Wicklow Teachers win €40,000 in Sexual Harassment Case

The labour Court has found against the De La Salle secondary school in Wicklow town yesterday in a case involving the sexual harassment of two female teachers by male students. The teachers were awarded €40,000. The court found that, while the teachers had reported the harassment, the school had not taken steps to protect them from further incidents.

The De la Salle school in Wicklow Town

In the judgement the court said that the school principal and board of management had "failed in their duty to act reasonably so as to protect the claimants from further incidents of sexual harassment". However the school principal said after the judgement that the school has since introduced formal guidelines to handle such incidents that are "among the most progressive in the country".

The court also found that one of the teachers' hours were reduced subsequently and it categorised this as a constructive dismissal. "They made us feel guilty", said Sinead Murray, one of the teachers concerned. "The board of management would not take the complaints seriously. We followed all the procedures and yet we were still made feel like we should have said nothing".