual harassment, the legislature is sending a “clear and loud message” by continually introducing legislation meant to abolish sexual harassment in the workplace.
The South African Police Service (SAPS) was fined this sum for failing to investigate the woman’s allegations of sexual harassment by her supervisor promptly.
Judge Zolashe Lallie stated that “sexual harassment is used, in most cases, by employers and employees entrusted with some level of authority to oppress, exploit and dominate those with less or no authority at all”.
“In this case, like in most cases, the victim of sexual harassment is a woman and the perpetrator is a man. Like all employees, women go to work to sell their skills and labour and to practise their professions to earn an income, not for the sexual pleasure of their employers or other employees, irrespective of the positions they hold,” she added.
The applicant claimed that her direct supervisor made sexual overtures toward her in 2013 and 2014.
In June 2015, she complained to her superior for the first time about sexual harassment at work. She had complained that her supervisor “touched her breasts with his thumb on occasions, which made her uncomfortable,” and she was instructed to report to another officer. At the same time, an investigation into her claims was conducted.
The applicant had to escalate the matter to the provincial headquarters because the investigation took too long. The inquiry into sexual harassment was handed up to the Sexual Harassment Task Team in June 2017. However, her supervisor remained in the same office as her.
The applicant stated that her initial encounter with her supervisor occurred while working in the human resources department. She hated the intrusions he made into her personal space and avoided him whenever she could.
After being placed under his supervision in 2014, she began experiencing harassment from him. He approached from behind, put his arm around her shoulders and touched her breasts.
She claims he started victimising her when she urged him to stop by removing tasks that should have been hers in terms of seniority.
A police typist testified that she occasionally saw the officer touch the applicant, though she never saw where.
The typist allegedly claimed to have overheard him make lewd remarks to the applicant, such as “he wanted to lift her up in his arms.”
The alleged sex pest was moved to a different department in September 2017 after internal inquiries into her complaints had no results, and she reported the incident to the head office.
The SAPS informed her via letter that they would be dropping the case in July 2018. A report said it would be difficult to construct charges against her supervisor because of how much time had passed and how hazy the evidence was.
The supervisor returned to the police station and gave the applicant transfer orders. After receiving no response to her follow-up letters of complaint to higher-ups, she took her case to the CCMA. When it was time to decide whether or not she had been treated unfairly, the matter was brought before the Labour Court for adjudication.
According to Judge Lallie, the investigation into the applicant’s complaint took an unreasonable amount of time, and the measures taken to end the sexual harassment were insufficient.
“Other than investigating the applicant’s complaint, removing the perpetrator from the workplace for a year and making recommendations, no action was taken by the SAPS to eliminate the sexual harassment,” the judge said.
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