88% of sexual harassment complaints made to the Australian Human Rights Commission are workplace related.
Unwanted and uninvited 'sharing' of sexual explicit photos and sexy texts and making comments of a sexual nature, are two forms of sexual harassment.
In a recent decision by the Fair Work Commission, a Cabin Crew Supervisor on an unnamed airline was accused of sexual harassment which was primarily directed to female flight attendants. It took these forms -
- By mobile phone The employee showed sexually explicit photos and sexy text messages from a crew member with whom he was having a sexual relationship, to other flight crew members on several occasions.
- By shouting "I hope you are clean” to the crew member the day after he began his relationship with her, in the presence of other flight crew members on the aerobridge.
- By whispering to a female flight attendant, his ‘ratings’ of female passengers as they boarded the aircraft: “She’s got great tits” and “She’ll be great in bed”.
- By propositioning a female work colleague at the airline’s Christmas Party: “I really want to have a threesome with you XXX and YYY (her flatmate). Oh, sorry, I mean a foursome with ZZZ”.
This behaviour caused the work colleagues to feel humiliated, uncomfortable and awkward. As one said, he was a "creep".
Rejecting protests by the employee that his behaviour was part of the workplace culture where “nothing is really off limits, it’s pretty out there…” and that “almost every flight, the talk would turn into a discussion on sex”, the Commissioner found that the airline had good reason to dismiss the employee with immediate effect.
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